3 ms·

If you have an urgent care situation in Canada, you can walk into an emergency room or clinic and yes, your care will be triaged, but within a reasonable period

by wcarss 6y ago

If you have an urgent care situation in Canada, you can walk into an emergency room or clinic and yes, your care will be triaged, but within a reasonable period (a few hours at most for most issues, e.g. a new persistent pain in your arm) but more typically within about an hour or less for most issues, (like a broken limb would be near immediate) you will be able to see a doctor and recieve first line assessment and treatment. If you need additional imagery or specialist study, you then do have to schedule these things. I've gone through this process in the last year and had multiple kinds of medical imagery done, as well as a procedure by a specialist in response to a doctor's initial findings. The appointments for imagery and specialist work were completed within the week following my initial appointment. In the past for far less urgent issues, I've had to wait up to a month. All of this was comfortable, timely, and safe, and I did not ever have to wonder what expenses might arise. In the United States, this would have certainly destroyed all of my savings. I'm glad your mother received the care she needed and is well, and I don't have personal experience dealing with cancer diagnosis and treatment here, so it may of course be different! But my own small issues could have destroyed me financially in America, or I would have more likely just never had them dealt with, and I am ostensibly in the relative financial elite as a decently paid tech worker with some actual savings. Please, don't snidely smear this system, in a post about airplanes for god's sake! And certainly not on the basis of "death lists", and certainly not in comparison to America, because the United States has plain old deaths at home to far outweigh them, where no one was even waiting for anything. The health care system here has issues, sure. Big issues! But in comparison to the American system it is an unmitigated good, at the absolute least for everyone with less than say, a million dollars in liquid savings.

49para 6y ago
Its certainly not "completely uninsured" but I'm not sure I'd say it's an unmitigated good. If you want a sleep study and it's not life threatening, 1 year. If you want a consult with an orthopedic surgeon, 6-12 months followed by a surgury in 6-12 months. If you want a liver specialist consult, 6-12 months. Sure, living in the US without insurance is definitely hazardous but I wouldn't compare having insurance in the US with healthcare in Canada.
- wcarss 6y ago
  A close family member of mine requested a sleep study in the past year and had one scheduled about a month out. edit: clarifying to add, not for a life-threatening issue.
eloff 6y ago
I'm not snidely smearing anything. I'm saying what is good and what is bad about it, and pointing out it's not free, we pay for it in taxes - on average $13,300[1] per household per year. Both Canada and the US have suboptimal systems that are dysfunctional in different ways. I'd rather the Canadian system if those are the only two options. It's a false dichotomy of course. https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/health-care https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/health-care
jariel 6y ago
"But in comparison to the American system it is an unmitigated good, at the absolute least for everyone with less than say, a million dollars in liquid savings." This is a little bombastic, and your anecdote is just a data point, not a reflection of the 'system'. The US system is very expensive, but if someone is covered it's generally much better. I'm not quite sure if it's a very good deal, but the quality is high. The Canadian system is highly rationed for many things. While in the US you might wait a few weeks for an operation, in Canada it could be months, years - or never. In Ontario and Quebec - you literally cannot get a 'doctor' anymore, they are forcing people into clinics because it's more economical, meaning one's medical history may be not be integrated into diagnosis. When people have 'serious things' obviously they get care, but I personally had a 'difficult to diagnose problem' and the doctors at the clinics just didn't care - I had to go to the 'Cleveland Clinic' in Toronto, a 'private practice back door' to get someone to pay attention. Almost nobody in the US has a 'million dollars in liquidity' and so this statement is really unfair. The US system has 'major pitfalls' that regular people can fall into when they are not covered, and of course, a ton of people that are not insured. It's a more existential problem than mere private/public discussions can address, that said, the lack of real private practice in Canada severely limits how much people can spend if they want to in the area, and it means an otherwise huge chunk of the economy lives in the socialized system, which means money doesn't get into so many things we might like it to. Canada and other nations end up depending heavily on the US for a lot of medical innovation.

by wcarss 6y ago

49para 6y ago

Its certainly not "completely uninsured" but I'm not sure I'd say it's an unmitigated good. If you want a sleep study and it's not life threatening, 1 year. If you want a consult with an orthopedic surgeon, 6-12 months followed by a surgury in 6-12 months. If you want a liver specialist consult, 6-12 months. Sure, living in the US without insurance is definitely hazardous but I wouldn't compare having insurance in the US with healthcare in Canada.

wcarss 6y ago
A close family member of mine requested a sleep study in the past year and had one scheduled about a month out. edit: clarifying to add, not for a life-threatening issue.

eloff 6y ago

I'm not snidely smearing anything. I'm saying what is good and what is bad about it, and pointing out it's not free, we pay for it in taxes - on average $13,300[1] per household per year. Both Canada and the US have suboptimal systems that are dysfunctional in different ways. I'd rather the Canadian system if those are the only two options. It's a false dichotomy of course. https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/health-care https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/health-care

jariel 6y ago

"But in comparison to the American system it is an unmitigated good, at the absolute least for everyone with less than say, a million dollars in liquid savings." This is a little bombastic, and your anecdote is just a data point, not a reflection of the 'system'. The US system is very expensive, but if someone is covered it's generally much better. I'm not quite sure if it's a very good deal, but the quality is high. The Canadian system is highly rationed for many things. While in the US you might wait a few weeks for an operation, in Canada it could be months, years - or never. In Ontario and Quebec - you literally cannot get a 'doctor' anymore, they are forcing people into clinics because it's more economical, meaning one's medical history may be not be integrated into diagnosis. When people have 'serious things' obviously they get care, but I personally had a 'difficult to diagnose problem' and the doctors at the clinics just didn't care - I had to go to the 'Cleveland Clinic' in Toronto, a 'private practice back door' to get someone to pay attention. Almost nobody in the US has a 'million dollars in liquidity' and so this statement is really unfair. The US system has 'major pitfalls' that regular people can fall into when they are not covered, and of course, a ton of people that are not insured. It's a more existential problem than mere private/public discussions can address, that said, the lack of real private practice in Canada severely limits how much people can spend if they want to in the area, and it means an otherwise huge chunk of the economy lives in the socialized system, which means money doesn't get into so many things we might like it to. Canada and other nations end up depending heavily on the US for a lot of medical innovation.