Re: Canadians Wait & Wait & wait for Health Care
- From: "horatioclaytracepukieorionchildmolestors" <ghostzapper@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 31 May 2006 19:45:45 -0700
Canadians Healthier Than Americans, Survey Says
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They have better access to healthcare while spending much less on it
By Alan Mozes, HealthDay Reporter
More on this in Health & Fitness
'Frivolous' Claims Make Up Small Share of Malpractice Suits
U.S. Hospital Bill for Alcohol Abuse: $2 Billion
Today's Health News
TUESDAY, May 30 (HealthDay News) -- Canadians are healthier than
Americans, have better access to health care and have fewer unmet
health needs, a new study of both countries reveals.
The findings come in spite of the fact that the United States spends
almost twice as much per capita on health care as Canada, the
researchers noted.
"This shows that you can spend much less than we [Americans] do, and
deliver much more and better care then we do," said study co-author Dr.
David U. Himmelstein, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard
Medical School in Cambridge, Mass.
The new study appears to reinforce the findings of a Rand Corporation
report issued earlier this month that showed a similar health care gap
between the U.S. system and that of Great Britain, which, like Canada,
has a universal health care system -- subsidized by tax dollars.
In the current study, Himmelstein and his colleagues reviewed responses
from more than 3,500 Canadians and almost 5,200 Americans over the age
of 18 who participated in the Joint Canada/U.S. Survey of Health -- a
one-time phone survey conducted between 2002 and 2003.
In addition to documenting race, class and immigrant status, the survey
sought to assess each individual's current health status, access to
health care, use of health care, history of illness, and ongoing
behaviors -- such as smoking -- considered to be health risks.
Reporting in the July issue of the American Journal of Public Health,
the researchers found that although Canadians smoke more than
Americans, Americans are more likely to be inactive and obese, and have
higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis and lung
disease.
Specifically, Americans are one-third less likely to have a regular
doctor, two times less likely to take needed medications, and
one-fourth more likely to have unmet health care needs than Canadians.
While Americans were more likely to identify cost as the impediment to
care, Canadians were more likely to cite waiting times as their main
obstacle to good care. However, just 3.5 percent of Canadians were
impacted by treatment delays, the survey found.
Despite generally better health and access to care, however, Canadians
do not appear to be any happier with their health care system than
Americans.
In fact, Americans said they were more satisfied than Canadians with
the quality of care they received at either a hospital or a
community-based facility. Canadians were happier with their physicians,
however.
As well, American health care did excel in some areas compared to the
Canadian system. For example, American women were more likely to have
had a Pap smear and a mammogram than their Canadian counterparts.
Nevertheless, the American health system appears weakest in relation to
the Canadian approach when it comes to caring for the uninsured.
Americans lacking insurance were found to have a much worse health care
experience than both insured Americans, and (universally insured)
Canadians. The survey found that nearly one in every three (30.4
percent) uninsured Americans had gone without some kind of needed care
because of cost.
Overall, 7 percent of all U.S. residents cited cost as a barrier
preventing them from getting needed care. That number was just 0.8
percent for Canadians.
The influence of wealth on access was also less acute in Canada, where
poorer patients have better access to health care than low-income
Americans.
In terms of race and health, non-whites in both countries were less
satisfied with their health care than whites. However, racial
differences in accessing care appear to be less drastic in Canada.
Based on the results, the researchers conclude that universal health
care coverage should be implemented in the United States. But they also
called for the health care community to improve services to the poor,
and particularly the immigrant populations. They also urged reforms to
prevent waiting-period issues that have impeded Canada's system.
Although this research indicts the American health care system,
Himmelstein said he wanted to accent the positive.
"Actually it's a very hopeful message," he said. "We (Americans) have
the best doctors, best hospitals, and best nurses in the world. But the
way we finance healthcare just doesn't let us do the job. Given what we
are now spending on our healthcare system, we can do better -- if we
just had national health insurance and were allowed to do it right."
Jon Gabel, vice president of the Washington, D.C.-based non-partisan
research organization Center for Studying Health System Change, agreed.
He said the absence of a national health insurance system in the U.S.
means patients don't get full access to care or a better bang for their
health-care buck.
However, Gabel noted that any between-country comparison depends in
large part on whether the focus is on each system's "haves" or
"have-nots".
