globeandmail.com : Health care: "Health care
Take a trip Down Under to learn about health care
ALAN CASSELS
Special to Globe and Mail Update
There's been a wee bit of controversy out here on the Left Coast after B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell and a group of government officials left for Europe to scope out how various countries deal with public-private issues in health-care delivery.
I don't know what all the fuss is about. I mean, if the government is genuinely looking elsewhere for better ways to manage health care, who can argue against a pilgrimage to other jurisdictions? Travel can broaden the mind, so we should be encouraging politicians and decision-makers of all stripes to travel even more if there is a likelihood they'll be able to reimport good ideas about making health care sustainable."
They maximized health-care spending by shopping around for the best prices. They negotiated lower prices on almost all drugs and tendered contracts on major drug purchases to the lowest bidder, in essence forcing drug companies to do what every other industry has to do to survive: compete. If the Canadian government wants to buy services or goods, it issues a Request for Proposals and then buys based on value and price. New Zealand does this for prescription drugs. What a concept.
The drug-plan costs in New Zealand over the past 12 years have risen about 4 per cent per year; ours grew by 12 per cent to 14 per cent per year.
