[whelan costen]

This is good news, hope they are successful!

[Mr.Can-Euro]

Excellent news. I hope the American people get the public health care system. Then they can finally get the health care they deserve and that every human being deserves!

[Spud]

Detroit has actually called for the US government to do this as it now costs more to build cars in the US because of the contracts that make the companies pay for health care.They are spending more per car on health care then wages or steel.Those costs are set to rise by 15% a year.Ironically the US government`s own studies have shown that a Canadian style system would be cheaper than the one they have now. <img align=absmiddle src='images/smilies/wink.gif' alt='Wink'>

[Brother Jonathan]

[QUOTE by FootPrints]</b> …heated debate is taking place in California and Vermont.<b>[/QUOTE]<br /> <p>Here’s what happened here in Vermont. Currently, we have a Republican* governor and a legislature with a Democratic majority in both chambers. After much debate, the House, the Senate, and the Governor each came up with their own plan for health care reform. The House plan came closest to universal access/single payer. (No statewide plan is able to do so, since various federal plans cover veterans, the elderly, &c.) The Senate and Governor’s plans were oriented more towards modifying the current system than creating a new system. The Senate knew that the Governor would veto the House plan, so the two chambers in joint committee came up with a compromise bill that they thought would be more acceptable to the Governor and sent it to his desk. He vetoed it last month, citing that financing the plan through a payroll tax would be unacceptable. A good overview (unfortunately with bad typography) of the various positions, written shortly before the veto, can be found <a href="http://www.vermontbiz.com/vbm_online/article.cfm?articleID=1718">here</a>.</p><br /> <p>* — New England Republicans typically sit in the same area of the American political spectrum that Red Tories do in the Canadian spectrum.</p>

[sthompson]

Thanks for the info re Vermont, Brother J. <br /> <br /> Isn't it sad, eh. Just as we might be heading away from our own system and towards private insurance etc. a la the U.S., the U.S. is trying to move away from their own system and towards public health a la Canada. Now if only we could get some Canadian media coverage of that fact.

[FootPrints]

Bypass Costs Far Higher in U.S. Than in Canada Wed Jul 13, 7:02 PM ET<br /> <br /> WEDNESDAY, July 13 (HealthDay News) -- Americans undergoing bypass surgery end up with hospital bills 82 percent higher than those of Canadians undergoing the same procedure, a new report finds.<br /> <br /> This extra expense in the United States may not bring better results, however: The study found no differences in clinical outcomes between patients treated in the two countries.<br /> <br /> Researchers at Jewish General Hospital in Montreal compared the outcomes and costs of treatment of 7,319 Canadian and 4,698 U.S. coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patients at four Canadian and five U.S. hospitals.<br /> <br /> "In-hospital costs of treatment were substantially higher in the United States than in Canada (an average cost of $20,673 vs. $10,373)," the study authors wrote. "After controlling for demographic and clinical differences, [inpatient] length of stay in Canada was 16.8 percent longer than in the United States; there was no difference in in-hospital mortality (death): and the cost in the United States was 82.5 percent higher than in Canada."<br /> <br /> <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/hsn/20050713/hl_hsn/bypasscostsfarhigherinusthanincanada">continued</a><br /> <br /> (<i>I couldn't imagine being handed a bill like that. They'd have to pick me up off the floor</i>)<br />