American Healthcare Reform Resource Center
http://www.medscape.com/resource/healthcare-reform

No Increase in Public Pressure for Healthcare ReformAmericans remain critical of U.S. system, positive about personal coverage
http://www.gallup.com/poll/102931/Increase-Public-Pressure-Healthcare-Reform.aspx#1

Health care in the United States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_United_States

Healthcare in France
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_France

Health Care Lessons From France
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92419273

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNR_6UuVl4s

Jock Murray, MD

Every country is struggling with its healthcare system, and each has solved some problems and incurred others. Remember, no country can afford everything for everyone right now, so pick two. Canada gives everything to everyone, but in some instances, not right now. The USA gives everything right now, but not to everyone.[1-3]

Canada got some things right:

Five fundamental values
A National system
Noncompetition
Cost controls
Macromanagement
A Royal College concept over medical and surgical specialty training, program evaluation, and examination
Residency training only in university programs.

Canada got some things wrong:

Inadequate research support
Global cuts without much planning
Poor planning of physician, nurse numbers
Waiting lists.

The USA got some things right:

Opportunities for the individual
Innovation and creativity
Research support
Benefits for risk takers
Expertise in specialty care.

The USA got some things wrong:

45 million uninsured and an equal number underinsured
No coherent system
No overriding principles
Expensive, complex administration
Excessive controls on physicians
Excessive physician paperwork
Micromanagement
Powerful competing forces that can resist change
Expensive specialty care
Inadequate and complex concept of primary care
No plan for when profit goes out of the system
Excessive malpractice.

Some things neither country got right:

Physician distribution
Long-term planning
Patient advocacy
Support for academic centers
Big Pharma influence
Public health support
Population health perspective
A rational approach to rationing
Balance of income for cognitive and proceduralist physicians
Drug costs.

The different ways Canada and the USA have addressed healthcare is reflected in their history, their feelings about government involvement, and views on individuals vs the group. It is reflected in their mottos. For the USA it is Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness; and Canada it is Peace, Order, and Good Governance.

That’s my opinion, I’m Dr. Jock Murray, former Dean of Medicine at Dalhousie University and Chairman Emeritus of the American College of Physicians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_and_…ystems_compared