"Soaring costs force Canada to reassess health model" reads the headline. Well golly! Imagine that. As baby boomers push into retirement creating more demand for medical services and fewer people are working to pay for them we have - presto - a crisis. Buried at the end of the article are a couple of paragraphs that may help explain the crisis and why it isn't going to be fixed soon:
"... one cost-saving idea may be to make patients aware of how much it costs each time they visit a healthcare professional. "(The public) will use the services more wisely if they know how much it's costing," she said.
"If it's absolutely free with no information on the cost and the information of an alternative that would be have been more practical, then how can we expect the public to wisely use the service?"
But change may come slowly. Universal healthcare is central to Canada's national identity, and decisions are made as much on politics as economics.
"It's an area that Canadians don't want to see touched," said TD's Burleton. "Essentially it boils down the wishes of the population. But I think, from an economist's standpoint, we point to the fact that sometimes Canadians in the short term may not realize the cost."
Right. As Tom Peterson used to say, "Free is a very good price!" What Canada is running into are two unalterable facts: in this world there is no unlimited supply of anything and people are selfish. No amount of "education" is going to change either of these facts. Consequently, Canadians will continue to use "free" medical services at a prodigious rate until the system goes bust or the bureaucrats step in and issue rationing cards. Of course, Canadians who have a really serious medical issue and can afford it flock to hospitals on the U.S. side of the border for treatment. Scarce goods and services are either allocated by the market or by bureaucrats and the former is the fairest and assures the greatest supply.
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