A recent “Investor’s Business Daily” article has been making the email circuit.
Provides statistics from a survey by the United Nations International Health Organization:
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Percentage of men and women who survived a cancer five years after diagnosis:
U.S. 65% Canada 42% England 46%
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Percentage of patients diagnosed with diabetes who received treatment within six months:
U.S. 93% Canada 43% England 15%
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Percentage of seniors needing hip replacement who received it within six months:
U.S. 90% Canada 43% England 15%
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Percentage referred to a medical specialist who see one within one month:
U.S. 77% Canada 43% England 40%
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Number of MRI scanners (a prime diagnostic tool) per million people:
U.S. 71 England 14 Canada 18
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The Homa Files 
August 18, 2011 at 1:11 pm |
Fisrt, those wait time statistics are grossly misleading since in Canada and Britain everyone is actually *in* the line. Any country could make their wait times look shorter by simply pricing a large percentage of their population completely out of the line and then pretending they don’t exist instead of admitting that those people basically have wait times that equal “forever”.
Second, anyone can cherry pick a few favorable statistics to make one system look better. Try a comprehensive medical outcomes research study:
http://www.openmedicine.ca/article/view/8/1
“Results: We identified 38 studies comparing populations of patients in Canada and the United States. Studies addressed diverse problems, including cancer, coronary artery disease, chronic medical illnesses and surgical procedures. Of 10 studies that included extensive statistical adjustment and enrolled broad populations, 5 favoured Canada, 2 favoured the United States, and 3 showed equivalent or mixed results. Of 28 studies that failed one of these criteria, 9 favoured Canada, 3 favoured the United States, and 16 showed equivalent or mixed results. Overall, results for mortality favoured Canada (relative risk 0.95, 95% confidence interval 0.92-0.98, p= 0.002) but were very heterogeneous, and we failed to find convincing explanations for this heterogeneity. The only condition in which results consistently favoured one country was end-stage renal disease, in which Canadian patients fared better.”
And the answer is “Yes, I would trade the US system for Canada’s in a heartbeat”. It achieves equivalent to slightly superior results on average and it costs half as much to run doing it. And I say this as someone who grew up in Canada and has lived in the US for over ten years and has first hand exposure to both. It’s no contest which system is superior.
However, if we get to change systems, then while Canada’s would be an improvement there are several European systems which are considerably better.You want truly excellent health care, copy France’s system. It’s outstanding.
August 20, 2011 at 11:29 pm |
Are you familiar with Robin Hanson? He argues that medicine does as much harm as good on the margin, so we should cut it in half.
August 31, 2011 at 10:51 am |
Breville BJB840XL Juicer…
Seriously, would you trade our healthcare system for Canada’s or England’s? « The Homa Files…