P.S. I see no one answered your question on how to profit from all of this. I assume that is because there is no way to profit from all of this. The only obvious way is to simply take only patients that will pay for services out of their own pocket. Physicians can lower their fees a little bit and refuse to take government sponsored insurance. Ha ha ha…as if THAT will be allowed.

WHAT A FANTASTIC LETTER! THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR CLEAR, PAINFUL DESCRIPTION OF JUST HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS AT THE LOCAL LEVEL. I’VE GOT SHIVERS UP MY SPINE AT THE THOUGHT OF ENDLESS DEMANDS FOR 10% OF THE COST FOR NEW BUILDINGS AND SO FORTH, ON TOP OF TAXES COLLECTED TO BE RETURNED FROM OTTAWA. HOW CAN 3300 PEOPLE POSSIBLY COME UP WITH THE SUMS BEING EXTORTED FROM YOU? HOW CAN YOU NEED A $50,000,000 HOSPITAL FOR A TOWN OF 3300, EVEN INCLUDING THOSE IN OUTLYING VILLAGES AND HAMLETS? WHO PAYS THE DOCTORS? IS A PERSONAL CARE HOME WHAT WE MIGHT CALL A “NURSING CARE FACILITY” OR AN “OLD FOLKS’ HOME?” IS IT SOMEWHERE OLDER PEOPLE GO UNTIL THEY ARE WELL ENOUGH TO GO HOME BUT DON’T REALLY NEED TO BE IN HOSPITAL, OR ARE THEY THERE UNTIL THEY DIE? THANK YOU AGAIN, BECAUSE YOU ARE CLEARLY A GOLD MINE OF INFORMATION! LINDA

Sorry Health Care Worker, our population is just over 30 million, not 60. I’m in Municipal government in a small prairie town. Our “great” health care system is usually graded positively by those who are healthy and negatively by those who need it. Everyone waits here, for everything. And few Canadians really know the true cost usually referring to health care as FREE. Not so! Canadian health care providing is a Provincial responsibility. The federal government contributes some funding through special transfers to the provinces. In my province, 42% of our provincial budget goes to health care. Provincial budgets are (by and large) funded the same way your states are. This is basically consistent across the country. Add to this that some provinces collect a monthly or annual medical fee from residents as well.
In our province, medical facilities require a local contribution of 10% of building construction costs. This cost is levied on local property owners through property taxes. Our town of 3300 residents with an annual budget of 2.5 million just had to borrow 2.8 million to pay for a personal care home (10% of cost). Soon we will need to come up with 10% of a 50 million dollar new hospital as soon as the Province decides to build it. All levied on property taxes. If we don’t pay it we loose our facility. Then there are the local property tax dollars allocated to fund a community clinic. Some $300,000 annually in our small town. Add as well the direct recruitment dollars spent to attract new physicians, who are in high demand. We also pay directly for ambulance transportation, prescriptions, prosthetic devices, private rooms in hospital, television (unless covered by an NPO) non-basic treatment (eg; fibreglass vs plaster cast) and a long list of other expenses.

Americans who are leary of public health care should be. I don’t think either our system or yours is ideal. perhaps there is some type of hybrid that would work. Like very basic public health care, with a premium supported upgraded program for those who want it.

to Health Care Worker:
There is already “severe rationing” in America in that a large percentage of the population get zero health coverage/care. Your comments lead one to assume that the system is working in your estimation? or that NO improvements are possible? Maybe 40 years experience working in a broken system is not helpfull when trying to imagine alternatives.

Dear Mr. Sproul:

We like facts and figures around here. What is “a large percentage?” Where did you get your information? Let’s see…we’ve got those who work and pay for health insurance, and those who work and get health insurance from the government or the military, and millions of illegal aliens and those on Medicare/Medicade…who is it not getting any, and why?

HCW didn’t say that no improvements were possible, and HCW and I are not responsible for imagining alternatives.

We in the Whiskey Bar, at least in the little corner they let me huddle in, in my curmudgeonly manner, don’t run on blind emotion when dealing with dealing with investments, self-responsibility, the proper, restricted role of government, and retaining the freedom to manage our own finances.

One on one I was distressed to hear of your problems, but that’s because I’m a very nice lady who helps others whenever I see a need and can. As an analyst, the only interest I have in the health care system is in terms of what it is going to cost and what effect that catastrophic cost is going to have on heartless entities like the DJIA and the gross national product. There is no free lunch, no matter how many times people keep putting their hands in mine. YOU want a different solution because YOU have a problem. I don’t have a problem–other than that I’m already paying for far more than I get–and I see no reason why your solution should come out of my pocket. You seem to think that you have a “right” to free healthcare. Why don’t I have a similar right to “free” gasoline, that you will be taxed to pay for, or “free” firewood that you should cut for me? My dog needs a bath. Surely SOMEONE is responsible for washing her. Where do you draw the line on taking care of our own responsibilities?

