There are a gazillion specialist in the US one has to wait months to get an appointment with. That notion that in the US there is no wait is laughable.
Many non life threatening surgeries also have long wait periods.
I have many friends I the Uk, several who work for the NHS. We all have elderly parents and discuss what treatments our parents are getting. It’s remarkably similar and none have had to wait for medical treatment. They are very pleased with the care their parents have/are getting.
They are furious that the govt is trying to make cuts to the NHS.
Well, I went to other doctors, including going to a specialist, for a chronic condition I have. None could give me a diagnosis. The first specialist told me it was in my head. My doctor knew I needed to see a specific specialist - which I was eventually able to get into after two months. A $10 for 90 day supply of a certain med and specialized PT and condition is completely under control. It is a difficult condition to diagnosis, as its one reached after elimination of other conditions first. I am on a site for this condition and have heard a million horror stories of trying to get into dr. who understands this condition. I was very, very lucky.
People a lot of times have to travel out of state, after waiting months, to see a specialist who understand this condition. Most specialist in same field do not.
Also, for the two months leading up to diagnosis my bills came to $15k. Fortunately, I have good insurance and my cost was a few hundred dollars in co-pays.
Some of you are so willing to protest that everything is hunky dory for you and then point fingers. And, argue what’s better or worse without much more than some notion from some media article, anecdote or hearsay. Or your usual personal stances.
Doctors here do take charity cases or reduce rates and do respect their Hippocratic oath. The issue is, not all. Hospitals do take “charity cases.” But again, the details vary, from those more devoted to the indigent to those trying to manage the proportion of un-reimbursed services. If you were to go to the direct sources, not some journalist’s take, you might quit generalizing.
There is no mandated 6 month wait for gall bladder surgery in Ontario. You may mean average waits. (Even that varies by hospital.) But you didn’t say that. Nor did you understand there is critical care needed now and that which is not urgent today, which can wait. We should be talking about the realities, not the easy argumentative hype.
One of our Canadian friends said that Canadian system works only for healthy, it doe not work for sick. So, if you are in Canada, just stay healthy and it will work for you, there is no other options.
No, it is not better than US system. And the current US system called after our enlightened leader is falling apart due to many insurances bailing out of it because of financial unsustainability.
Again, the best is to stay healthy. Just loose that weight, exercise 2 hours / daily and eat healthy and prey that it will work. Also, a good idea to know the places that are known for medical tourism, they may come handy.
1% of Canadian patients seek treatment outside Canada. usually they are away on business or vacation when they get sick or are in an accident. A very small number leave Canada for treatment.
About 6 million US citizens seek treatment outside the US.
Are other countries debating health care in a similar way that the US is? If so what would happen in those countries if their government leaders proposed moving to the US type system of individual or employer insurance?
“About 6 million US citizens seek treatment outside the US.”
-because they can afford it, not so much Canadians. And if you ask docs in Detroit or some other localities closer to Canadian border you may get a different number than 1% - provided by who? The Canadian government? Nobody believe the Soviet propaganda, why all of the sudden we should start believing? Many people, however, simply do not have a chance - they just die while on wait, just like US veterans. These stories you hear only by the word of mouth, you will not see it in propaganda.
I would like to have the same health care benefits as those in leadership who are proposing changes in mine…and for the same out of pocket costs, and the same coverage…and lifetime too.
That’s not true at all. We’re not talking about taking the car down the street to different mechanic. One of the most damaging ideas we have, which unfortunately has shaped American health care for decades, is that medical care is a market, just like any other market. It’s not.
I did not read all of the thread. I used to live in the midwest and now I live in Ontario. Everything I read @alwaysamom said about the Canadian holds true for me. Like @Onward, much as I love living in Florida and California one of the primary reasons I live in Canada now is because of health care.
As for how the very sick fare, I just want to share my familyès experience. My mother had sudden kidney failure after a brief illness at 84, and she had no trouble getting on dialysis. The nephrologist referred and she got into the program immediately. All support systems fell in place - medical equipment, drugs, nutritional supplements, even transportation to the dialysis clinic, free or at minimal cost. At the same time, my father who has AZ was placed in a nursing home immediately (normal wait is 1-2 years).
The nursing home charges are a fraction of their income, for my father it is about $1700 CAD, some residents will pay more, some less. I understand the full charge is about $3000. My father takes all kinds of meds, paid for by the government which includes Aricept. It was stopped recently not because it is expensive, but the gerontologist said, at his stage of AZ, Aricept is not helpful anymore. I am grateful that cost is not the primary concern in delivery of health care. My parents live in British Columbia.
In Ontario, after 65 - most drugs are free. No enrolment in any plan is necessary. My husband take statins, diabetic meds, high blood pressure meds, all free. Before 65, Ontario has a drug plan, which I understand basically cap the cost at $3000. I know of someone with brain tumor, and he and his family need not to worry about the expense of the drugs he uses.
Another factor is that the health care system charged the patients significant more for the same treatment (just like the drugs charged by the big pharma.)
Personal (painful) experience: More than 2 years ago, I unfortunately fell sick and the doctor made me stay at the hospital longer than I prefer to have stayed (the surgeon could not figure out where went wrong for quite some time so the fever would not go down – Yes, it was done by a doctor who chose a 6-year short-cut BS/MD training route, and there is a reason why most if not all short-cut training programs are now made extinct!) Between the insurance company and me, the hospital system charged almost half a millions dollars! They did not even use the more expensive MRI on me and used the cheaper CT scans. The doctor could not care less how many CT scans were used on me as long as the insurance company still paid for it – prescribing more procedures means adding more into the bottom line to the health care system!
To put it bluntly, if there is no insurance company which helps foot the bill, I would think a “death panel” might not be such a bad idea for me! How have we managed to make our health care system so insanely expensive?! (My rant is more about the hospital system than the insurance system – my gut feeling is that since the capitalism system thinks the health care system could be a good money making machine, it goes in to control it for make a “kill”. Ironically, some member in my family is a part of it!)
