Where I live the conventional wisdom is Canada has better healthcare because it’s more affordable. However I recently spoke to someone who worked in both Canadian and US hospitals and she said US had had more technology and more of a desire to stay competitive and welcome new patients. In both Canada and the US there is health insurance some employers offer so it’s not free in either country.
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> more of a desire to stay competitive
I think that’s a key point between the US and other countries.
**Consider the DMV** (department of motor vehicles). I bet Canada has something similar. You need a driver’s license, so you go to the local DMV office. You fill out paperwork. You take a test. If you need to renew your license or do something else related to that, you go to the DMV.
Okay so far?
What if you didn’t like the way the DMV works. What if they were always slow, always made mistakes, and weren’t friendly when you went there.
What if you get to a point where you said, “Screw this DMV, I’m going to go get my license elsewhere”.
There IS nowhere else to get your license. You can go to the DMV, or you can just not get a license.
Since there’s only ONE provider for this service, the DMV knows you’re going to have to come there. The DMV isn’t worried about a competitor doing better, the DMV isn’t worried about “losing customers” to another service. Right?
So if they’re not worried about “losing business” or “losing customers”, why would they try to do better? Why innovate, why go above and beyond, why exceed expectations, why try to encourage people to use your service … when there’s no one you compete with?
That’s one issue that some people have with universal healthcare. You can either use the government’s healthcare system, or you can just suffer. You have no other option.
Yes, private insurance exists, but I just wanted to illustrate the point. There’s no incentive to stay competitive, in pricing, in service quality, in any aspect … if you have no competition.
This is something that universal healthcare has to find a way to overcome. I hope it can be done. But some people are going to find this a drawback that cannot be overcome.
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