How Horrible Is CANADA's Health Care System??

[remicks]

Originally Posted by BrunoRepublic

Whereas in the USA, you don't bother to wait, because you know you just can't afford it anyway.

I have American friends with health problems that they can't get treatment for, because they either have no coverage and can't afford it, or they do have coverage but their HMO doesn't cover the treatments they need.

I have heard my friends in the USA say things like "I need surgery but I just can't afford it". That such a thing could be said in a developed nation is appalling to me.

Canada is a democracy (in many ways more democratic than the USA). If we really disliked the health care system here, we'd have got rid of it a long time ago. But if you ask around, you'll find that most Canadians -- like all of the ones here, for a start -- will strongly defend it. Most of us will reject any suggestion that the American system (or lack thereof) is somehow better. Isn't it funny how most of these people who are the first to put down the Canadian system have never lived in Canada?

This is exactly why I'm asking ....if anyone ought to know .... it'd be you all !!!

Because we are certainly being told otherwise here.

I am noticing that no one yet is saying "oh no, you don't have to wait, that's an exaggeration "
This is an important issue. With health care timing is crucial .



By the time they are through with all the "compromising" needed in Washington to get everyone on board -the pharmaceuticals, the insurance companies , the hospitals, etc. .... it'll wind up being a far cry from the real reform needed ....some milk toast solution that therefore will be full of holes and lacking cohesion and doomed for failure.

Our system is broke ....no doubt ... But I want them to REALLY fix it.



******

[discokicks]

Originally Posted by remicks

I am noticing that no one yet is saying "oh no, you don't have to wait, that's an exaggeration "
This is an important issue. With health care timing is crucial . ******

These menacing ideas of "waiting" are a good way to throw fear into the American public. It's the one argument that those in opposition to universal healthcare can throw out there that they know will grab the American public's attention...mix in the word "socialism" and you've got a winning formula.

If there is any "waiting", it is strictly because of budget restraints within our health system...certainly not from lack of compassion. Our population is aging and there are more demands on heath needs. Any of that "wait time" is not and has never been because of any government interference in regards to what they will allow for each of its citizens. This is the kind of fear that has been put into Americans...that government bureaucracy will not allow you to have certain surgery or it will dictate which doctor or hospital you're allowed to visit....totally and absolutely not true in regards to Canada's health care.

This situation, however, is true within the American system when dealing with private insurance plans and organizations. My American doctor friend spends a large part of his day sweet-talking and arguing with his patients' HMOs over certain treatments and prescriptions that he needs to implement and what will be allowed through those individuals' health care plans.

[remicks]

*****
discokicks I thank you so much for helping me wade through this

NOW THE GOOD NEWS !!

I just listened to President Obama speaking live on the radio (from another town becuase our one and only local hillbilly station didn't carry it ) answering questions about his plan and addressing these types of concerns.
All I can say is THANK THE STARS WE'VE FINALLY GOT AN INTELLIGENT PRESIDENT
After eight miserable years it almost seems like a miracle that we have such a hands on caring President .... ...


.Not only can he process such giant issues (and wants to)

.....he can also stand before the American people and articulate them!!!


Hallelujah




new note to remicks:

.....don't spend even one ounce of your thought processes concerning this issue based on anything you hear from b*ttholes like Hannity and Ingram and O'Reilly . Scr*w them.


*****



can you imagine where we'd be if we'd gotten stuck with McCain ,his trophy wife and his trophy VP ........

[discokicks]

The other argument for universal health care that seems to get overlooked is the virtual monkey off your back in regards to choosing employment and ultimately the direction of how you want your life to go.

With private health care, one would source out an employer with a good health plan and that's where big corporations have an advantage. I would think that smaller, independent businesses would have to struggle to get themselves decent health plan packages in order to woo good employees and for those who don't want to work within the strict, cold environment of the corporate world, you'd have to make some hard decisions about taking employment elsewhere and taking lesser health benefits.

And where does all of this leave the entrepreneurial-minded?

Four years ago, I chose to go into business on my own...fed up with having someone looking over my shoulder. It was a difficult decision to cut myself off from a constant paycheque but I couldn't see living my life any other way. The one thing that didn't haunt me though was what do I do about health care.

America boasts about being the land of the free...where dreams come true and "only in America" can you go from rags to riches. I wonder just how many budding entrepreneurs and talented freelancers are trapped within jobs they hate and not being able to live out their dreams all because of private health care.

[originalbigm]

According to the UN life expectancy stats for the period 2005-2010

Canada ranks 11th with an average of 80.7 years

US ranks 38th with an average of 78.2 years

The US critics also fail to talk about drug coverage in our health system. Each province has a provincial government plan that households with income of $100,000 or less can subscribe to which is based on earnings. Based on your family earnings if you don't have a company benefit plan or the plan partially covers you.You are assessed a deductible amount.

e.g. For a family of three or more with household income of $6500 or less - $150.00 up to a family income of $100,000 -$3889.

After you pay the deductible the province pays for your drugs entirely. You simply pay a dispensing fee of $2.00 per prescription.

drugcoverage.ca - - Prescription Drug Coverage in Canada


I agree with others that our system isn't perfect but overall it works pretty well. No one in Canada is uninsured and wait times are assessed on urgency. Is it life threatening or not. From personal experience I had a liver transplant 12 years ago. Cost would have been $250,000. My cost $0. I'm doing fine and I had the best care one could ask for.

[DiscoMan]

Americans aren't streaming over the border to partake of Canadian healthcare but plenty of Canadians are coming south for care that they either can't get in Canada or the waiting list is too long. That is a fact.
For one example Canadian patients are quite common at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester...

American healthcare needs reform not the boondoggle Government takeover the Anointed One is proposing. Moreover, support for his takeover is dropping like a stone here in the U.S. these past four or five weeks. People see it for what it is: Government sponsored euthanasia.

[BrunoRepublic]

Originally Posted by DiscoMan

Americans aren't streaming over the border to partake of Canadian healthcare

Yes they are; health care fraud became such a huge problem that they had to put photo ID on the health cards. And then there's the whole issue of lower costs for pharmaceutical drugs, which became such an issue that the American government took action to prevent their poorest citizens from getting cheaper drugs from Canada.

Here's a link to something written by an acquaintance of mine who has seen health care from both sides: he's an American who moved to Canada a couple of years ago.

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