News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Aetna CEO Threatened Obamacare Pullout If Feds Opposed Humana Merger. Parent comment

Re:Aetna CEO Threatened Obamacare Pullout If Feds Opposed Hu... by msbarnett on Wednesday August 17, 2016 @02:36PM (#12307151)
> Health care is done by the Provinces in Canada, with transfers from the Federal Government to help out. The most recent Alberta budget[0] puts the cost of health care at about $20B. This represents approximately 40% of Alberta government spending.

Worth considering:

Per http://www.chcf.org/publications/2016/05/health-care-costs-1...

> US health spending reached $3.0 trillion in 2014, or $9,523 per capita, and accounted for 17.5% of gross domestic product (GDP).

The Population of Alberta is around 4,196,457 per a statscan estimate for 2015.

4,196,457 * 9,523 = 39962860011

So we're spending ~20,000,000,000 CAD = ~15.5 Billion USD, versus 39,962,860,011 USD for the same population in the US.

edit: The US number seems to include prescription drug spending. Per http://www.statista.com/statistics/436305/medication-spendin..., it's $867 per person in Alberta, or $3,638,328,219 CAD -- so it's closer to $18.5 Billion USD for health spending in Alberta.

That's a better deal any way you look at it, especially when you bear in mind that Canada has better overall outcomes than the US.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Aetna CEO Threatened Obamacare Pullout If Feds Opposed Hu... by forgetsusername on Wednesday August 17, 2016 @02:43PM (#12307224)
>That's a better deal any way you look at it

I'm Canadian and can't get a family doctor (nor can my wife). I don't consider that a "good deal". Maybe if it was more lucrative (read: doctors made more money, budgets were higher) we could attract more talent and I could?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Aetna CEO Threatened Obamacare Pullout If Feds Opposed Hu... by msbarnett on Wednesday August 17, 2016 @02:51PM (#12307285)
The US system has the same issue -- many people don't have a regular family doctor and rely on clinics. It's a more complicated problem than pay -- family medicine simply isn't an attractive speciality to many medical students. Money could move the needle a bit, but treating strep throat is never going to be a prestigious pursuit versus a lot of other specialties. And if it doesn't improve overall longterm outcomes, it's not worth spending the money to move that needle.

At any rate, it's rarely impossible to find a family doctor, but it can take some persistence to find one accepting new patients. Almost every provincial medical association maintains a list of family doctors accepting new patients. If you're in a small town it might be a challenge, though.

edit: to put some numbers on this, 15% of Canadians don't have a family doctor (http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/canada-ranked-last-among-oecd-c...). In the much higher spending US system, 20% of Americans don't have a family doctor (http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/healthcare/one-five-american...).

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Aetna CEO Threatened Obamacare Pullout If Feds Opposed Hu... by UseStrict on Wednesday August 17, 2016 @02:58PM (#12307350)
Where do you live that you are having these problems? I was able to find a family doctor within a month of searching and reading reviews. Granted I'm based in a major city (Ottawa), but I was normally directed to other physicians when I called one that wasn't accepting patients.
[ Parent | on HN ]