OH CANADA! | Tell Us What You Think Of Canadian Health Care.
April 25, 2008 by Scott Wharton
Filed under Men's Health
I’ve been taking a little break the last day or so due to my folks being in town. We got into a brief discussion about health care and it got me wondering. In The United States the rise of cost for health care is crazy. Through my employer if I were to carry my entire family on my health care it would cost almost 10k a year for insurance. I only carry myself and my children and hold on to the hope that my wife doesn’t get sick. It still costs me almost 4k a year for this bracket of my health insurance coverage and all last year myself and my children did not get sick so we paid out that money and never used the health plan. While we were fortunate enough not to get sick enough to have to use it, it still feels like a waste sometimes but that’s the cost you pay for insurance.
Getting to my point, a lot of Americans feel that Canadians have a better health care system and 98% (and that’s just something I pulled out of the air) are unaware of just how the Canadian health care system works and what it costs each individual Canadian citizen. What I want to know from the Canadian readers as well as American and maybe other people from around the world, what exactly you think about the Canadian health care system and how well it works. The pros, the cons and everything in between. Americans are all about a centralized health care system similar to the Canadian system but no one really knows how it works and what price you pay to have such a centralized or “Socialized Medicine” system. Someone fill us in, please.
Image Source: http://www.elcivics.com/images/flag_canadian_maple_leaf.jpg
I’m Canadian, in Montreal. I wouldn’t give up our system for anything. It’s actually one of the reasons I balked at a younger age of going to the US.
You will hear horror stories of the Canadian medical system and some are bad. But you also hear horror stories of the US system, and some are bad.
I have NEVER had to wait for anything life threatening or urgent. I have often had to wait for things that are not life threatening or urgent. Our waits for surgeries for things like joint replacements is disgusting, but so is not having these surgeries in the US because you can’t afford it.
I remember some US friends telling me that they had to wait 4 or 5 months for an appointment with a specialist. I’m not sure how different that is from our waits here.
There is definitely a doctor shortage and that is having a major impact on being able to find a doctor. However, at least here, we can choose (if there are more than one) which doctor we want to see, an insurance company doesn’t tell us.
We don’t have to listen to ruling from insurance companies telling our doctors how long someone should be receiving treatment or what treatment they should be getting. Here, our doctors treat us, and only our doctors.
Pros:
-everyone gets access and no-one checks your insurance status or ability to pay when you visit a doctor
- your doctor chooses your treatment, not a bureaucrat in an HMO or insurance company
- you can choose your own doctor where ever you want
Cons
- there is a doctor shortage which is making it difficult for some people to find medical care
- the hospitals are not as high tech and gleaming as you may find in the US. WE do have the necessary medical stuff but not the frills
- there is a nursing shortage which impacts the hospitals, but there is also a shortage in many parts of the US too
Bottom line: I”m a heavy user of our healthcare system, from emergency to ICU and everything in between. I’m an RN who has worked in the system and although I have seen many things I don’t like, I’ve seen many things I do like.
I’ve also had experience as the mother of a patient in a US hospital (while we were on vacation). I was impressed with the care we received and was happy it was there. I also almost had a stroke when we got the multiple bills from every body and his uncle who happened to peak in on my son.
Is our system perfect? Absolutely not. Could it need tweaking? Absolutely.
Thanks, Marijke. I really appreciate your input on this subject because a lot of people don’t know anything about the Canadian health care system.
Insurance billing has been an issue with us. Just when you think your bill is paid you get another bill from someone else that was somehow involved.
I don’t know how immigration is going on up in your parts but down here it seems that a lot of immigrants (legal and illegal) get healthcare through medicare from social services and take full advantage of it. Some pay taxes and some don’t. A lot of identity theft and misinformation gets through the system and I think that may have a major roll in the fact that health care is so high for those that can or almost can afford it. You have immigrants that are working under the table because they don’t have a legal status and don’t present their true income. While they collect welfare, food stamps and medicaid they drive around flashy SUV’s that have been paid for in cash. There are many other aspects that go into this and I can understand if they came to this country to earn an honest living, but when they take advantage of the system and get a free ride the people that truly pay are the people that pay the taxes and pay for medical insurance and have to absorb the cost of everything else because they make just enough money to be placed above that bracket. This is a whole can of worms I should not have opened.
Scott, we used to have problems in Quebec with people coming up from NY state, using our medicare cards for free medical care. It cut down considerably when they put our photos on the cards but there still is abuse.