Cheapshot @ 1950
I read the article about Canada’s health care disaster. I also read a bunch of the comments that followed. Here are the first few of many:
This article is a typical example of ideologically motivated trash comming from the US that leaves most Canadians completely cold. We are proud of our system and the last thing a very big majority of Canadians (as all polls show) want is a US style health sytem. Mr Morris, why talk incorrectly about other countries when there is plenty to discuss in the US.
BY CHRIS MALONE on 11/04/2009 at 10:36
As noted above, Canadians are very happy with our system. There is always room for improvement, but there is no call among Canadians for a massive overhaul of our system so that is more like that of the United States. Mr. Morris, please stop trying to drag Canada and Canadians into your domestic issues. If you can’t make an argument in defense of your curret system staying as it is on its current merits, then obviously you have no argument. Don’t meddle in the affairs of Canadians.
BY ART CRAMER on 11/04/2009 at 11:02
I wonder how long it took him to make this up. Since 2005, an increasing number of doctors have moved to Canada to practice medicine. In fact, we have seen a net loss of physicians to Canada. Fierce opposition? I’m still waiting for the first republican pundit to actually use facts, rather than just manufacturing talking points to advance their political agenda?
BY BEN NORTON on 11/04/2009 at 11:28
Mr. Morris writes”A recent survey of doctors by the Pew Institute found that 45 percent of all practicing doctors would consider retiring or closing their practices if the Obama healthcare bill passes.”Curiously, he provides no hyperlink to this survey. I cannot find reference to any such poll from the Pew Institute. This figure does come directly from an Investor’s Business Daily article concerning a poll that they conducted privately:http: //www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis /Article.aspx?id=506199″Four of nine doctors, or 45%, said they ‘would consider leaving their practice or taking an early retirement’ if Congress passes the plan the Democratic majority and White House have in mind.”IBD provides no methodology concerning this poll, which was conducted by mail, and there is no indication about the response rate or even how the questions were worded.If Mr. Morris cannot properly reference the source for his empirical data, I’m led to believe that he is simply promoting his personal agenda with little regard to social reality. I find his argument that we should refrain from attempting to provide health care to the millions of uninsured Americans because we don’t have the doctors to treat them both callous and ridiculous at the same time. If this “problem” represented a true concern, I would expect him to promote policies which seek to make our health care system stronger, not weaker.
BY RAIG PRIGHT on 11/04/2009 at 11:41
Curious about some of the other undocumented statistics in Mr. Morris’ commentary, I searched for evidence of the ratio of physicians to residents. According to the OECD data I found, Canada does rank 26th with a ration of 2.2 physicians per 1,000 residents. The United States has a ratio of 2.4, ranking 23rd. The countries with the highest ratios all have nationalized health care systems with universal coverage: Greece (5.4), Belgium (4.0), Netherlands (3.9), Norway (3.9) and Switzerland (3.9). So at this point I have little idea what Mr. Morris hopes to accomplish with his factoids. [OECD data from 2009 available at
tinyurl.com/yg3ufue
