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Then why do we really need national health insurance then? Wouldn't it just make
more sense to find some way to cut down on the cost of malpractice insurance?

And maybe that's not such a good thing. I also read somewhere that it is next to
impossible in Canada to litigate against the health system-class action suits
are nearly impossible, and you can't sue the provincial health officials at all.


Oh no. Don't let the AMA know about this. They have enough power as it is. Ask
most Americans whether they'd like the doctors' lobby to get more powerful.


Well, yeah, tell us about the National Defense Medical Centre outside Ottawa.
Theoretically it's limited to service personnel, but some studies I've heard
about have suggested that about half the patients there are civilians who not
only have connections but aren't "urgent" at all.

The problem is, in a system where hospitals' annual budgets are approved by the
government, how do you keep political considerations out of medical decisions?
I bet that if you're an MP or MPP, or good friends with one, you're put on any
hospital's "urgent" care list no matter how minor your problem. Which is OK 
unless you're someone who gets bumped off the list for some bigshot.


Hmm. How much difference would it make in the figure of percentage of GNP spent
on health care if dentistry and optometry were included in the accounting? 
Maybe Canada spends proportionately just as much on health care as we do.


So what happens if the health care systems financially collapse. Bob Rae, the
second least popular man in Ontario, warned Ontarians a few years ago that if
they didn't stop cross-border shopping in such huge numbers, "the services they
expect from the province just won't be there in a few years" (Fortunately for
them (and less fortunately for the retailers here in Western New York) the 
Canadian dollar went back to a more realistic value). He didn't say so, but I
knew he meant the OHIP. What would happen if his warning turned out to be the 
truth? Would the private insurers take up the slack? They'd be under no 
obligation to. Of course, they could eventually make money again, but if what
you say is true, they'd be loathe to do so (and out of practice in handling 
such basic services, too).


Would that it were free. Americans would start another revolution if they had
to pay taxes at Canadian rates.
