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These situations are common in the U.S., unless you are well-connected and can pull strings. > waiting over a year for joint replacement surgery 1) Remember t
by hackuser 10y ago
These situations are common in the U.S., unless you are well-connected and can pull strings.
> waiting over a year for joint replacement surgery
1) Remember that many Americans have no access to healthcare outside of emergency rooms; they wait forever. I know plenty, including connected people, who wait months for simple appointments. A year before surgery wouldn't surprise me at all.
> if they have cancer, they aren't going to get to go to the best cancer center in Canada, you go to your local hospital.
2) Again, many Americans wait forever. Few others go to the best treatment centers in the nation - how much capacity do those places have, and who is filling up the local facilities?
> if you want the latest and greatest cancer treatment? Well, you'll need to pay for that yourself since the gov't hasn't yet approved it for reimbursement.
3) Again, some Americans get no funding. Most others are limited to what their insurance companies cover and often have the same problems.
- refurb 10y agoI'm not arguing that many people would be better off. I'm arguing that many people would have to lower their expectations around healthcare. There is a very big chunk of the US that has very expensive (that they can afford) and very good healthcare.
- hackuser 10y agoCouldn't they still pay extra and get it? Can't you do that in Canada?
- refurb 10y agoNope! Physicians either have to be a part of the public system 100% or 0%. No doing both. As a result, there are very few private options for healthcare in Canada.
- tempestn 10y agoRight. As I mentioned in my post, there is a concern that allowing otherwise would erode the public system. Perhaps it's justified; I don't know. Also, those who can afford it can travel to the US or elsewhere if they want to pay for services, which reduces the motivation to create a private alternative here, although it turns out in practice that happens rarely. This is a good overview, also covering the differences in wait times between the systems: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/fact-checking-trump-are-canadians-swarming-the-border-to-get-better-healthcare https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/fact-checking-tru...
- wahern 10y agoA family member of mine is an orthopedic surgeon in Vancouver. Several years ago he split his time between a teaching hospital and a private practice, doing knee surgeries at both. At the hospital waiting times were typical. At his private practice waiting times were very short, on the order of days, I think. IIRC, the way surgeons get around the rules is by charging by the hour, not by the procedure. And it's completely out-of-pocket. For the kind of cookie-cutter, out-patient operations he specialized in it worked very well for him and his well-heeled patients.