I love that the Olympics opening ceremony put public health care front and center. It led me to this story on the Guardian. It's very interesting. Key points for me:
-
The US spends far and away the most money on health care as a % of GDP
(17.9%)...this works out to $8362 per person. Of that money, almost
half comes directly out of pocket of the individual - $4437.
-
Canada spends about 11.3% of GDP on healthcare. This works out to a
total of $4404 per person and $3104 of that comes from the government.
So, our health care costs about half of what it does per person as it
does in the US. And we directly pay about 1/4 directly out of pocket as
compared to the average American.
- Canada lines up quite
nicely in % of GDP spending with most European nations...a bit more than
Italy/Spain/UK, a bit less than France/Germany. We all seem to be in
the 9-11% of GDP range, and $3-4000 per person range
So.
What the hell? Either the US is getting far better health coverage (I
doubt it) or there's an incredible amount of waste. And you look at
the huuuuuuge disparity in what sort of coverage people have and you can
only imagine what the bottom end of their spectrum looks like.
This stupid-assed headlined Globe and Mail article claims that "BC can be swayed on pipeline". Lets see... one poll claims 35 percent agree with Adrian Dix's outright disapproval of the pipeline. Another poll claims that 65 percent are outright opposed. But the first poll also suggests that 43 percent agree with Christie Clark's strings-attached disapproval of the pipeline. So, ya, really sounds like we're on the fence here and just need a little nudge in the right direction! What a bunch of jackasses.
Speaking of pipelines, way to go David Anderson.
I think he summed up many people's feelings on Enbridge: "They should
just go away." Awesome stuff. I'm certain Peter Kent will not be this
interesting when he retires.
Hundreds of women have come forward with complaints of sexual harassment within the RCMP. Man.
This is going to take FOREVER for the various governments and RCMP
brass to come up with justification based on them all being sluts and
alcoholics.
Somebody in Jason Kenney's office made a formal complaint against an immigration lawyer who suggested they must have had something to do with Conrad Black coming back to Canada. Great. Professional threats against people that ask questions (well...against people that make accusations).
Stephen Harper, master of the Canadian economy. Wasn't that his election promise? What happened then?
Remember Attawapiskat a few months back? A judge points out that it was a bad thing to foist a manager upon them.
Another Globe article claims that the Provinces need to stand together on bulk drug purchases. Hmmm...lets see...a national strategy to reduce prescription drug prices....who could possibly oversee a program with National implications?
No comments:
Post a Comment