[mr_whomp]

I'm a little confused by some of the posts in this thread.

1) Several posters mention that cost of healthcare in the US should be cheaper than in other industrialized countries because governments are more inefficient than companies, and their healthcare is offered by companies.
2) Several posters show that cost of healthcare in the US is more expensive than in other industrialized countries and also ranks lower in terms of effectiveness.
3)In rebuttal first posters say it is because people aren't spending their own money on healthcare, that they are spending other peoples money. They also mention that because there isnt much competition between healthcare providers prices go up.

I think opinion #3 is poop.

1) US system involves earning profit for services, Canadian/International system offers services at cost.

2) In Canada/Internationally it's not like we are spending our own money on healthcare either and trying to shop for the cheapest price. If anything we are spending someone else's money just like in the states, this time, it's the governments money not an HMO's.

3)While increasing competition would drive prices down, the duplication of services which is inherent to creating that competition would be more inefficient then the Canadian/international system.

Please discuss...

Also saying that canadian's are unhappy with our healthcare system would be untrue. It's often said that us canadians define ourselves as "not being american", and along with kicking your buts in hockey, not having guns everywhere (though this summer in toronto was pretty violent), we hold up our public health care system as one of the reasons canada is better than the states.