1. Is the role of the government in the shaping of national policy increasing?

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1. Is the role of the government in the shaping of national policy increasing? Why may this be either harmful or beneficial?

President elect Obama is planning on more government involvement in the shaping of nation health policy and less influence from the special interest groups. It terms of either being harmful or beneficial, time will tell, but one can look to similar health systems for comparison, such as Canada, although Canada’s health care system is Universal coverage through the federal government.

There are both positive and negative aspects. We all get basic health insurance to see doctors and have operations and babies free of charge. But for some procedures, appointments with specialists and operations, we have long waiting lists (e.g. Saskatchewan- my neighbor died last year while waiting for tests, which had about a year waiting list. He could have travelled to Alberta for private treatment, but he decided to wait. He got so sick about 9 months of waiting, he was hospitalized and died from the complications that had accumulated over the 9 month interim). We also have a shortage of doctors and nurses, so a stay in the hospital is dangerous (my opinion, but common sense based), as they are understaffed and a patient can wait up to an hour for help after ringing the help bell. Sometimes, the bell is never responded to. If it was an emergency, what then? However, Saskatchewan has recently hired a large number of nurses from other countries. But Canada’s system is considered a one-tiered system with Universal coverage, (limited private insurance) which is slightly different than Obama’s plans who proposed a mixed public-private health care system. However, the more the government takes over the system, the fewer choices we have in terms of care and treatment………………….

2. What are the stances of the Republican and Democratic parties on some of the current health care polices?

From the Democratic side (see existing platform below),