Not just in the U.S. Frances Woolley writes,
Right now all of the provinces and territories except for Newfoundland, Saskatchewan and Yukon are running deficits
In Canada, provinces run the health care system(s).
Canada has a very pronounced baby boom – a big bulge of people born between 1947 and 1962 (when the birth control pill was introduced). That oldest members of that cohort are now 66. As people get age, their health care needs increase. Pick your metaphor. Health care as Pac Man, that gobbles up the provincial budget.
Interesting story. Mother-in-law breaks hip about four Fridays ago; had hip replacement surgery the following Sunday and is already home rehabilitating. Her daughter-in-law (her son’s wife and my sister-in-law via my wife) is Canadian and her mother broke her hip last year or the year before (in Canada) and it took nearly three months for the hip replacement.
But at what cost?
The price varies considerably (see link below), but let’s use an average of, say, $60,000. How much less would it have to be, including what is paid via taxes in Canada for health care, for you to opt with the pain and inconvenience of having your hip fractured for three months? Oh, and let’s say that you’re 80-years-old.
http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1569848
That’s horrible.
I live in Canada – specifically, in Alberta, and that’s absolutely not the standard of care here. Do you happen to know what province this happened in?
I like that an actual price showed up in this discussion.
If you look at the actual numbers, then a normal working middle-class family really can afford to pay for almost any medical treatment they are likely to want. If you have done the middle-class thing of taking out an infamous 30-year mortgage and paid it down over your working life time, then you’ll have six figures in equity available in your old age.
There are exceptions that are even more expensive, but they are rare. There are also exceptions where the best possible medical science cannot treat you, such as being in a fatal car accident.
Of course there are also people that don’t work, e.g. because they are disabled. Again, that should be treated as an exception.
BC
Thanks. In AB the standard for femoral neck fractures is admission and surgery within 24 hours unless medical stabilization is needed – https://myhealth.alberta.ca/health/pages/conditions.aspx?hwid=aa6973&#aa7005 – in which case surgery can be delayed by a day or two. The goal is to get people back to their previous activity level as quickly as possible.