"For example, once you're in the U.S. health care system, patient
satisfaction is higher than in Canada," he noted.
Greg Scandlen, the founder of the non-profit Consumers for Health Care
Choices based in Hagerstown, Md., disputed the findings.
"In terms of overall satisfaction with the health care system,
Americans score better," noted Scandlen. "So, the headline coming out
of this ought to be that 'Americans are more satisfied with their
healthcare system than Canadians are.'"
Scandlen also criticized the way the study was conducted, noting that
there was too much focus on routine health issues, to the relative
exclusion of crisis situations that can demand more costly and dramatic
interventions.
"Canada clearly emphasizes primary care pretty strongly, and I give
them credit for that," he said. But he added, "This survey doesn't look
at the more serious stuff, like surgery and cardiac care -- serious,
expensive things that apply to a minority of the population."
More information
For more on the U.S. healthcare system, head to the Kaiser Family
Foundation.
content by:
SOURCES: David U. Himmelstein, M.D., associate professor, medicine,
Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Mass; Jon Gabel, vice president,
Center for Studying Health System Change, Washington, D.C.; Greg
Scandlen, founder, Consumers for Health Care Choices, Hagerstown, Md;
July 2006 American Journal of Public Health.
Copyright © 2006 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Criminal Democrat Congressman William Jefferson wrote:
INDEPTH: HEALTH CARE
Waiting for access
CBC News Online | September 10, 2004
Long waiting times are the main, and in many cases, the only reason some
Canadians say they would be willing to pay for treatments outside of the
public health care system.
- Roy Romanow in his report on the future of health care in Canada, November
2002
Long waits for diagnostic tests, access to specialists and some surgeries
have long been at the heart of complaints about the failings of Canada's
health care system. Fix that, Roy Romanow concluded in his $15-million
report, and Ottawa will go a long way towards satisfying Canadians' concerns
about medicare.
In his report on how to fix medicare, Senator Michael Kirby recommended that
the government should pay for out-of-province or out-of-country treatment
for patients who don't receive timely care.
Romanow figured the problem could be handled with a little cash and some
organization. Two key recommendations to come out of his report were:
a.. The creation of a Diagnostic Services Fund to improve access to
medically necessary diagnostic services.
b.. Provincial and territorial governments should take immediate action to
manage wait lists more effectively by centralized approaches, setting
standardized criteria, and providing clear information to patients on how
long they can expect to wait.
Romanow reasoned that access to necessary diagnostic services - like MRIs
and CT scans - can create bottlenecks in the rest of the health-care system
by extending waiting times for patients who need tests to confirm a
diagnosis before surgery or further treatment. He concluded that by focusing
on diagnostic services, the provinces and territories would be able to make
better choices regarding the equipment and staff on which they should be
spending more money.
In the 2004 federal election campaign, Prime Minister Paul Martin proposed a
Waiting Times Reduction Fund of $4 billion, giving a title to commitments
reached at a first ministers conference on health care a year earlier.
At the same time, Martin promised to significantly cut waiting times in five
key areas by the end of 2009:
a.. Cancer treatment.
b.. Cardiac care.
c.. Diagnostic imaging.
d.. Joint replacements.
e.. Sight restoration.
Part of the plan would be to publish estimated waiting times for each of the
five areas across the country - by the end of 2005.
Some provinces offer variations of that service. But the quality of
information varies widely.
For instance, the health ministries of B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba
and Quebec allow you to search for estimated wait times for several surgical
procedures. In Quebec, you can check estimated waiting times by hospital.
The site notes that the information is not meant to allow the user to "shop
around" for the shortest waiting list.
Ontario does not offer such a service, but the system it uses to manage
information about who needs cardiac services has been praised as one of the
best in North America.
The Cardiac Care Network of Ontario (CCN) has devised a provincewide rating
system. Those with the most urgent need for an angiogram, angioplasty or
bypass surgery go to the top of the list. Each of the province's 17 cardiac
care centres has a co-ordinator who receives patients' test results, gets
people on the list and starts looking for room across the province.
"We page each other when we have an urgent case that needs surgery within a
24-hour time frame," Kathleen Brown, one of 17 CCN co-ordinators told
CBC-TV's The National. "We'll ask them, 'what is your list like, what is
your opening' even though we have assessed the patient."