Unsympathetically yours,

LBT

I am amazed that all of the commentors are positive about socialized medicine. Canada has a population
of only 60+ million. California has a population of 40+ million and it is broke. We have a population of
300+million and we are going to provide quality health care to all? I don’t think so! WHEE-HOO, HEALTH CARE WORKER, HIT ‘EM AGAIN!

For all practical purposes, The US government is “broke.” How much longer can we borrow/print US dollars before the
government finances implode? Based on current Medicare/Medicaid dollars paid out, what would be the
estimated outlay for national health coverage? Trillions??? TRILLIONS, INDEED. THE ROUGHLY A QUARTER OF THE POPULATION THAT WE’RE SUPPORTING NOW HAS DRAINED US DRY, NOT COUNTING THE INCREDIBLE SUMS WE’VE THROWN AWAY ABROAD SINCE THE END OF WWII TO ALMOST NO GOOD THAT I CAN SEE. There will abolutely have to be rationed health
care for all ages. Based on 40+years in the health care field, I can’t see any benefit to socialized medicine
beyond a very basic, limited technology health care. AAAAAH. THANK YOU. Beyond that level lies severe rationing. And you are
correct about quality of education as it is already happening. State board exams for nurses and doctors
have already been “dumbed-down” significantly because of “disparate impact.” in the last thirty years. BLESS YOU, MY FRIEND, FOR THESE KIND WORDS AND CORROBORATION FROM SOMEONE IN THE FIELD. A TERRIFIC LETTER THAT DESERVES WIDER DISPERSAL. PLEASE WRITE AGAIN IF YOU HAVE ANECDOTES TO SHARE. CORDIALLY, LINDA

Cordially,

Linda

I am a Canadian citizen, born and raised. If the system in Canada is so awful, and I mean the whole system, including all of government as well as our health care, why is the good old USA in much worse economic shape than we are? Just asking.

CANADA, you wretch! And after we had such a nice discussion about motor vehicles! No, I guess this was written first.

I never said your whole system was awful. I wouldn’t have dreamed of criticizing your government! I was only talking about all the reports I have read for many years, including recently, and the discussions I have had with Canadians. You’re very nice people, but a lot of you seem to have very odd ideas about the USA. There was a time when I was in Vancouver (BC, of course) half a dozen times a year and in Victoria at least once or twice, and I always found that once we got over or past what politicians were doing we liked each others.

Why is our economic system worse off than yours at present? Because we have worse politicians than you do at present! Because they are influenced by those who are willing to destroy any amount of wealth in the name of junk science.

What part of Canada do you hail from? I love Victoria…your great Opera house, Little India, the pretty streets and beautiful scenery, the hundreds of different specialized restaurants…

Linda

What you wrote is a classical scaremongering tactic of HMOs. Fact of the matter is, affordable health care is slipping through the cracks. There are millions uninsured, millions more working 2 jobs to have benefits, and some more people working at job ONLY for the benefits (they would rather work somewhere else). An egalitarian industry such as healthcare cannot and should not be built on profit incentive. Private sector failed to provide affordable healthcare, therefore other options have to come in play.

DEAR DEATH TO HMOS:

What an interesting way to style yourself! I am sorry to disagree and say that YOURS are the classic scare tactics. For example, those working two jobs? Part time work almost never has “benefits.” Those who accept jobs only for the benefits made their choices, and they have no right to demand jobs they like or make health insurance a condition of employment.

Private sector healthcare worked splendidly. The problem began when health insurance became a “benefit” and then an “entitlement.”

It is not the case that it is your right to decree that “other options” “HAVE” to come into play. What about all of those who are quite satisfied with what they have? Why should THEY be obliged to settle for less efficient, more expensive, even though the costs are hidden, plans?

Here is a compromise: perhaps there should be a government plan that is available at actuarial estimates of cost. It would be far better to go back to the time before there was any health insurance at all other than catastrophic care policies.

I have a very simple solution. I take care of myself, and I don’t get sick. I am recuperating from the flu, at present, the third time I have been ill in the last quarter of a century. I did not go to the doctor, because the chances are very high that nothing he could do would have more than a placebo effect. I don’t get colds, period. I don’t do a lot of things most of you do, such as drink soft drinks constantly throughout the day or view fats and eggs with horror.

