
Sure ... because it's a non-market phenomenom and the free market
can't solve it.  Even our private insurance says that ....


.... and wants no part of it.


Canada is saturated by American media.  While pundits come on cable
and talk about how awful our health care is supposed to be, what
people experience up north ends up not differing from what they see
portrayed on American television in movies (i.e., same infrastructure,
different insurance make-up).  Yet they know not of any insurance
problems, and have no idea of what an HMO is ... but having lots of
British TV as well, they know that they don't like NHS.


The polls that you refer to, for the Canadian data, are from the
annual July 1st polls conducted for Macleans (our major English
newsmagazine) by Decima Research ... Decima president Allen Gregg is
considered one of the world's top poll researchers, and Mulroney's
Conservatives have relied on him to keep in power in the face of
impossible election situations.  The American polls are Harris polls,
and have been reposted on USENET a few times and probably will again.
I'm sorta suspicious myself, 'cos maybe Americans want universal
coverage like Canada --- I honestly doubt that most Americans realize
that we have private doctors and public and private hospitals (i.e.,
similiar health care infrastructure) and our "system" is basically
pure insurance without HMO's.


Until the idea of managed competition arose, there was no direct
threat to stand-alone private practice.  In the 1960's, the AMA
fought HMO's as corporatized socialist medicine ... part of the
reason why we have only insurance, and no HMO's in Canada 'cos
that was part of the deal cut with the CMA.


But each site is probably compact, and the clientele are creamed.
And don't forget that HMO's place caps on your coverage, and often
won't tell you about additional procedures you could get otherwise
(despite that you might be willing to pay for it).

gld