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>Did you know you cannot choose where to take these tests? Welcome to the Canadian Healthcare system. It's free, but not without issue, even ignoring the long

>Did you know you cannot choose where to take these tests? Welcome to the Canadian Healthcare system. It's free, but not without issue, even ignoring the long wait times and inability to get a doctor in most places in the country. Did you know I'm not allowed to go get my blood tested privately, even if I pay for it? That I require a requisition from a doctor (which I don't have, so I have to go to a walk-in clinic and take up the time of a doctor who could care less what they are signing)? And that the results then get shared back with said doctor, who's discretion it is what data he shares with me? It's bizarre. I often see Americans pointing to Canada's system as a shining example. I mean, sure, we don't have crushing medical debt, which is AWESOME. But our healthcare system has so many problems itself...

SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
What use case is there for getting your blood tested without getting a doctor involved?
- endorphone 7y ago
  If you're bio-hacking, taking steroids for `recreation' and monitoring testosterone, just curious, etc, it does seem reasonable that you should be able to pay for and get your own tests. There are options that facilitate that, though it's a burgeoning market given that the overwhelming majority are ordered, and paid for, through the public system.
- coralreef 7y ago
  Tracking your own health metrics when your curious to see how your diet, excercises, etc change
stanski 7y ago
Allowing private access to healthcare is a slippery slope. Anyone paying for a service is someone who is also taking the place of someone using that service as a basic right. I'm not saying it shouldn't be an option for blood tests in particular (as is your example) but there are multiple things to consider when you start opening those up to anyone willing/able to pay.
endorphone 7y ago
No normal user of the system is mandated to use any particular lab provider -- a doctor gives you a requisition form and you bring it wherever you want. There aren't that many options, generally, but there are as many as the market will bear (and as new upstarts grow they get swallowed up by the incumbents). This particular person's issue has to do with immigration. Do you really think a walk-in doctor "could care less"? What a ridiculous statement. They're just as professionally governed and concerned as any doctor. "Did you know I'm not allowed to go get my blood tested privately" There are private blood testing services in Canada, though it's a small market given that the workflow of labs is overwhelmingly geared towards the public market. Most labs will happily provide you your own blood test results (a cursory search of both LifeLabs and Dynacare, two of the most common, show their patient portals). "I often see Americans pointing to Canada's system as a shining example" Canada is almost always the punching bag for the US -- usually based upon lies or the singular complainer, for instance I and my family have had a family doctor everywhere we've lived, have always had a great experience, etc -- and of course -- like every complex system in the world -- it has flaws. But it isn't as good as France's system, or a couple of others.

SketchySeaBeast 7y ago

What use case is there for getting your blood tested without getting a doctor involved?

endorphone 7y ago
If you're bio-hacking, taking steroids for `recreation' and monitoring testosterone, just curious, etc, it does seem reasonable that you should be able to pay for and get your own tests. There are options that facilitate that, though it's a burgeoning market given that the overwhelming majority are ordered, and paid for, through the public system.
coralreef 7y ago
Tracking your own health metrics when your curious to see how your diet, excercises, etc change

stanski 7y ago

Allowing private access to healthcare is a slippery slope. Anyone paying for a service is someone who is also taking the place of someone using that service as a basic right. I'm not saying it shouldn't be an option for blood tests in particular (as is your example) but there are multiple things to consider when you start opening those up to anyone willing/able to pay.

endorphone 7y ago

No normal user of the system is mandated to use any particular lab provider -- a doctor gives you a requisition form and you bring it wherever you want. There aren't that many options, generally, but there are as many as the market will bear (and as new upstarts grow they get swallowed up by the incumbents). This particular person's issue has to do with immigration. Do you really think a walk-in doctor "could care less"? What a ridiculous statement. They're just as professionally governed and concerned as any doctor. "Did you know I'm not allowed to go get my blood tested privately" There are private blood testing services in Canada, though it's a small market given that the workflow of labs is overwhelmingly geared towards the public market. Most labs will happily provide you your own blood test results (a cursory search of both LifeLabs and Dynacare, two of the most common, show their patient portals). "I often see Americans pointing to Canada's system as a shining example" Canada is almost always the punching bag for the US -- usually based upon lies or the singular complainer, for instance I and my family have had a family doctor everywhere we've lived, have always had a great experience, etc -- and of course -- like every complex system in the world -- it has flaws. But it isn't as good as France's system, or a couple of others.