The CMA's Plan for Medicare Plus: What does the Evidence Say?

CRNA 2007: Wow! I'd like to know how you got the opinion that the Canadian system is "miserable". Before typing (mouthing) off, do some investigation, please. In Michael Moore's movie "Sicko" the Canadians interviewed said they'd be afraid to go to the United States without buying additional healthcare insurance. My sister spends $2500. on that a year, because she winters in Palm Springs for 4 months. Doing that reduces the likelihood of costly falls on the ice, and muscular strain, less resistance to secondary pulmonary disease following URIs in the cold climate and is a form of preventive care. She's 78, and her husband is 80 - testaments to the increased longevity of Canadians. My brother-in-law has 2 knee replacements which were done in Canada with a minimal wait, and recovery in a rehab unit after his hospital stay (the norm); and my sister needs extensive treatment for her aging stenotic back, and has no difficulty accessing pain clinics, physio (as they call it) therapy, and specialists for second opinions, in a timely manner.
Be all that as it may, we have much to learn from each other. Calling one system "terrible" doesn't allow other opinions in........

Admittedly my knowledge is annecdotal, but it covers many friends and relatives I have in Canada, most in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. Their medical problems have been quickly, expertly, and thoroughly handled. Admittedly a few "fat cats" whose need for immediate gratification exceeds that of most Canadians go to the U.S.A., and proudly boast of their success beating the system. I'll bet if you discussed what they thought was better in the U.S.A., is the appearance of hospitals and doctors' offices, filled as they are with designer furniture, professional decorating touches, etc. If you asked how they ranked the nursing care, it would resound a sour note.
I know nurses on both sides of the northern border who, while overworked and underpaid put others' (patients') needs before their own. It's called co-dependency, which abounds in our profession. Nevertheless Canadian Nurses (and I am one) have a far more rigorous, patient care oriented schooling, and are known by their employers to be extremely diligent. On the thread "tired of impaired nurses", it's shocking to see what goes on, that Nurses in the U.S.A. think it is normal practise to commit malpractise, and whine when they're caught, that "everybody else does it". Nurses I know who received their education in Canada realize they're responsible for their own reputations and that of all Nurses, and do their best to advance good ones.
I've worked in QA/QI enough, for 40 + years to know the standards of practise south of the northern border are below those in Canada.
Bad habits are easy to acquire, such as not checking pockets at the end of shifts to make sure any drugs placed there, are returned. Personally, I'd never place another's medication in my pocket, where I might have a dirty tissue......
We can exchange loyal beliefs, but as HM Viking demonstrated with statistics, the unrefutable proof is there, that Canadians do have (superior prevention of disease programs, leading to healthier), longer lives, and greater survival of newborns. If someone broke down those stats into socio-economical groups, and weather conditions that make healthcare harder to access, along with a huge population of Eskimos and other indiginous people, the comparison would get even more eye-opening.

The fact remains that prevention is 9/10 of the cure of disease. Due to the Canadian emphasis on using safety belts in cars, the incidence of more severely injured people in accidents fell. When smoking was believed injurious to health, no rewards were given those who quit, (such as lower insurance premiums) other than knowing more of their money (and the lives of loved ones) was saved when pulmonary and cardiac disease receded. If a pregnant woman was seen smoking in Canada, she'd be promptly told by outraged strangers, to stop it.