Ontario is the only province in the country to handle cardiac patients this
way. Traditionally, physicians and surgeons keep waiting lists of their own
patients.
But the CCN system has some limitations. It doesn't track people until
they've seen a cardiologist, which for many people, can be the longest wait
in the system. The network's information is still organized by phone and fax
so by the time lists are entered into a database they can be up to two
months out of date. The network has asked the Ontario government to pay for
a multimillion-dollar software update to get real-time information.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, the St. John's Health Care Corporation, has
begun the process of determining how to cut waiting times by hiring a wait
time manager, who will have the task of researching the problem and coming
up with solutions.
George Tilly, the corporation's CEO, says without the full picture he'll
just have to trust the politicians to make the right move.
"We have some very crude data that would tell us that we can do better in
terms of access for cardiac surgery, for urology surgery and access to our
MRI [machines]. If there was additional available, targeted funding for that
purpose, instead of into the general system at large, then I really think it
has the potential of benefiting us."
In Newfoundland, the wait for an MRI has typically been a year. Tilly says
it should be three months at the most. The wait for a mammogram averages 14
months. In other provinces, it's weeks.
The Canadian Health Coalition has long called on doctors and hospitals to
make their waiting time lists public. The coalition's Mike McBain says it
would allow patients to shop around for better service. But at the same
time, he warns, waiting will always be a part of medicine.
"Hospitals operate on the basis that urgent patients get care first," McBain
told CBC News. "And I don't want a politician to decide what's more
important and what has to be worked on - on a priority basis - and everybody
else waits. Those are medical decisions."
That's something else that has concerned health commissioner Roy Romanow. He
points out there are few rules that govern when - or if - someone should be
put on a wait list for a particular service. It's almost totally up to
individual physicians to draw up lists of people who need access to the
system. And without the infrastructure to determine how to deal efficiently
with those lists, the waiting will continue.
Canadiens healther than Americans
Canadians Healthier Than Americans, Survey Says
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They have better access to healthcare while spending much less on it
By Alan Mozes, HealthDay Reporter
More on this in Health & Fitness
'Frivolous' Claims Make Up Small Share of Malpractice Suits
U.S. Hospital Bill for Alcohol Abuse: $2 Billion
Today's Health News
TUESDAY, May 30 (HealthDay News) -- Canadians are healthier than
Americans, have better access to health care and have fewer unmet
health needs, a new study of both countries reveals.
The findings come in spite of the fact that the United States spends
almost twice as much per capita on health care as Canada, the
researchers noted.
"This shows that you can spend much less than we [Americans] do, and
deliver much more and better care then we do," said study co-author Dr.
David U. Himmelstein, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard
Medical School in Cambridge, Mass.
The new study appears to reinforce the findings of a Rand Corporation
report issued earlier this month that showed a similar health care gap
between the U.S. system and that of Great Britain, which, like Canada,
has a universal health care system -- subsidized by tax dollars.
In the current study, Himmelstein and his colleagues reviewed responses
from more than 3,500 Canadians and almost 5,200 Americans over the age
of 18 who participated in the Joint Canada/U.S. Survey of Health -- a
one-time phone survey conducted between 2002 and 2003.
In addition to documenting race, class and immigrant status, the survey
sought to assess each individual's current health status, access to
health care, use of health care, history of illness, and ongoing
behaviors -- such as smoking -- considered to be health risks.
Reporting in the July issue of the American Journal of Public Health,
the researchers found that although Canadians smoke more than
Americans, Americans are more likely to be inactive and obese, and have
higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis and lung
disease.
Specifically, Americans are one-third less likely to have a regular
doctor, two times less likely to take needed medications, and
one-fourth more likely to have unmet health care needs than Canadians.
While Americans were more likely to identify cost as the impediment to
care, Canadians were more likely to cite waiting times as their main
obstacle to good care. However, just 3.5 percent of Canadians were
impacted by treatment delays, the survey found.
Despite generally better health and access to care, however, Canadians
do not appear to be any happier with their health care system than
Americans.
In fact, Americans said they were more satisfied than Canadians with
the quality of care they received at either a hospital or a
community-based facility. Canadians were happier with their physicians,
however.
As well, American health care did excel in some areas compared to the
Canadian system. For example, American women were more likely to have
had a Pap smear and a mammogram than their Canadian counterparts.
