Canadian Health System

From today's news, two stories about the Canadian health care system caught my eye. One from The Toronto Star explains the dismal financial condition of hospitals in Ontario even though they received a cash infusion of $470 million less than a month ago. According to a hospital association survey, they need an additional $550 million to meet an anticipated shortfall through year's end. Coincidentally, this story comes on the heels of last week's report that doctors are leaving the country in droves and waiting times for health care in Canada are unacceptably long.

The other story comes from BBC NEWS and it details the results of a study of deaths from bacterial infections in Canadian hospitals and nursing homes. Experts have found that 189 deaths over the past 18 months (more than 10 each month on average) can be attributed to cases of infection from a mutated strain of Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) bacteria. Thus far, the infections have been found primarily in Quebec and Alberta. It's spread by spores through poor hygiene.

I don't believe that these stories are directly related, however, I think it's appropriate to point out any major stories associated with socialized health care since there's an effort to impose a similar system on the population of the United States. Under scrutiny, it seems a government-mandated medical plan has many unwanted consequences (i.e. doctors leaving, permanent underfunding, waiting times that actually increase the severity of the medical condition). Those advocating a national health plan in the U.S. need to be made aware of these drawbacks and to remember that socialism always has resulted and always will result in the general degradation of quality and quantity.