Things have gotten so bad in the health care paradise of Canada that a Manitoba radio commentary says Canada should "Solve Canada's Doctor Shortage by Copying European Health Care."  

Specifically, it says that Germany, France, and Portugal have 50 percent more doctors relative to their population than does Canada.  The Canadian Medical Association estimates that between 4 and 5 million Canadians do not have a family physician. Without a family physician Canadians can access health care only through walk-in clinics or emergency rooms. Some researchers suggest that the Canadian shortages are exacerbated by government payment schemes. Because the government pays a fixed amount for each office visit, primary care physicians maximize their income by providing less comprehensive services and structuring their practices to concentrate on patients with simple problems that require shorter visits.Too bad the Canadian commentators don't read the German press. A recent commentary by Deutsche Welle, Germany's international broadcaster, notes that the doctor shortage that has "long plagued the health care system in eastern Germany is becoming more pronounced in the western part of the country."  

In Switzerland, swissinfo.ch reports that the current darling of some US health policy wonks faces a serious shortfall of doctors by 2030, in a country where secret treatment rationing is already a problem.

Copying Europe might make Canada better off, but Canadians should note that some European countries are looking to the U.S. for reforms that create systems that allocate health resources more efficiently by being more responsive to price signals. As Elizabeth Howell pointed out in the February 12, 2008 edition of CMAJ, the Canadian Medical Association journal, the "definitional and demographic difficulties" involved in estimating both the number of working physicians, their specialties, and the numbers of them likely to be needed in the future, makes planning difficult [link].

All the more reason, economists would point out, to free health care from government control and let the price system work to eliminate shortages.