Honest question to Canadians, about your healthcare system.

broke my leg 4 months ago... went in to hospital... needed surgery.. metal rod ..pins.. screws put in my leg... in and out in 5 days i think it was... oh ya, and they gave me free morphine... pretty fucking horrible... i know, right.

it werks - and it's FREE

That does not seem so bad.

Here in a America we hear stories of people needing to see a doctor and having to wait on a list for months.

Also for anyone who can read the D.C. hieroglyphics, is this Obummercare universal healthcare, or is it more riddles and bullshit?

How easy is it to get needed tests? like MRIs and CTs?

Here you have to be approved by insurance and these are often rejected on the first request.

DO you have a private insurance entity ; evaluating it all?

ummm.. no. the doc says come back in a month.. i get x-rayed.. he checks me out.. all is well.. and off i go. nothing too horrible about it unless they over booked patients and your waiting for 2 hours to see him. *shrug*

Yea but what about for something like a heart transplant. My parents live in Canada and they say that although the health care is free, you pay for it other ways in taxes. My dad is an airplane engineer for Lockheed Martin and he is teaching the Canadian military how to maintain c-130's. We've traveled my whole life and they really like it there now but they said the taxes there are more than here. I'll talk to them tomo and post more about it

Doesn't seem bad at all, it actually kinda, makes sense. Wow, common sense, it sounds so weird coming out...

I cant help it....lmao every time I see your name and avatar....

damn straight it makes sense. our taxes should be going where it makes sense.

You know, something as major as a heart transplant I could see problems with. We have problems with that here though too, I don't see something like that ever being an easy thing. Until we start growing hearts artificially.

hehe, you gotta love Charlie Murphy.

No complaints. I lived in the states for a while and it was a real eye opener. I had Aetna and they were robbing ke blind and the quality of care was the worst I've ever had. I was so relieved that I never got seriously sick or injured while there I i just didn't trust it at all, with something as important as my health! Plus,who knows what they might have tried to nickle and dime me for? Its insane. The last thing you should be worried about when you're injured or sick is money.

one question that yanks would ask me that always made me laugh was, "but if it doesn't cost you anything to go to the doctor, wouldn't people be going all the time?" lol! No! We hate going to the doctor just like anyone else. They actually have to put ads on tv to try to get us to go for checkups and such.

What Americans don't realize is that once they get not small but some serious illness that costs a lot of money , insurance companies will look how to drop them based on any small mistake from application or " pre - existing " condition . They are not here for you , they are for making a profit at all coasts . They do not provide a health service , they are just money handlers - the middle man . When you people will understand that ?

Sure, to see a specialist or get a surgery that isn't life threatening you may wait awhile...

but the bottom line is that never in my life have I ever heard of anyone, ever being financially destroyed cause they needed medical help. period. We don't bankrupt people so we can pump em full of drugs and give them surgeries they don't need.

What is crazy is when you do have a medical emergency and the local fire department transports you to the hospital, then 3 weeks later you get a bill in the mail from the fire department. FFS, I though they were funded by taxes??!?!?

The health system is protected by federal legislation, the Canada Health Act. The hospitals are govt owned, the feds pay the provinces partially for the delivery. The doctors and specialists are paid by the Provinces. We have choices of doctors, specialists not so much. We pay in income taxes to the feds, but also each province applies variable user and monthly fees, and a "liberal" definition of medically necessary civerage where private insurance fills the gaps. As costs have risen -- esp pharmaceuticals, the burden has fallen more on the "consumers", to the point that big private interests and their allies the Harper govt, we hope to death that one day they dont kill the Canada Health Act... and with it the death of Canada...

I have never had any problem with our system, nor have ever personally known anyone with one of these phantom horror stories Republicans always seem to have about 'canadians' they know who had to wait years or what not.

I can usually get an appointment with my family doctor within a week or 2, and if I need more immediate help I just need to wait until his night clinic night and show up lol.

I've always gotten prompt treatment when it was needed, ER times tend to be a few hours though.

I think it depends on the seriousness of the situation... organ transplants, probably really hard if not impossible and may have to be sought elsewhere.

But the little shit like on the fly doctors visits can be scheduled next day sometimes, if you don't just go to a clinic immediately (they have them in grocery stores). Most little shit is no problem at all, and a fuckton cheaper on the prescriptions side of things.

Sudden shit like heart attacks though, if it's a blizzard outside, you might be fucked. Otherwise, you MIGHT get an ambulance... IF you live near some type of hospital. If not, you'd have to drive yourself or get the police to come and take you.

Canada is some backwoods shit y'all.



Last Edited by Mister Obvious on 05/31/2012 02:48 AM

It is not universal healthcare. It is a requirement for universal insurance -- like for cars. You still have to come up with copays and premiums if your employer doesn't cover you. Canada had universal healthcare. We have a big gift to the insurance companies.

Yea, seems fucked, the greed kills me.

Thanks for the response mister, there is definitely a lot of remote parts of Canada.

Thank you for the responses everyone, I appreciate it.

GP's (family doctors) seriously abuse the system by spending less than 10 minutes with the average patient unless they are booked for a physical in which case they may get 30 mins of a doctor's face time.

GP's, usually your front line for non-trauma conditions like cancer are herding patient in and out the door as fast as they possibly can in order to get the maximum number of visits in per working day. More visits per day is higher earnings per day. Restrictions on malpractice suits also facilitate this.

trauma center care is probably on par with USA though there are limitations in available equipment. Specialist care is slightly substandard to the USA. I believe this is due to restricting medical tests to the moment of absolutely necssity only. The is also up to a six month waiting period to get an appointment with a specialist through your GP.

