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Features of the Swiss health sysetm Swiss citizens buy insurance for themselves; there are no employer-sponsored or government-run insurance programs. Hence, insurance prices are transparent to the beneficiary. The government defines the minimum benefit package that qualifies for the mandate. Critically, all packages require beneficiaries to pick up a portion of the costs of their care (deductibles and coinsurance) in order to incentivize their frugality. The government subsidizes health care for the poor on a graduated basis, with the goal of preventing individuals from spending more than 10 percent of their income on insurance. But because people are still on the hook for a significant component of the costs, they often opt for cheaper packages; in 2003, 42% of Swiss citizens chose high-deductible plans (i.e., plans with significant cost-sharing features). Those who wish to acquire supplemental coverage are free to do so on their own.99.5% of Swiss citizens have health insurance. Bec...

Unfortunately, medicare's real story doesn't get much air time. Former Saskatchewan premier Tommy Douglas talked all his life about the need for the second stage of medicare. He said the first stage featured public payment for the old system based on treating illness with doctors and hospitals. He said the second stage would highlight a redesigned delivery system focussed on keeping people healthy. In the 1960s, Douglas and Supreme Court judge and co-founder of medicare Emmett Hall supported salaried doctors working in interdisciplinary teams. However, Douglas maintained that it was too politically difficult to change the way doctors were paid and how they did their work coincidently with pressuring them into public payment. For the rest of his life, he repeatedly warned that if the delivery system was left unreformed, medicare would increasingly fail Canadians and lose political support. When Canadians hear about the second stage of medicare, they are more than ready for a mat...

Pharmacists now have new powers Pharmacists now able to vaccinate. Pharmacy professions will also be allowed to renew most prescriptions and help patients quit smoking by prescribing medication under changes unveiled Tuesday. "It's great news for our pharmacists and if s great news for taxpayers as well because the more that we can do to keep people healthy... the more money we're going to save in the long run," he said. Pharmacists will be paid $7.50 per injection, which is provided to patients free, but they will not receive payment for refilling prescriptions. Health Minister Deb Matthews said 600 of Ontario s 3,500 pharmacies would provide the service this fall and winter with the program expanding in the years ahead. To that end, pharmacists would also be able to provide up to six-month renewals of prescriptions for all non-narcotic medications. "This is the start of rebuilding that foundation, because it was very hard for a lot of pharmacy owners to continu...