4 ms·

The trope that waits are materially worse in single-payer systems is precisely that: a trope. I have had to wait "until some time early next year" to get a diag

• shados 7y ago
  The trope comes partly from some of us who have lived in both and saw the difference first hand. It also depends on where you are (eg: Im told Quebec is a lot worse than Ontario, though I've never gotten the chance to compare them). But when I lived in a single payer system, the thought of going to the ER was -terrifying-. Go in at 6am in excruciating pain, still waiting by 10pm unless you're spitting blood all over the place. The first time I went to the ER in the US, I walked straight by it because all I saw was a bunch of nurse looking bored and no one around...because it was empty. Subsequent time it was a bit more crowded, but never the horrors that I saw in my childhood. Now that Im older, for fairness reason I'd still take single payer any day. While I'm quite privileged, others are not, and I rather wait all day at the ER than knowing some people can get bankrupted by it. But the difference in wait times are still front and center in my memories.
  • selimthegrim 7y ago
    I saw someone get an MRI inside of three hours in a Montreal ER for an injured ankle and comparing it to America for cost and turnaround time was pretty impressed