Options to save Canada's crumbling public health care

[DKG]

SecondStreet.org launched a new documentary: Health Reform Now. It gives a voice to Canadians who have been let down by the health-care system and it speaks to experts and health-care providers to point to meaningful reforms — ones that are widely used in Europe to provide better care to patients.

One such reform would be implementing activity-based funding, a policy the Montreal Economic Institute and Fraser Institute have recommended for years.

Right now, hospitals in Canada are funded in large block grants, with one large lump sum providing the entire year's operating budget. What that means, in practice, is that every patient a hospital treats is a drain on that budget. So the incentive is entirely backwards in terms of getting more people through the doors and into treatment.

What activity-based funding does is reverse that incentive structure. Instead, funding would follow the patient, meaning if a patient is treated, the health-care facility would be given a set fee to pay for that treatment. In practice, this means the more patients a hospital helps, the more dollars the hospital receives from the government.

This isn't a new concept either. Rather, most countries that operate universal health-care systems follow a similar funding formula, tying tax dollars to treatment and results. Canada is a holdout here and there don't seem to be any coherent arguments as to why.

We have seen the difference a simple reform like this can make in delivering health care to folks who need it. For instance, the Quebec government has used this funding policy to increase MRI scans by 22% while the cost per procedure decreased by 4%. This is the type of meaningful but simple reform that could be introduced across Canada to reduce wait times and encourage hospitals to be more efficient and patient-centred.

Governments owe it to patients to pursue them and provide Canadians with the best health-care system in the world, not one where people get sicker or even die while they are stuck on a waiting list.
It's time for health reform – now.
https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-looking-at-global-options-to-improve-canadian-health-care

Politicians right across Canada seem unable or unwilling to confront the challenges Canadian public health faces with any meaningful reforms.

[Prof Emeritus at Fawk U]

So will the Canadian civil war break out before the American one?

[Thiel]

So will the Canadian civil war break out before the American one?

I don't live in Canada right now, but from what I have been reading Canadians have had enough. The restrictions on what Canadians can read and say online have pushed them too far. Not to mention the all out assault the Trudeau government has been waging on free market prosperity.

[Prof Emeritus at Fawk U]

I don't live in Canada right now, but from what I have been reading Canadians have had enough. The restrictions on what Canadians can read and say online have pushed them too far. Not to mention the all out assault the Trudeau government has been waging on free market prosperity.

So in 10-15 years it happens?

[Frood]

So will the Canadian civil war break out before the American one?

Canadians are largely unarmed and too pussified to mount an armed insurrection.

Like Australia, like New Zealand...

[Sea]

Canadians are largely unarmed and too pussified to mount an armed insurrection.

Like Australia, like New Zealand...


For an ass like you with nothing to lose why not
[/quo

[JOE]

Canada should ration the healthcare system for those that abuse or overuse it.

Homeless people, drunks, drug addicts should be all be thrown into overnight trailers -aka drunk tanks - rather than being allowed into hospitals to use our ER rooms as a free place to stay the night. Let them sober up in some dirty trailer instead.

People who overuse the system should pay for it. Remind them that a stay at at the hospital is not a night at the Hilton.

Even in the US, Medicaid there places a limit on how many visits its recipients get & how examinations they can take. The number of freebies Americans get who receive Medicaid is way less than what the Canadian Medicare system gives to its patients.

Eliminating system abuse would save our healthcare system millions or possibly billions in Canada.

[JOE]

Also a lot of health problems originate from people who don't take care of themselves. Ie smoking, vaping, drinking, obesity, doing drugs like marijuana. So of course they have health issues later in life

While there certainly are people who are predisposed to health problems, If there was a greater emphasis on preventing self abuse that might also save the health system millions as well.

[Brent]

Good thread until Joe posted in it.

[Trump’s Niece]

Canadians are largely unarmed and too pussified to mount an armed insurrection.

Like Australia, like New Zealand...