Nevertheless, the American health system appears weakest in relation to
the Canadian approach when it comes to caring for the uninsured.
Americans lacking insurance were found to have a much worse health care
experience than both insured Americans, and (universally insured)
Canadians. The survey found that nearly one in every three (30.4
percent) uninsured Americans had gone without some kind of needed care
because of cost.
Overall, 7 percent of all U.S. residents cited cost as a barrier
preventing them from getting needed care. That number was just 0.8
percent for Canadians.
The influence of wealth on access was also less acute in Canada, where
poorer patients have better access to health care than low-income
Americans.
In terms of race and health, non-whites in both countries were less
satisfied with their health care than whites. However, racial
differences in accessing care appear to be less drastic in Canada.
Based on the results, the researchers conclude that universal health
care coverage should be implemented in the United States. But they also
called for the health care community to improve services to the poor,
and particularly the immigrant populations. They also urged reforms to
prevent waiting-period issues that have impeded Canada's system.
Although this research indicts the American health care system,
Himmelstein said he wanted to accent the positive.
"Actually it's a very hopeful message," he said. "We (Americans) have
the best doctors, best hospitals, and best nurses in the world. But the
way we finance healthcare just doesn't let us do the job. Given what we
are now spending on our healthcare system, we can do better -- if we
just had national health insurance and were allowed to do it right."
Jon Gabel, vice president of the Washington, D.C.-based non-partisan
research organization Center for Studying Health System Change, agreed.
He said the absence of a national health insurance system in the U.S.
means patients don't get full access to care or a better bang for their
health-care buck.
However, Gabel noted that any between-country comparison depends in
large part on whether the focus is on each system's "haves" or
"have-nots".
"For example, once you're in the U.S. health care system, patient
satisfaction is higher than in Canada," he noted.
Greg Scandlen, the founder of the non-profit Consumers for Health Care
Choices based in Hagerstown, Md., disputed the findings.
"In terms of overall satisfaction with the health care system,
Americans score better," noted Scandlen. "So, the headline coming out
of this ought to be that 'Americans are more satisfied with their
healthcare system than Canadians are.'"
Scandlen also criticized the way the study was conducted, noting that
there was too much focus on routine health issues, to the relative
exclusion of crisis situations that can demand more costly and dramatic
interventions.
"Canada clearly emphasizes primary care pretty strongly, and I give
them credit for that," he said. But he added, "This survey doesn't look
at the more serious stuff, like surgery and cardiac care -- serious,
expensive things that apply to a minority of the population."
More information
For more on the U.S. healthcare system, head to the Kaiser Family
Foundation.
content by:
SOURCES: David U. Himmelstein, M.D., associate professor, medicine,
Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Mass; Jon Gabel, vice president,
Center for Studying Health System Change, Washington, D.C.; Greg
Scandlen, founder, Consumers for Health Care Choices, Hagerstown, Md;
July 2006 American Journal of Public Health.
Copyright © 2006 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Canadians Healthier Than Americans, Survey Says
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They have better access to healthcare while spending much less on it
By Alan Mozes, HealthDay Reporter
More on this in Health & Fitness
'Frivolous' Claims Make Up Small Share of Malpractice Suits
U.S. Hospital Bill for Alcohol Abuse: $2 Billion
Today's Health News
TUESDAY, May 30 (HealthDay News) -- Canadians are healthier than
Americans, have better access to health care and have fewer unmet
health needs, a new study of both countries reveals.
The findings come in spite of the fact that the United States spends
almost twice as much per capita on health care as Canada, the
researchers noted.
"This shows that you can spend much less than we [Americans] do, and
deliver much more and better care then we do," said study co-author Dr.
David U. Himmelstein, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard
Medical School in Cambridge, Mass.
The new study appears to reinforce the findings of a Rand Corporation
report issued earlier this month that showed a similar health care gap
between the U.S. system and that of Great Britain, which, like Canada,
has a universal health care system -- subsidized by tax dollars.
In the current study, Himmelstein and his colleagues reviewed responses
from more than 3,500 Canadians and almost 5,200 Americans over the age
of 18 who participated in the Joint Canada/U.S. Survey of Health -- a
one-time phone survey conducted between 2002 and 2003.
In addition to documenting race, class and immigrant status, the survey
sought to assess each individual's current health status, access to
health care, use of health care, history of illness, and ongoing
behaviors -- such as smoking -- considered to be health risks.
