4 ms·

I grew up in Canada so I totally understand why people are against universal health care... Check out the wait times for MRI scans that are published by the var

I grew up in Canada so I totally understand why people are against universal health care... Check out the wait times for MRI scans that are published by the various Canadian provinces. 90 days' wait is not uncommon. Meanwhile in the US it can be had in 3 days or so in every decent sized suburb or city.

jhayward 8y ago
An MRI that you can book in 3 days, if you have the money. I know people with health care insurance that had to postpone imaging for months in order to be able to afford the cost.
vore 8y ago
If waiting a little longer doesn't reduce the quality of care (research from 2007: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2801918/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2801918/), then it doesn't really matter how long you wait.
btilly 8y ago
As someone who grew up in Canada and actually paid attention, this common line is mostly BS. If you have an emergency, you essentially have no wait time for an MRI. If you have a condition that can wait, you go into the line and potentially wait for a long time. When the wait times become too long, it becomes a scandal and then improves. Every scandal then gets reported in the USA as stories about how horrible Canadian healthcare is.
- Taniwha 8y ago
  Yes, this is the same as in NZ - the thing is if there are not queues for expensive resources (be they surgeons, MRIs etc) then there must be expensive resources sitting idle. Queues are a good thing in that regard, they indicate efficiency of use, what we mostly argue about in countries with socialised medicine is "how long the queues should be?". Ideally they are on average just long enough so that they never become empty when the usual various peaks/troughs of demand occur, plus have the capacity to handle all the life threatening cases on an urgent basis

4 ms·

I grew up in Canada so I totally understand why people are against universal health care... Check out the wait times for MRI scans that are published by the var

by patrickg_zill 8y ago

jhayward 8y ago
An MRI that you can book in 3 days, if you have the money. I know people with health care insurance that had to postpone imaging for months in order to be able to afford the cost.
vore 8y ago
If waiting a little longer doesn't reduce the quality of care (research from 2007: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2801918/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2801918/), then it doesn't really matter how long you wait.
btilly 8y ago
As someone who grew up in Canada and actually paid attention, this common line is mostly BS. If you have an emergency, you essentially have no wait time for an MRI. If you have a condition that can wait, you go into the line and potentially wait for a long time. When the wait times become too long, it becomes a scandal and then improves. Every scandal then gets reported in the USA as stories about how horrible Canadian healthcare is.
- Taniwha 8y ago
  Yes, this is the same as in NZ - the thing is if there are not queues for expensive resources (be they surgeons, MRIs etc) then there must be expensive resources sitting idle. Queues are a good thing in that regard, they indicate efficiency of use, what we mostly argue about in countries with socialised medicine is "how long the queues should be?". Ideally they are on average just long enough so that they never become empty when the usual various peaks/troughs of demand occur, plus have the capacity to handle all the life threatening cases on an urgent basis