There is another factor you are not taking into account, since your Medical system is so vastly inferior to ours.
http://www.skepticism.net/articles/2002/000022.html
The primary reason Cuba has a lower infant mortality rate than the United States is that the United States is a world leader in an odd category -- the percentage of infants who die on their birthday. In any given year in the United States anywhere from 30-40 percent of infants die before they are even a day old.
Why? Because the United States also easily has the most intensive system of emergency intervention to keep low birth weight and premature infants alive in the world. The United States is, for example, one of only a handful countries that keeps detailed statistics on early fetal mortality -- the survival rate of infants who are born as early as the 20th week of gestation.
How does this skew the statistics? Because in the United States if an infant is born weighing only 400 grams and not breathing, a doctor will likely spend lot of time and money trying to revive that infant. If the infant does not survive -- and the mortality rate for such infants is in excess of 50 percent -- that sequence of events will be recorded as a live birth and then a death.
In many countries, however, (including many European countries) such severe medical intervention would not be attempted and, moreover, regardless of whether or not it was, this would be recorded as a fetal death rather than a live birth. That unfortunate infant would never show up in infant mortality statistics.
Rust wrote:So, according to you, Canadians live an average 2.6 years longer (77.4 years versus 80.0 in 2004) because a small number of us (a couple percent, maybe?) drive to the US to pay for health care... we go somewhere with a LOWER life expectancy to RAISE ours.
Apples and Oranges. The US health care system is hugely superior to Canada's. That is a fact.
Canadians come to the US so they do not die waiting for a procedure. That has little to do with 'expected life expectancies, which have a variety of factors. If we gave you the huge amount of fat fuckers we have in the US, with your medical system, your countries ELE would probably be about 50.
If you are saying health care that is provided in Canada is as good as the US, I'll gladly debate that with you. You'll lose handily
Rust wrote:http://www.effwa.org/opeds/2004_05_27b.phpThe comparative evidence is that the Canadian health care model is inferior to others in place in the OECD. It produces inferior access to physicians and technology, produces longer waiting times, is less successful in preventing death from preventable causes, and costs more than any of the other systems that have comparable objectives. The models that produce superior results and cost less than Canada's monopolistic, single-provider system have user fees; alternative, comprehensive, private insurance; and private hospitals. Canada should follow the example of these superior health care models.
I have no problem if people want to pay privately as long as no money is taken from the public health care system. If you want to pay a doctor to do something, go ahead. Just go set up your private clinic. Vaya usted con dios. Universal health care, on the other hand, is just that. Everyone has the same access, nobody gets special rights because they're rich. Money doesn't earn you special treatment.
In the mean time, good luck with your 50% higher infant mortality rate, and lower life expectancy. Apparently all that FREE HEALTH CARE for the poor doesn't seem to be doing much actual good in keeping them alive, does it?
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Canada loses 5 out of 1000 for infant mortality. The US loses 7 out of 1000. Those figures again include a lot of other factors. On average our hospitals completely own yours in every way, and that includes our birthing facilities, number of medical professionals, and every other category. If you did more than a passing study you'd see that. Also, reread the first bit of this post several times and you'll realize why our infant mortality is higher. its because in addition to a much higher birthrate, many more infants have a CHANCE at life here, versus in Canada or the EU.
Given your society is declining in population, sans your push for immigration, and has a vastly lower birth rate, as well as most likely completely piss poor accounting, auditing, and numbers it really wouldnt surprise me if at the end of the day with your much smaller amount of babies if you still didnt end up with a higher infant mortality than us.
Given people can't even get in to see Doctors, it wouldnt be a surprise.
I'm not saying our system is perfect, or that it doesnt need an overhaul and better support for the poor. I do think it's vastly superior to Canadas, though.
. Without rereading the posts here I don't recall any posts by Canadians concerning problems with the quality of the health care received under their system.
