if there is a cancer treatment that is covered by Canadian Medicare but the government chooses not to cover you for whatever reason (world is in triage, etc. etc.), you cannot pay out of pocket for that care.
If the services aren’t available to anyone due to resource issues that’s not the same as a death panel deciding you’re simply not worth covering. If there is a shortage, resources have to be allocated somehow whether or not there is a public option.
Which isn’t available for some people under the public option - if it is ever covered by Canada Medicare, then it is illegal to pay privately.
> If the services aren’t available to anyone due to resource issues that’s not the same as a death panel deciding you’re simply not worth covering.
Resource issues because they don’t have the funding to pay for additional care of this type. Allowing private funding pushes the demand curve out and increases quantity supplied of the scarce resource.
Your link does nothing to disprove the scenario I am describing because I was describing a covered cancer procedure that the govt can use discretion to block you from purchasing in Canada.
In any system with a limited resource you will need some way to triage care and allocate it appropriately.
In a private system, those with money can prioritize themselves over those without it. In the US this results in huge numbers of people who lack basic care, and a small group of people who can pay large sums for care with diminishing returns. Consequently, Americans live shorter lives than Canadians.
What you are describing is a law that prevents a person from paying to skip other people in line. It seems like a pretty good idea to me.
we long ago figured out that queues, price caps, and shortages are a very bad system of delivering resources to people. i don’t understand the insistence that we do the same for the most life saving resources of all.
regardless, we have moved on to this argument because the original point is absolutely true: public systems intrinsically make it illegal to seek care out of the system.
right, because it is illegal to pay for care in Canada outside of the system. i didn't say that Canada had some global anti-private care enforcement power
