Sunday, September 12, 2004

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Canada's Doctor Shortage NYT Article on the worsening state of the "vaunted" Canadian health-care system. " 'If you are not bleeding all over the place, you are put on the back burner,' Ms. Pacione said, 'unless of course you have money or know somebody.' " I've been reading similar things about the NHS in England for years. However, I must say the article is very light on analysis. There seems to be some implied suggestion that the problem is somewhat related to government regulation and perhaps price-controls, but that is only oblique, and never addressed. The article contains zero hypotheses about why the doctor shortage. In fairness, there is a trend in this country, and I'm guessing probably anywhere in the world, to rural areas having trouble luring doctors. Since Canda is pretty much one giant rural area (I know, that is a huge exaggeration, they have plenty of cities, but their rural areas are really rural), it stands to reason they would have a big problem in allocating doctors. 9:41:49 AM    comment []