February 18, 2003
Canadian Healthcare
The Canadian Medical Association is happy that the Canadian Healthcare system is fair when it takes far too long to provide treatment. By that they mean that rich people wait just as long as poor people for their "elective" surgeries. The lead investigator said, "In a system of mixed private and public, and people buy their way to the front of the line, equity isn't an issue. That's not what the goal of the system is. But so long as there is this effective monopoly, we have to be sure that we're being fair to everybody and not discriminating on the basis of social position. And we're happy in this instance we've shown that." Well, fine and dandy. But the report didn't address the difference in wait times for wealthy Canadians who came to the United States to have their elective surgeries done -- thus buying their way to the front of a different line. It only took them seven years to complete the study -- which is considered speedy for Canadian medicine.
Posted by Kevin Murphy at February 18, 2003 11:59 AM | Economics