For an ass like you with nothing to lose why not
[/quo

Fucking A 

[Thiel]

Canada should ration the healthcare system for those that abuse or overuse it.

Homeless people, drunks, drug addicts should be all be thrown into overnight trailers -aka drunk tanks - rather than being allowed into hospitals to use our ER rooms as a free place to stay the night. Let them sober up in some dirty trailer instead.

People who overuse the system should pay for it. Remind them that a stay at at the hospital is not a night at the Hilton.

Even in the US, Medicaid there places a limit on how many visits its recipients get & how examinations they can take. The number of freebies Americans get who receive Medicaid is way less than what the Canadian Medicare system gives to its patients.

Eliminating system abuse would save our healthcare system millions or possibly billions in Canada.

I have a much simpler and more cost effective fix Sugarplum. Change the Canada Health Act to allow a private competing system thereby taking financial pressure off the collapsing public system.

[Thiel]

Also a lot of health problems originate from people who don't take care of themselves. Ie smoking, vaping, drinking, obesity, doing drugs like marijuana. So of course they have health issues later in life

While there certainly are people who are predisposed to health problems, If there was a greater emphasis on preventing self abuse that might also save the health system millions as well.

That is how a private health care system would work Sweetie. So why not just make the legal changes to allow a better performing and more efficient private system.

[Herman]

SecondStreet.org launched a new documentary: Health Reform Now. It gives a voice to Canadians who have been let down by the health-care system and it speaks to experts and health-care providers to point to meaningful reforms — ones that are widely used in Europe to provide better care to patients.

One such reform would be implementing activity-based funding, a policy the Montreal Economic Institute and Fraser Institute have recommended for years.

Right now, hospitals in Canada are funded in large block grants, with one large lump sum providing the entire year's operating budget. What that means, in practice, is that every patient a hospital treats is a drain on that budget. So the incentive is entirely backwards in terms of getting more people through the doors and into treatment.

What activity-based funding does is reverse that incentive structure. Instead, funding would follow the patient, meaning if a patient is treated, the health-care facility would be given a set fee to pay for that treatment. In practice, this means the more patients a hospital helps, the more dollars the hospital receives from the government.

This isn't a new concept either. Rather, most countries that operate universal health-care systems follow a similar funding formula, tying tax dollars to treatment and results. Canada is a holdout here and there don't seem to be any coherent arguments as to why.

We have seen the difference a simple reform like this can make in delivering health care to folks who need it. For instance, the Quebec government has used this funding policy to increase MRI scans by 22% while the cost per procedure decreased by 4%. This is the type of meaningful but simple reform that could be introduced across Canada to reduce wait times and encourage hospitals to be more efficient and patient-centred.

Governments owe it to patients to pursue them and provide Canadians with the best health-care system in the world, not one where people get sicker or even die while they are stuck on a waiting list.
It's time for health reform – now.
https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-looking-at-global-options-to-improve-canadian-health-care

Politicians right across Canada seem unable or unwilling to confront the challenges Canadian public health faces with any meaningful reforms.

I did not know about block grants. What I do know is that we spend a fortune on piss poor health care.

[Sea]

I did not know about block grants. What I do know is that we spend a fortune on piss poor health care.

Really ashamed Herman, especially when you need it most. I pay $60. Per month, for pretty good coverage. It's the fucking insurance companies that make it expensive

[Shen Li]

I'm sooooooo glad I don't have to deal with failing Canadian health care anymore.

Here in SG, I can see a doctor within a day. If I need testing, same day. If I needed a procedure done, within a week.

And we provide much better care cheaper than Canada.

According to global consulting firm Towers Watson, Singapore has "one of the most successful healthcare systems in the world, in terms of both efficiency in financing and the results achieved in community health outcomes" For the most part, the government does not directly regulate the costs of private medical care. These costs are largely subject to market forces, and vary enormously within the private sector, depending on the medical specialty and service provided.