Sunday, June 28, 2009

Leaky argument

Blue Virginia highlights a column about Canadian health care. So that's supposed to settle it?
Nah.
Hate to rain on your parade, but you still have Mark Steyn's leaky Canadians to deal with. As they say in the Outlaw Josey Wales, "Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining." Especially at 3 a.m., when you're getting up for the seventh of 12 times.
The fun of the debate is both sides have their examples. The Canadian plan helps these people. The current plan works best for these people.
The health care debate boils down to, does making life better for 50 million make it much worse for 250 million?
Are the costs for health care higher in America because we're:
1. paying a greedy and inefficient system or
2. carrying the rest of the world on our backs.
Do we innovate, spend money testing new medicines, so other countries don't have to? If we reduce our spending on R&D, are they DOA?
By the way, how does the ratio of doctors/population compare in the U.S. and Canada? I'd like to know that, since that probably constrains care more than any government could.

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