Oh Canada

We haven't picked on our neighbors to the north in a while, so this article caught my eye.

Provincial government spending on health care will consume more than half of Canada's total revenue from all sources by the year 2020 and all revenue by 2050 in six out of 10 provinces if current trends continue, according to a study by the Fraser Institute.

Half huh? Where are the left wingers who say WE can't control health care costs?

The authors suggest the governments could slow the growth in public health expenditures while increasing the availability and accessibility of medical care if they introduce policies being used in other countries:

Slow the growth . . . adopting what other countries do . . .

Require patients to make co-payments for publicly insured health services.

Acknowledge the individual right of patients to pay privately (via private insurance or out of pocket) for all types of medical services, including hospitals and physician services.

Allow providers to charge extra fees directly to patients above the public health insurance reimbursement level and receive reimbursement for their services from any insurer, whether public or private.

Permit both for-profit and non-profit health providers to compete for the delivery of publicly insured health services.

Copays . . . private health insurance . . . allow providers to charge extra . . .

What a novel idea. Wonder how they came up with those ideas?