Tuesday, June 01, 2010

About That Socialized Medicine: Canada Set to Ration to Control Costs

Of course, this isn't going to happen under Obamacare, right?

Pressured by an aging population and the need to rein in budget deficits, Canada's provinces are taking tough measures to curb healthcare costs, a trend that could erode the principles of the popular state-funded system.

The rationing includes cuts to drug manufacturers and users fees, which are illegal, by the way.
"There's got to be some change to the status quo whether it happens in three years or 10 years," said Derek Burleton, senior economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank.

"We can't continually see health spending growing above and beyond the growth rate in the economy because, at some point, it means crowding out of all the other government services.

"At some stage we're going to hit a breaking point."

Seems like we've heard these arguments before in favor of Canadian-style socialized medicine.