On Canadian healthcare
Jul. 17th, 2007 10:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pyesetzPaul Krugman:
[I]t’s true that Americans get hip replacements faster than Canadians. But there’s a funny thing about that example, which is used constantly as an argument for the superiority of private health insurance over a government-run system: the large majority of hip replacements in the United States are paid for by, um, Medicare.
That’s right: the hip-replacement gap is actually a comparison of two government health insurance systems. American Medicare has shorter waits than Canadian Medicare (yes, that’s what they call their system) because it has more lavish funding — end of story. The alleged virtues of private insurance have nothing to do with it.
Of course, once I tell you that "hip-replacement surgery" is a Republican talking point, you should probably expect that it would actually prove the opposite of what they claim for it. One of these days I'd like to look up some medieval Catholic text on the subject of how to detect that a person is working for the Devil. Is there any sign of Satanic influence that the Bush administration *doesn't* display?
[I]t’s true that Americans get hip replacements faster than Canadians. But there’s a funny thing about that example, which is used constantly as an argument for the superiority of private health insurance over a government-run system: the large majority of hip replacements in the United States are paid for by, um, Medicare.
That’s right: the hip-replacement gap is actually a comparison of two government health insurance systems. American Medicare has shorter waits than Canadian Medicare (yes, that’s what they call their system) because it has more lavish funding — end of story. The alleged virtues of private insurance have nothing to do with it.
Of course, once I tell you that "hip-replacement surgery" is a Republican talking point, you should probably expect that it would actually prove the opposite of what they claim for it. One of these days I'd like to look up some medieval Catholic text on the subject of how to detect that a person is working for the Devil. Is there any sign of Satanic influence that the Bush administration *doesn't* display?
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no subject
Date: 2007-07-18 11:23 am (UTC)