LAYTON USED PRIVATE HEALTHCARE

[geoffrey]

One thing our public helth care system could do is ease doctor shortage by increasing the number of students enrolled in medical schools. Doctors are on average as greedy as anybody and if the shortage means they can demand better pay, better conditions, the ones that make it through our current med schools are going to want to make big bucks and live where the amenities suit their families best. With more doctors around more would see the benefits of living and enhancing the lifestyle of rural areas.

I disagree with our health care providers searching for immigrant doctors only because for the most part those doctors are needed in their home countries far more than they are needed here. It is beyond selfishness.

If we didn't live next to the US, speaker, I would agree.

But training all these doctors at a huge cost to society, and then having them ship out to US hospitals where they make up to ten times the money, doesn't solve anything. Don't let the government fool you on this one, we train alot of doctors (could be more, yes), but our real problem in Canada is retaining the doctors from going south.

And the only way to do this is dramatically increase their pay, which isn't possible in the public sector, it would bankrupt the system.

So my question to you, if we opened up all these extra spots, what would you suggest as a way to retain these people in Canada??

[speaker]

I think that if they paid for their education completely themselves then let them go free and clear. that kind of brain drain I can live with. however if the public paid for their education all or part of the way through then that charge should go against those who leave so that we can cycle the money back into our own young doctors.

[Wilber]

Wilbur you wrote that our public system doesn't even know what particular surgical procedures actually cost. Knowing how much care is put into budgeting in the system now I find that hard to believe. What gives you that impression?

Actually it is true. They do put a lot of effort when it comes to budgeting the system in general but when it comes breaking down the real cost of individual procedures there is a lot they don't know.

[Guest eureka]

Interestingly, Geoffrey, over the past few years the movement has reversed itself with Canadian doctors coming back.

Some specialists earn considerably more in the US but, apparently, doctors do not find it so. Woth the bureaucracy they suffer, the number of patients they can see is also fewer than a Canadian doctor. Part of the reason for US health costs since doctors' fees must be higher to compensate.