National Health Service bashers make me sick
- Thread starter Blackleaf
- Start date
Doctor of course will migrate towards the money, unless they are on some cause to help the poor. I don't blame any person for doing that, they do dedicate a lot of time in their lives just to become a doctor. What I would like to see though is that anyone who wants to become a doctor can if they chose have their total education after their bachelor degree paid for by the State. They are required to pay back the State by working for the State for say 6 years. In the U.S. it would be like working for an organization like the Veterans Administration. (Medicare or Medicaid) If they do not pay back the State by working the full 6 years their license to practice medicine is forfeit.
What you're proposing is something similar to the Canadian military, where higher education is paid for followed by so many years of compulsory service. Some Canadian doctors have gotten their mdeical training that way. The problem with that is that some might refuse to join the military on matters of principle, religion, etc.
One solution I could see I suppose would be the option of free higher education followed by so many years of compulsory service to the community for all Canadians who choose to receive higher education, whether as teachers, physicians, etc. This could be of benefit to many. It might mean higer taxes or, alternatively, low wages for those who participate after their graduation as compensation. Though this would have to be worked out in more detail without a doubt.
Whether this wuld be enough to provide universal healthcare though, I don't know. It could be at least part of a solution I suppose.
Machjo:
Our military has the same thing, I was referring to a civilian being allowed a similar privilege without having to serve in the armed forces. I was hoping this just might help stem a shortage of doctors that we are already experiencing. Could just imagine what would happen if the state took complete control of doctors salaries.
Our military has the same thing, I was referring to a civilian being allowed a similar privilege without having to serve in the armed forces. I was hoping this just might help stem a shortage of doctors that we are already experiencing. Could just imagine what would happen if the state took complete control of doctors salaries.
This is one catch-22. On the one hand, for a nation to advance, it must invest in education. On the other hand, there is always the risk of neighbouring nations poaching off of it causing a brain drain from the lower-paying nation to the higher-paying one, resulting in the wealthy nations getting wealthier and the poorer ones poorer. I'm not pointing fingers to the US specifically here since Canada is just as guilty of such poaching.
I could see some kind of universal free higher education scheme in exchange for service for so many years, but it would need to be done in a planned manner to ensure that these same persons cannot be poached from other nations. One possibility could be that if a person violates the contract he must pay pro-rata. Alternatively, to protect them, we could make exceptions if they must brak the contract through no fault of their own, such as accidents, family or personal traumas, etc.
This might help to stem the shortage of doctors, but might not help the poor who still can't afford a physician. However, if higher education should become free, people would lead better lives and earn higher salaries overall, but would also have to pay higher taxes. I had flirted with such an idea before, whereby Canada could adopt some kind of US-style health care system with some Singaporean-tyle compulsory health care savings, in exchange for free universal post-compulsory education to ensure they can afford it. In the US context, this would still not solve the problem of government being perceived as communist by the right-wing fringe. In Canada it would be a tough sell too seeing that universal health-care is considered part of our culture. The closest Canada coudl possibly get to that would be a Singaporean-style system which is still universal, and even that would be a tough sell.