The Physician’s Point of View: Healthcare in the U.S. vs. Europe and Canada

A federal appeals court in Maryland panel recently ruled that a Maryland state law that was enacted to punish generic drug makers for price gouging is unconstitutional, which is a victory for some pharmaceutical companies.

The case illustrates the disconnect between what is permitted under the constitution and what our country’s healthcare system really needs. We don’t need inflated drug prices.

Our country should be empowering and engaging patients to make healthcare decisions with information and support from their health care team.

If we choose to have the government impose price control on healthcare costs, then we need to differentiate between negotiated prices and a price cap. This is just tip of the iceberg, in terms of the issues consumers and healthcare providers will have to sort through as we build a better healthcare system.

Every nation faces its own challenges in delivering healthcare. The U.S. is hardly alone. One of the main hurdles to delivering quality care for all Americans is deciding exactly how much the government should control prices and treatment decisions in our care system.

There are important questions people need to answer before we choose what kind of healthcare system we need and want, including:

· Do I like to do my own research and participate in my own care, or put all of my faith in a health plan to make the right decisions for me?

· Do I want the best care there is, or the best they will give me?

· Do I want healthcare that works for 80% of the population, or healthcare that works for me?

At VirtuMed 360, we want healthcare for everyone. We need quality medical coverage that is affordable and provides a healthy life for us as individuals and also for society.

Healthcare must be adaptable for specific communities at specific times. It must be flexible enough to adapt to different cultures.

There are too many variables for a one-size-fits-all solution, there is no silver bullet.

“Variability is the law of life, and as no two faces are the same, so no two bodies are alike, and no two individuals react alike and behave alike under the abnormal conditions which we know as disease,” said William Osler, a Canadian physician and one of the four founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Whether we choose a single-payer system, a government-run system, totalitarianism, or privately run open market: most models can work, but always at the expense of some rights and privileges.

One Physician’s Point of View

Physicians do not really care who reimburses them as long as it is fair. They care most about the quality of care they can deliver

We’re living in a new era, a much different time than when I was young. We have a stronger media today and more cultural diversity. There is no limit to how much we can learn.

Things are very different under a totalitarian system. I have practiced and been a patient in a communist totalitarian system, and I was a practicing physician in Europe where the single payer-system has been prevalent for generations. I also have been a physician and patient in the U.S. for years.

I have been a poor immigrant and I have been wealthy, so I have been on every side of the fence everywhere.

Under the first scenario, I needed to have a procedure that took me almost two years to get even though it was bothering me. When I protested to my doctor he replied, “Where are you from?” He said here you get what you are given. That was in the U.K.!

For more in the U.K. health system, read this or this.

Canada has a single-payer system fraught with problems:

My experience with healthcare under a communist system was: I never got an exam unless I was sick enough, and I had to “tip” the doctor because they did not get paid enough.

My next article will discuss my experiences as a physician and a patient in the U.S. healthcare system and talk about the issues that would complicate universal healthcare in this country.