In typical cases you may wait from 3-6 months for non-trauma related tests such as MRI, CT or PET scan.

I guess in a way you could think of the Canadian Healthcare system as a northern version of cheap-ass HMO.

It's great in that if I am injured or become very sick, I do not have to worry about going bankrupt over medical bills.

It is not great in that much is NOT included. As a low income household, we cannot afford dental care and eye care is on an "as we can afford it" basis. Withour a good paying job that has insurance (and a lot of jobs here do NOT have benefits) we have to pay out of pocket for all prescriptions. I spend 80 a month on prescriptions. Doesn't seem like a lot but to us it is. If I were to take the meds I am being prescribed for my auto immune disease, I would be looking at hundreds of dollars in pills a month. BUT, I COULD apply to get assistance with the cost. Low income families have more options than the middle class in that respect. If you have a decent paying job but no medical benefits and then something goes wrong and you're monthly prescriptions are through the roof, thats out of your pocket.

Wait times can be very, very long. Getting a family doctor is VERY hard. My family doctor is retiring and I am having trouble finding anyone to take me in. That is not true in all parts of Canada though. We tend to lose a lot of doctors to the states because as you can tell from your fucked up money driven system, the doctors make a LOT more cash working in the U.S than in Canada.

For all my complaints about the system, in the end I value it very much. All countries should have universal health care. It is not perfect but it should be the right of every person to have free access to medical care.

It's amazing to me that the U.S does not have universal healthcare and that furthermore a lot of you don't want it at all!

i think the longest i, or my parents have ever had to wait for a doctor was about 5 or 6 weeks. and thats one of the longer times we've ever had to wait. and i should mention thats for a specialist of some sort. i've never had any complaints about our health care, and i dont know anyone who does..

Horror stories? What goes ON in that country? Oh wait.... they are recounted by people who think that Canada is an island located off of the Ivory Coast. I forgot.

That is some wack shit.

However, the only thing that really pisses me off about the system up here is that we have to have that Blue Cross shit or whatever it is to cover ambulance rides. They make us pay for those now. It never used to be like that, I remember that stuff - and I'm not even that old!

My son got really sick once and we racked up a shit ton is medical bills. I am simply at the point where I know I will never pay for them. I think a lot of people here in the US have this attitude too. I have a quite a few outstanding medical bills that I just know I will never pay. How is that supposed to work?

I like Canada's system better. Take out the money making part of it. Just run a decent, clean facility, staffed with professionals. All Americans should pay a fair share, all corporations should pay a fair share. No fucking loopholes, no tax breaks. Just a fucking percentage and it gets paid.

FFS I pay my fair share and I got fucked last year because I could not claim my kids. Meanwhile that woman who barely worked last year, gets to claim my kids and make a shit ton of money.

Sorry I am a little pissed.

We lived as expats in Amsterdam and although American, we had coverage under The Netherlands National Health program. It is modeled on Canada's - with a few differences. People making under $40k (use) per year get their coverage provided by the government. Above that level you get basic coverage free but you are "encouraged" to buy supplemental policies to pick up what the basic cover does not. These supplemental policies are sold by your age and the items covered. Average family supplemental coverage cost was about $300/mo for our entire family and it boosted the national health coverage up to cover just about anything you could imagine. There are no pre-existing exclusions. There is no heath history qualifying. If you can afford the premium and live in the areas served, you can buy it.

All supplemental policies upgrade and expand on the basic government paid coverage which is about like our US Medicare - except everyone has it. The Dutch System shifts some of the costs to those who earn more than do other plans. However, the supplemental plans are quite reasonable and provide first dollar coverage, no deductible on RX's, and some even cover full dental, orthodontics, vision/eye care and more. We were paying over $2800 per month for our family in the US. We had better coverage for far less money in Holland. FAR LESS MONEY! When you go to the doctor, you do not pay a dime for the office visit. He writes you an RX and you take it to the pharmacy to be filled. Cost? Again usually nothing. Some very costly drugs will have a small copay (maybe $5/mo or $10/mo per exotic drug. Most do not fall into that category.

The Netherlands Health Care system is tightly regulated and is operated as a service to the citizens. There is a great deal of pride in offering good medical care to every citizen. If you are earning a great deal more than average income, then you pay a bit toward your coverage. But it's not onerous by any means. I was terrified about socialized medicine when we moved there. Now, my only wish is that we could have as good a level of coverage in the US.

Unlike the USA, in the Netherlands, you cannot be rendered bankrupt and homeless because of a serious illness or accident. They offer as a country what every health system should offer. Peace of mind and a high quality/level of care to all citizens. The USA only offers an opportunity to shell out high premiums, get as little as the company dares in terms of benefits, and you can bet you'll be cancelled or dropped if you show any sign of a serious problem or need high cost drugs or long term costly care.

totally agree with that point!




I think the biggest consideration in any argument of USA vs Canada healthcare would be in the area of taxation. In Canada as you exceed CAN$50,000 per year earnings from employment you are taxed at rates at least double, and in some cases triple, the typical USA rates.

Not sure about capital gains taxation (from selling investments such as property or stocks, etc) in the USA but in Canada you will typically lose 40-50% of the selling price to taxation (this can vary due to item category and whether the capital gain is re-invested)

Now if you total the amount of income lost to taxation over the course of a person's lifetime I'm not sure the average Canadian is truly getting such a great deal in "universal healthcare" over the USA. If Canadians had the additional portion of income that we lose to taxation and correctly invested it for healthcare related issues we might actually have much more money though I've never really done the math for both countries to compare.