Canadian health system more efficient than the one in the U.S

This is no surprise…

It would be hard to find a less efficient system than that of the U.S. where doctors and patients are held hostage by numerous money hungry insurance companies.  No government bureaucracy could be more complex or difficult to navigate than that of the U.S. private health insurance carriers….

I know a lot of people who have been under the Canadian Health Care system at one time or another and all uniformly praise it when comparing it to our own dismal system…

I’m still struggling with President Obama giving up on the Public Option so easily in our Health Care Reform negotiations.  But then, we all now know, negotiations aren’t the President’s strong point.  He has a tendency to give too much too early in exchange for too little.  And the GOP knows it….

From The National Post:

 

The Canadian health-care system may be plagued by countless stories of lengthy wait times and crowded emergency rooms, but a new study shows the amount of time and money spent on administrative duties is a fraction of that required by the U.S. system.

The study from the University of Toronto and New York’s Cornell University says U.S. doctors pay an average of nearly $83,000 each for administrative costs associated with insurance documents. In Canada, for doctors based in Ontario that cost is significantly less at just over $22,200.

In addition, nurses, medical assistants and other hospital staff dedicate nearly 21 hours per week to filing insurance papers and other duties required to push insurance claims through. For the same duties in Ontario, just 2.5 hours are spent each week.

The findings of the study, published in the August edition of the journal Health Affairs, show that the “single payer” health-insurance system in Canada is largely responsible for the difference between countries.

It said the need for many U.S. patients to carry coverage from multiple insurance providers leads to the more demanding time commitments to file the appropriate documents.

Dr. Dante Morra, the study’s lead author, said the time savings felt in Canada go back to help the people who need it most.

“When we look at health care in Canada … there’s a lot of areas for improvement, but at the end of the day, sometimes we have to sit back and realize there is good access to care for Canadians,” said Morra, a Toronto doctor.

“There are a lot of benefits to the way we have structured our system and one of those benefits is this almost non-existent cost associated with dealing with payment. That time is directly invested into caring for patients.”

The study, which surveyed physicians on how much time was spent by themselves and other staff on filing insurance documents, said that if U.S. doctors were able to reel in the administrative costs to a level on par with those polled in Ontario, it would result in an annual savings of more than $27 billion for the American health-care system.

via Canadian health system more efficient than the one in the U.S.: study | Posted | National Post.