News from the North tends to undermine the idea, part of the case for ObamaCare, that universal health coverage will lead to cost savings. Reuters has a report from Canada:
A few provinces are also experimenting with private funding for procedures such as hip, knee and cataract surgery. It's likely just a start as the provinces, responsible for delivering healthcare, cope with the demands of a retiring baby-boom generation....
Healthcare in Canada is delivered through a publicly funded system, which covers all "medically necessary" hospital and physician care and curbs the role of private medicine. It ate up about 40 percent of provincial budgets, or some C$183 billion ($174 billion) last year.
Spending has been rising 6 percent a year under a deal that added C$41.3 billion of federal funding over 10 years....Ontario says healthcare could eat up 70 percent of its budget in 12 years, if all these costs are left unchecked.
Thanks to reader-participant-watchdog-community member-content co-creator F. for sending the link.
