Monday, April 04, 2005
A Universal Health Care Delay System?
We hear a lot about the problems and high cost of American health care ; sometimes these concerns are coupled with a call for universal or socialized health care as provided by the governments of Canada or England. What we don't hear so much about is the very long delays in getting health care in these countries. Canadians often wait over a year for medical care that would be provided in days to weeks in the US. This situation is getting considerable attention in Canadian news sources, but not much south of the border. Let's take a look at what Canadians are saying about the problem of patients getting care in their health system.
As discussed here CTV.ca | Doctors call for limits on wait times : "Doctors and patients across Canada say waiting times for a variety of diagnostic tests and surgeries are alarmingly long. That's why a group of doctors has joined together to issue guidelines for what should be maximum waits for treatment. ... For example:
* Diagnostic tests like CTs or MRIs should be done within 30 days. Currently, wait times can be over a year.
* Radiation therapy for cancer should begin not in months, but within 10 days.
* Routine heart bypass should be done within five months for knee and hip surgery doctors recommend no more than of 6 months of waiting.
* For cataract surgery, no more than 4 months to treatment, rather than the typical year-long wait.
"We can't wait longer. We are worse off than many countries," Dr. Alain Jodoin.
Cutting waiting times won't be easy. It will mean training more doctors and giving them more operating time, a mammoth problem politicians have vowed to solve within the two years."
Indeed. It is likely to be quite difficult to go from these proposals to a real impact on the waiting time delays experienced by patients. This article by Toronto Sun: NEWS - Wait time limits urged notes the effort may result in government action by the end of this year and lists some of the desired wait time goals. Of course, the hoped for "government action" is a decision to do something, not actually solving that "mammoth problem".
The National Post says it simply in their headline : "Doctors lay out ambitious guidelines for medical wait lists" , going on to state :
"Canada's medical profession has developed a proposed scheme that sets ambitious "benchmarks" for how long patients should have to wait for key medical services, ranging from hip and knee replacement to cardiac care. ....
This is a first step," said Dr. Ruth Collins-Nakai, spokeswoman for an umbrella group of physicians' groups known as The Wait Time Alliance of Canada. ....
Dr. Collins-Nakai said the alliance will spend several months consulting the public and governments to fine-tune its proposals and examine questions such as how much it would cost medicare to deliver faster treatment .....
Dr. Collins-Nakai said the proposed benchmarks would encourage everyone in the health system to strive toward meeting the goals, although they would not carry any legal weight.
"We do not envisage the benchmarks being absolute and rigid," she said, noting there may be individual cases where treatment simply cannot be provided in time."
I think it is admirable that the Canadians are addressing a real problem and wish them well. We have our own health care problems here that need serious attention; but our problems do not include very long patient delays, which is characteristic of government -controlled or socialized health care systems. As we examine solutuions, let's be sure we make improvements and not lose our current advantages.
Perhaps, it would be a good idea to question what people mean when they call for "Universal Health Care". Do they mean universal access by patients to good prompt health care? Or do they mean universal control and allocation of health care by the government ? Universally long patient wait times is not a desirable improvement.
As discussed here CTV.ca | Doctors call for limits on wait times : "Doctors and patients across Canada say waiting times for a variety of diagnostic tests and surgeries are alarmingly long. That's why a group of doctors has joined together to issue guidelines for what should be maximum waits for treatment. ... For example:
* Diagnostic tests like CTs or MRIs should be done within 30 days. Currently, wait times can be over a year.
* Radiation therapy for cancer should begin not in months, but within 10 days.
* Routine heart bypass should be done within five months for knee and hip surgery doctors recommend no more than of 6 months of waiting.
* For cataract surgery, no more than 4 months to treatment, rather than the typical year-long wait.
"We can't wait longer. We are worse off than many countries," Dr. Alain Jodoin.
Cutting waiting times won't be easy. It will mean training more doctors and giving them more operating time, a mammoth problem politicians have vowed to solve within the two years."
Indeed. It is likely to be quite difficult to go from these proposals to a real impact on the waiting time delays experienced by patients. This article by Toronto Sun: NEWS - Wait time limits urged notes the effort may result in government action by the end of this year and lists some of the desired wait time goals. Of course, the hoped for "government action" is a decision to do something, not actually solving that "mammoth problem".
The National Post says it simply in their headline : "Doctors lay out ambitious guidelines for medical wait lists" , going on to state :
"Canada's medical profession has developed a proposed scheme that sets ambitious "benchmarks" for how long patients should have to wait for key medical services, ranging from hip and knee replacement to cardiac care. ....
This is a first step," said Dr. Ruth Collins-Nakai, spokeswoman for an umbrella group of physicians' groups known as The Wait Time Alliance of Canada. ....
Dr. Collins-Nakai said the alliance will spend several months consulting the public and governments to fine-tune its proposals and examine questions such as how much it would cost medicare to deliver faster treatment .....
Dr. Collins-Nakai said the proposed benchmarks would encourage everyone in the health system to strive toward meeting the goals, although they would not carry any legal weight.
"We do not envisage the benchmarks being absolute and rigid," she said, noting there may be individual cases where treatment simply cannot be provided in time."
I think it is admirable that the Canadians are addressing a real problem and wish them well. We have our own health care problems here that need serious attention; but our problems do not include very long patient delays, which is characteristic of government -controlled or socialized health care systems. As we examine solutuions, let's be sure we make improvements and not lose our current advantages.
Perhaps, it would be a good idea to question what people mean when they call for "Universal Health Care". Do they mean universal access by patients to good prompt health care? Or do they mean universal control and allocation of health care by the government ? Universally long patient wait times is not a desirable improvement.
