We recently heard a speech by a labor representative from Canada who explained how they do things there. The system covers every citizen for all doctor and hospital costs (no deductibles or copays). You can choose any general practitioner or specialist you want and change whenever you want. The doctor decides what care you will get, not an insurance company. Canada spends a much lower proportion of GDP on medical care than we do, their people are healthier, and their businesses are more competitive because they don't have to provide health insurance. The risk is spread out among everybody through personal and corporate taxes. Providers negotiate reimbursement rates with the provincial governments and don't have to fight with insurance companies for their payments. Labor unions sometimes negotiate with employers to pay for insurance to cover extras like prescriptions and upgrades from semiprivate to private rooms. There have been some problems with people having to wait for elective procedures, but that has been overstated and was caused by inadequte funding rather than by the system itself, and they are improving the situation. They even hope to add prescription drugs, home care, and preventive dental coverage in the future.

When asked how many Canadians are satisfied with their health care, he estimated it at 95%. It sure sounded good to us. You can hear this whole presentation by downloading audio files here:
http://grassrootsnorthshore.org/?page_id=1...