This isn’t really a “health care” issue, it is a matter of the proper role of government. There is no reason why I should be forced to pay for the health care needs of others, any more than I should pay for their food or housing.

LBT

The current system is so badly broken I for one am not afraid of any change. I am middle aged, self imployed, with a pre-existing condition. NO insurance is availiable to me at ANY price under the current system. I walk the precipice of financial ruin while insurance companys manage their risks to guarantee obscene profits from ill
Americans

Dear Mr. Sproul:

I was touched by your letter and have been thinking about it around trying to recuperate from the flu. Would you mind answering a few fairly personal questions? Here they are: what is your pre-exiting condition, and what do you do for a living? Finally, how severely does your condition interfere with your ability to work?

This is not vulgar curiosity. I have been wondering if your problem could be alleviated by alternative medicine or an orthomolecular physician whose specialty is treating diseases through nutritional means. Is it possible that your employment is a contributing factor, possibly through allergic reactions?

May the Lord bless you and send an answer to your problem.

LBT

As I like to say, ‘there’s not much wrong with the USA that wouldn’t be fixed by a strictly literal interpretation of the 10th Amendment’.

PREACH ON, WAG!!! OF COURSE, THEN WE’D HAVE TO GET MORE INVOLVED LOCALLY TO KEEP THINGS SENSIBLE, ONCE WE’D GOTTEN RID OF MILLIONS OF PAGES OF REGULATIONS AND OVER A HUNDRED TAXES…

LBT

what is the bill above? “The proposed law also makes it illegal for doctors to provide services outside of the system and it will determine what doctors and hospitals are paid”. I am healthcare finance and would really appreciate this info. thanks alot, great writing.

DEAR JOHN:

THANKS FOR YOUR NICE LETTER. I’M STILL A LITTLE FUZZY-HEADED FROM THE FLU, AND I DON’T THINK THERE IS AN ACTUAL NUMBER FOR THE BILL YET. I READ BITS AND PIECES FROM A WIDE VARIETY OF SOURCES, AND WHILE I CAN’T ACTUALLY RECALL AT THE MOMENT WHERE I SAW THE THINGS ABOUT IT BEING ILLEGAL TO SEEK OR PROVIDE CARE OUTSIDE THE SYSTEM, I COULDN’T HAVE MADE A MISTAKE ABOUT ANYTHING THAT SHOCKING. WOULD YOU MIND USING GOOGLE OR ANOTHER SEARCH ENGINE AND SEEING WHAT YOU CAN FIND? I READ A LOT OF STATEMENTS BY CONGRESS PEOPLE. THEY’VE BEEN WORKING ON THIS FOR A LONG TIME, SO I’M SURE THEY ARE COMBINING HILLARY CARE WITH A BOOK WRITTEN BY ONE OF MR. OBAMA’S APPOINTMENTS WHO WAS DISQUALIFIED FOR TAX FRAUD (CAN’T REMEMBER WHICH ONE, AT THE MOMENT. THIS IS ONLY THE THIRD TIME I HAVE BEEN ILL IN THE LAST 25 YEARS AND IT’S NASTY! ACHES, A TENDENCY TO TAKE LOTS OF NAPS, CONSTANT LOW-GRADE HEADACHE…UGH.) AND EVERY OTHER LIBERAL DREAM LYING AROUND. WE ALREADY KNOW THAT THE NEW BILL WILL SET PRICES; THAT’S WHAT MEDICARE AND MEDICADE DO, AND ONE OF THE BIGGEST PARTS OF THE PROBLEM. TODAY I WAS READING A PIECE ON HOW THE NEW SYSTEM WILL ALLOW ALL SORTS OF ABUSES OF PRIVATE INFORMATION, AND TOLD OF HOSPITALS TAKING BITS OF DNA FROM NEWBORNS FOR RESEARCH AND PROPOSALS THAT KIDS DIAGNOSED AS POTENTIAL TROUBLE-MAKERS HAVE THEIR DNA TAKEN FOR USE SHOULD THEY EVER BECOME DERANGED OR ACCUSED OF A CRIME! SHADES OF EUGENICS PROGRAMS AND THE THIRD REICH.

SORRY I CAN’T HELP MORE AT THE MOMENT, BUT WHEN I’M BACK TO BEING ME I’LL SEE IF I CAN COME UP WITH A BETTER ANSWER FOR YOU.

CORDIALL YOURS,

LBT