A Usenet persona calling itself BCITORGB wrote:

Scott insists:
===============
Everyone should be able to seek out a hospital and/or a surgeon
that can provide service immediately. In Canada, while people sit on
waiting
lists, beds in hospitals are empty or occupied by chronically-ill
patients.
Even if your local hospital is idle, if you're not at the top of the
list,
they won't help you.
===============

If beds are empty and the hospital is idle, why wouldn't they help you?

Because they don't have any money or staff, and evidently because government
bureaucrats don't give a damn about sick people and don't want to fill
hospital beds because it makes them look bad to be at capacity all the time.



It seems to me, you get waiting lists (waits of any kind) when
enterprises (including hospitals) are operating at or near capacity.

That would be true. But in the free market model, when such shortages occur,
the market responds with more beds and services.

You'll wait when there are no more beds, no more doctors, or no more
nurses. What other reason would there be to wait?

The question is *why* are there no beds, nurses or hospital rooms available.


One of the most discussed waits in Canada appears to be MRI's. It seems
we've not bought enough. On the other hand, it appears they're as
commonplace as slurpy machines at a 7-11 in the USA. Quite likely,
we've been a bit miserly when it comes to MRI's. On the other hand, all
the private clinics in the USA which sport these spiffy macines are
going to have to recoup their investments. This they do by taking it
out of the pockets of those who require the MRI.

Well, not quite. They can't simply charge whatever they want because their
customers will go to a competitor, so they have to keep the prices down.
Other than that, what's wrong with their providing a service for a fee?

The Canadian government sees no need to spend more money on MRI machines
because there's no economic reason to do so. They, like most government run
enterprises, don't respond to marketplace pressures, they respond only to
political pressures.

So, wait for a couple
of days in Canada, or wait a few minutes in the USA (and pay dearly for
the convenience).

Try "wait a year or more" in Canada.

"Although computer scanning (in place of conventional x-ray) is routine
diagnostic procedure in the United States, a patient in Ontario can wait as
long as a year and four months for an MRI scan."


If hospitals are "idle", there's absolutely no waiting. They quickly
spring into action.

You would think, but evidently not:

"Despite many recent claims, there is little evidence of efficiency in
countries with national health insurance. While people wait for months and
even years for hospital admission, hospital managers appear uninterested in
admitting more patients.

€ While more than 50,000 people wait for surgery in New Zealand, at
any point in time one in five hospital beds is empty and one in four is
occupied by a chronically ill patient using the hospital as an expensive
nursing home.

€ While more than one million people wait for surgery in Britain,
at any point in time about one-fourth of all beds are empty and another
one-fourth are being used by nursing home patients.

€ While more than 250,000 people wait for surgery in Canada, at any
point in time almost one in five hospital beds is empty and a fourth of all
beds is being used by nursing home patients."



Where do you get your data?!

National Center for Policy Analysis, Report 166



frtzw906


--
Regards,
Scott Weiser

"I love the Internet, I no longer have to depend on
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© 2005 Scott Weiser