Loyal reader and fearless commenter, Pogue, pointed out the irony inherent in this story in the comments section of an older post. And he's right, given what is going on in the US at the moment, it is rather amusing to see Canadian doctors being accused of wanting an American style structure.Sticking with that note of irony, I must admit that that particular point hadn't really jumped out at me as being too noteworthy until Pogue mentioned it. Simply because it's really not new news. Not here in Canada anyway. This particular debate (accusations included) has been going on in Canadian political and medical circles for quite a while.
What did jump out for me from this article was this quote from Dr. Anne Doig, the new President of the Canadian Medical Association:
"It’s not about choosing between an American system or a Canadian system," said Doig. "The whole thing is about looking at what other people do."Ironically enough (again), the reason that particular piece tripped my radar was the thought that this was exactly what I have (repeatedly) being trying to say to my American friends (in various formats) in the context of their current healthcare debate.
"That’s called looking at the evidence, looking at how care is delivered and how care is paid for all around us (and) then saying ‘Well, OK, that’s good information. How do we make all of that work in the Canadian context? What do the Canadian people want?’"
Namely, that I hope their country as a whole will wake up and see how very lucky they are at the moment in having the opportunity to look at various systems around the world. To see what works and what doesn't. And pull together the best of the best practices to create a uniquely new, uniquely American system that works for them.
Do I think that will actually happen? At this point?
Not so much. But this is one girl that just keeps dreaming.
And who knows? Maybe us Canucks will even learn a thing or two in the process. Now, wouldn't that be ironic!
"A taste for irony has kept more hearts from breaking
than a sense of humor, for it takes irony to appreciate
the joke which is on oneself".
~ Jessamyn West
2 comments:
"fearless commenter?" LOL. At this point I really don't think we're going to get any substantial improvements down here this go around. The majority position seems to have caused the Democrats to try to implement all their pet platforms rather that assessing the current situation and really looking for improvements. The backlash appears for the moment to have many politicians running scared, and the internal bickering makes it unlikely that much progress will be made. There may be some changes, but I think they missed their window of opportunity.
Of course, I've been wrong before...
On the bright side, Canada is getting more credit in the local media for paying for medical services in the US. Since our discussion of that a while back I've see a couple articles discussing Canada using US medical facilities to back up the National Healthcare system and they mention more prominently that the Canadian system is essentially contracting out the procedures. Now if we can just get the Mexican government to follow suite.
LOL "Fearless commenter" ... yeah, I was trying hard to avoid Lex's "occasional reader" line.
Thanks for that info about the US media. Interesting and good to know. Hey, perhaps somebody actually started reading my blog? :D
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