Where would you rather get sick: Canada or the U.S.?

The recent Munk Debates, held in Toronto, pitted two sides in the debate about where it's better to get sick: the U.S. or Canada. The panel featured former Vermont Governor Howard Dean and president of the University Health Network Robert Bell on the pro-Canada side, and former U.S. Senate majority leader William Frist with physician David Gratzer arguing the pro-U.S. side.

Last week Saint Elizabeth Health Care president and CEO Shirlee Sharkey appeared on TVO's The Agenda in, "The Debate: Bending the Healthcare Cost Curve Part III". The discussion was on innovations and ideas outside the public healthcare system to tighten Ontario's health spending.

More on this discussion, which touched on benefits and flaws of our system, will be posted soon - at the end of the program Steve Paikin referenced his blog post about this controversial and fascinating debate... which sparks this week's Question of the Week.

The full blog post on The Agenda web site features video from the debate, and some facts to consider about Canadian and American health care. For example...

Why would you want to get sick in the U.S.?

• The U.S. spends 87% more per capita than Canada on health care ($7,290/patient vs. $3,895).
• 54% of American men had PSA tests for prostate cancer. Only 16% of Canadian men had.
• In the U.S., there are 34 CT scanners per million citizens. In Canada, only 12.
• In the U.S., there are 27 MRI machines per million citizens, compared to 6 in Canada.
• Canadians wait twice as long as Americans for elective surgery (eg. hip replacement and some cancer treatments).
• The U.S. is responsible for the vast majority of health care innovations, both medically and technologically. They are the world's undisputed leaders in biomedical research and diagnostic treatment.

Why would you want to get sick in Canada?

• Canadians, on average, live three years longer than Americans.
• in the U.S., you're three times more likely to go bankrupt thanks to unforseen medical expenses. And 62% of all bankruptcies in the U.S. are related to an inability to pay medical bills.
• 31% of American health care expenditures go towards paperwork, salaries, and profits of private insurance companies. In Canada, the figure is 1%.
• The U.S. spends 17% of its GDP on health care, covering 90% of the population. Canada spends only 10% of its GDP on health care, and yet covers 100% of the population.
• America would save $161 billion a year in bureaucracy if it were to go to a single-payer system as Canada has.
• Outcomes were also stated as higher in Canada.

The blog post also notes that it is critical to understand the U.S. system isn't a single system...it's several:

• 42 million Seniors are in Medicare, a single-payer system, similar to Canada's.
• 47 million low income people are in Medicaid. (16m more were just added thanks to the Obama Administration's recently-passed health care initiative).
• American veterans are served by "The V.A.", the veterans' administration plan. That's very similar to the Canadian system, insofar as it's single-payer, run by the government.
• 46 million Americans had no health insurance at all (30 million are "hard core uninsured" while 16 million choose not to have it and take their chances on being healthy).
• 170 million Americans pay for their health care through private insurance companies.

Read the full blog post and watch video from the debate.

A new Ipsos-Reid poll commissioned for the Munk Debates found that many Canadians are worried that health care costs are growing out of control, and would be open to such controversial measures as fees for doctors' visits to help curb those costs.

• The poll also found that two in three Canadians would accept changes that would allow them to buy health care insurance for treatment in private facilities.
• Conversely, one in three believe that studies which suggest health care costs could escalate to such levels are just "alarmist speculation."
• Almost half (44 per cent) would be "willing to accept" a system, such as the one recently tabled in Quebec's 2010-11 budget, where a flat $25 fee is levied for each doctor visit in an attempt to deter overuse. (Low-income patients would be exempt.) Slightly more (56 per cent) opposed such an idea.
• Two in three (64 per cent) would be "willing to accept" (18 per cent definitely/46 per cent probably) a plan that would "allow people to purchase private healthcare insurance to receive treatment in private facilities not funded by government tax dollars." Conversely, one in three (36 per cent) would be "not willing to accept such a system."
• As for what the future holds, a majority (56 per cent) of Canadians think that the Canadian and U.S. healthcare systems will be more similar to each other in 20 years than they are today. However, they don't agree on which system will prevail.

Whether you live in Canada or the U.S., personal accountability for our own health comes into play as well. Health promotion and prevention -- provision of easy to understand information about lifestyle changes that could keep us OUT of the health care system longer instead of being a sickness/treatment society -- warrants as much consideration.

While government health care spending can be debated in theory, is there evidence that Canadians care as much about spending as having a good care experience? When you get sick, will you not just want a quality care experience and someone to make you better - and ideally, at home?

So... where would you rather get sick - and why? Register or log in to share your opinions below.