[Bruce_the_vii]

What do you think the federal government should prioritize spending on that wouldn't cost too much. This topic is better for a pre-election post but I missed my opportunity.

(1)I would say $100 million a year to get more foreign doctors into the country. The doctor shortage has festered for a decade.

(2)Also I read the veterans from Afghanistan aren't being properly taken care of. Maybe $100 million a year would clear that up. These people gave their all.

So that's two ideas of smart spending. The theory is Ottawa has no money and limited smart spending should make the platform.

Any other priorities in this catagory that you have?

[Canadian_Mind]

1. Why not 100 million a year to train our own kids as doctors?

2. The money is there, just that Veterans Affairs is a joke.

[Bruce_the_vii]

Canadian_Mind wrote:

1. Why not 100 million a year to train our own kids as doctors?

Good idea. The doctor shortage has been going on for a long time. The politicians have not been on the ball.

[OnTheIce]

Canadian_Mind wrote:

1. Why not 100 million a year to train our own kids as doctors?

Let's just start paying doctors more so they don't leave the Country. No sense training more doctors if they're gonna leave for more money.

[andyt]

We already pay our doctors too much. Let's bill any who leave the country for the true cost of their training. And the way the US is going, they'll probably start returning in droves any time now.

[andyt]

Quote:

Doctor drain turns to gain: Physicians move north


National Post
Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010
Tom Blackwell

For years, an exodus of doctors to the United States helped fuel Canada's growing shortage of medical staff, and gave emotional ammunition to opponents of Canadian-style health-care reform in the States.

But medical recruiters and migration statistics suggest a surprising new trend has emerged over the past few years: a net movement of physicians from the United States to Canada.

The reasons they are coming are equally unexpected: pay that is reportedly much better in some specialties; more freedom in their practices; and uncertainty about the impact of health reform in the United States.

"Canada is the number one spot in the world for doctors to come and work, live and play," said John Philpott, CEO of CanAM Physician Recruiting in Halifax. "Talking to physicians in the United States, they're shocked how much more money they can make in Canada."

The flip side of the equation seems to be true as well, with fewer Canadian doctors answering the call to practice in the States, once seen as a Mecca of better remuneration and more comfortable work environments.

[DanSC]

andyt wrote:

We already pay our doctors too much. Let's bill any who leave the country for the true cost of their training.

How are you going to bill someone who has taken citizenship in another country?

[andyt]

DanSC wrote:

andyt wrote:

We already pay our doctors too much. Let's bill any who leave the country for the true cost of their training.

How are you going to bill someone who has taken citizenship in another country?

What, it's a solution to leave your debts behind just by emigrating? Why don't more people think of that?

[DanSC]

andyt wrote:

DanSC wrote:

andyt wrote:

We already pay our doctors too much. Let's bill any who leave the country for the true cost of their training.

How are you going to bill someone who has taken citizenship in another country?

What, it's a solution to leave your debts behind just by emigrating? Why don't more people think of that?

But with your proposal, the bill doesn't arrive until after they leave the country.

[Bruce_the_vii]

andyt wrote:

We already pay our doctors too much. Let's bill any who leave the country for the true cost of their training. And the way the US is going, they'll probably start returning in droves any time now.

I don't think doctors are that high paid. Working from memory I saw and article Ontario gives them something like $100 an hour, out of which they have to pay for their office and secretary. They would be making over $100,000 but not really high wages compared to government employees. Amongst doctors there's a rush to become a specialist because family doctors don't get paid. Dentist are actually paid higher. You plop down in the dentist chair and it's hundreds an hour, higher for a root canal.

[andyt]

It's a registered debt. If they practice her for 5 years it gets forgiven. We have similar programs now for getting doctors to practice in areas that need doctors. As do you - I looked into it.

[DanSC]

Is it registered now? Because I don't see any current doctors signing on to that.

[andyt]

We don't have such a program. And as you see from the article I quoted, it looks like we don't need it.

[OnTheIce]

andyt wrote:

We already pay our doctors too much. Let's bill any who leave the country for the true cost of their training. And the way the US is going, they'll probably start returning in droves any time now.

You think anyone who makes more than 11.25 makes too much.

Doctors are at the top of the chain for me and should be paid more than some paper pusher for the government.

[andyt]

Doctors are at the top of the chain. We should break their monopoly and have nurse practitioners do a lot of the things that doctors do now. That would free up doctors. Then we should look at how European countries manage to pay doctors a salary, yet have good health care systems - often better than ours. Doctors there don't make anywhere near what they do here, yet it seems to work out well. And it seems we pay some specialists more than in the US already. How high do you want to go? All this would lower medical costs substantially - it's a good thing.