Reporting in the July issue of the American Journal of Public Health,
the researchers found that although Canadians smoke more than
Americans, Americans are more likely to be inactive and obese, and have
higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis and lung
disease.
Specifically, Americans are one-third less likely to have a regular
doctor, two times less likely to take needed medications, and
one-fourth more likely to have unmet health care needs than Canadians.
While Americans were more likely to identify cost as the impediment to
care, Canadians were more likely to cite waiting times as their main
obstacle to good care. However, just 3.5 percent of Canadians were
impacted by treatment delays, the survey found.
Despite generally better health and access to care, however, Canadians
do not appear to be any happier with their health care system than
Americans.
In fact, Americans said they were more satisfied than Canadians with
the quality of care they received at either a hospital or a
community-based facility. Canadians were happier with their physicians,
however.
As well, American health care did excel in some areas compared to the
Canadian system. For example, American women were more likely to have
had a Pap smear and a mammogram than their Canadian counterparts.
Nevertheless, the American health system appears weakest in relation to
the Canadian approach when it comes to caring for the uninsured.
Americans lacking insurance were found to have a much worse health care
experience than both insured Americans, and (universally insured)
Canadians. The survey found that nearly one in every three (30.4
percent) uninsured Americans had gone without some kind of needed care
because of cost.
Overall, 7 percent of all U.S. residents cited cost as a barrier
preventing them from getting needed care. That number was just 0.8
percent for Canadians.
The influence of wealth on access was also less acute in Canada, where
poorer patients have better access to health care than low-income
Americans.
In terms of race and health, non-whites in both countries were less
satisfied with their health care than whites. However, racial
differences in accessing care appear to be less drastic in Canada.
Based on the results, the researchers conclude that universal health
care coverage should be implemented in the United States. But they also
called for the health care community to improve services to the poor,
and particularly the immigrant populations. They also urged reforms to
prevent waiting-period issues that have impeded Canada's system.
Although this research indicts the American health care system,
Himmelstein said he wanted to accent the positive.
"Actually it's a very hopeful message," he said. "We (Americans) have
the best doctors, best hospitals, and best nurses in the world. But the
way we finance healthcare just doesn't let us do the job. Given what we
are now spending on our healthcare system, we can do better -- if we
just had national health insurance and were allowed to do it right."
Jon Gabel, vice president of the Washington, D.C.-based non-partisan
research organization Center for Studying Health System Change, agreed.
He said the absence of a national health insurance system in the U.S.
means patients don't get full access to care or a better bang for their
health-care buck.
However, Gabel noted that any between-country comparison depends in
large part on whether the focus is on each system's "haves" or
"have-nots".
"For example, once you're in the U.S. health care system, patient
satisfaction is higher than in Canada," he noted.
Greg Scandlen, the founder of the non-profit Consumers for Health Care
Choices based in Hagerstown, Md., disputed the findings.
"In terms of overall satisfaction with the health care system,
Americans score better," noted Scandlen. "So, the headline coming out
of this ought to be that 'Americans are more satisfied with their
healthcare system than Canadians are.'"
Scandlen also criticized the way the study was conducted, noting that
there was too much focus on routine health issues, to the relative
exclusion of crisis situations that can demand more costly and dramatic
interventions.
"Canada clearly emphasizes primary care pretty strongly, and I give
them credit for that," he said. But he added, "This survey doesn't look
at the more serious stuff, like surgery and cardiac care -- serious,
expensive things that apply to a minority of the population."
More information
For more on the U.S. healthcare system, head to the Kaiser Family
Foundation.
content by:
SOURCES: David U. Himmelstein, M.D., associate professor, medicine,
Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Mass; Jon Gabel, vice president,
Center for Studying Health System Change, Washington, D.C.; Greg
Scandlen, founder, Consumers for Health Care Choices, Hagerstown, Md;
July 2006 American Journal of Public Health.
Copyright © 2006 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
.
- References:
- Canadians Healthier Than Americans
- From: horatioclaytracepukieorionchildmolestors
- Canadians Healthier Than Americans
- Prev by Date: Canadians Healthier Than Americans
- Next by Date: More Blood for Bloody Bush
- Previous by thread: Canadians Healthier Than Americans
- Next by thread: More Blood for Bloody Bush
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
Loading
