As a Canadian, would you favor replacing your current Canadian Health Care with America's system?

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felix

You have got to be kidding. My understanding is Americans don't even have health care unless you pay for it privately. Why in the world would I want to replace it with your system when I get my health care free and its good health care too which can even include drugs if you are not able to afford to pay for them yourself. I just spent 1 1/2 weeks in the hospital after suffering a heart attack. I had the best care you could possibly get which included intensive care, two operations, regular care and therapy and the only bill I received was for $35.00 to help pay for part of the ambulance charges! Thank you but I'll not be replacing my health care for anyone elses.

maddog27271

omg no!
Good question, but no!
How about an example .... my late wife battled cancer for nearly 15 months in 03/04, and our health care system here in Canada (along with average benefits from my work, which took care of dispensing fees) ensured that she had the best care (including CAT scans, chemo, radiation, frequent oncologist appointments, dozens of medications, home care nursing visits, private rooms in hospital, etc), with no undue wait times, and at no cost to us. Would that happen in the US?

khrystenat

I have close family living in the US and i would not want to deal with their system after what they have told me.

I have lost both my father and my cousin (who resided in the us) to cancer and the differences between their treatment is unbeleivable. I would take our system over theirs anyday of the week.

Every method has issues, i prefer our issues over the amercian ones.

Lyness

I can't imagine living in a country that doesn't cover health expenses. We Canadians are extremely lucky.

RobotShoes

Replacing with the American system? No way.

Aside from the wait times in hospitals, higher taxes, the publicly funded Canadian health care system is a much better system than that of its privitized American counter part.
Poor health has been linked to poverty, the United States and Mexico are the only two OECD countries to not have some form of guaranteed health insurance for all citizens.

A 2006 study concluded that U.S. residents are one third less likely to have a regular medical doctor, one fourth more likely to have unmet health care needs, and are more than twice as likely to forgo needed medicines as a Canadian.

Why would I want to replace?

thinkingtime

When the sole wage earner in this Canadian household went down with cancer, the last thing we ever thought of was the cost. (That particular bout cost the Government around $500 000 Canadian.)

We would have had no insurance as the wage earner's company had dropped all benefits due to economic problems. I would not be writing this as we would be destitute.

The beginning of universal healthcare was a decision to insure everyone through the taxation system. There isn't a "deluxe" option as in the States but our family member was treated promptly, kindly and effectively throughout and dealing with medical matters is not a concern for the future.

I have lived in several countries with universal healthcare and we have never considered a country without such a simple provision for their citizens.

darwical

I just read somewhere that about 40 million Americans don"t have health care. That's just not right - I love the fact that we have medicare, its not perfect, but we can work on making it better.

gordc238

Absolutely not. I've had three health crisis in the last two years. I figure about $250,000 of health care. In the US I would be broke and dead.

The American Health system is only good for greedy Doctors. And trust me. They are greedy.

tink

Good question! Most other posters have replied to your question much better than I can, but I have to agree with them - I would never, ever want a private, "American-ised" health care system. Our system works well and although not perfect, I much prefer it over the American's privatised health care. I have numerous health problems and if this wasn't covered for me, there's no way I'd be in the financial position I'm in today.

One question Americans tend to ask is "why should you pay for someone else's health care?" Why shouldn't I? When one of my neighbours falls, I'm not going to walk on by without helping. It's my duty as a Canadian to make sure that there are no huge gaps between what I can afford and what anyone else can afford. I shouldn't gain from someone else's loss.

Lydia

Never ever. It's well worth paying the higher taxes to have universal healthcare. And I live in the province which is the birthplace of medicare!
There are just never any worries - if you are ill and have an emergency, you are covered at the hospital. If you need to see a doctor, or get referred to a specialist, you are covered. No worrying about getting the proper prenatal care from a doctor, if a woman is pregnant, or having to make any choices based on cost. It just frees you from these troubles... and there are enough other problems in our world to deal with.

hilarywow

only if I wanted a worse quality of life where my medical bills could bankrupt me.
It is just about the stupidist system in the world.

moglie

oh hell no. I would rather wait 24hrs in emergency than get treatment in 1hr and be in debt of $25 000

tess

I think Canada's health care is pretty good. It could definately use some improvement, as far as waiting times go.
My sister lives in the states and has top a top notch health plan. She can get into see a specialist within days. Here, it might take 3-6 months to see a specialist. She can go for an MRI within a week, we had to wait 3 months each time.
However we have had several emergencies in our family, and we received great service. No complaints at all. If there's an emergency you get taken care of.
When my daughter was ejected from a rolled car she had severe injuries, along with 4 other people. Basically this group occupied the entire emergency dept for afew hours. In the time we were waiting, we had a gentleman come in with a sore back, he had to wait & was royally ticked off. He'd had a backache for 2 weeks. Does this sound like an emergency to you? A young mother came in with a baby with a cough. No fever etc. Emergency?
My point is, with our system, I think alot of people abuse it. If people had to pay they might think twice before running up to the hospital for every little ache or pain
Just my 2 cents worth

bluwoofer

hell no....there maybe a long waiting list but at least i know i eventually will get treatment

Grand pa

NO WAY

kingstonsean

Two different things: health insurance (provided by the government) and health care (in many cases provided by private entities who bill the gov't insurance). Our health insurance is excellent, although we pay an additional tax in Ontario to cover the "premiums". Our health care could use some fixing. Wait times for consultations are brutal - up to 2 years to see a sleep disorders specialist, 6 months to see a plastic surgeon (and I'm not talking about cosmetic surgery), 6 months to see an ear/nose./throat specialist, etc. In most cities and towns outside of the major cities it's almost impossible to even find a general practitioner that will take on new patients. If you don't have a GP you have to use walk-in clinics or hospital emergency rooms. Operating rooms in small town hospitals go un-used because of a lack of surgeons and O.R. nurses. In many cases we don't really have "health care", we have "sickness care".

Conlusion: If you have a job that covers you, and/or you can qualify for affordable health insurance, the US system is superior. For most people, myself included, I'll stick with what we have in Canada (But that doesn't mean that I'll let any politician off the hook - our system need fixing, and since the goverment controls the funding it's up to them to fix it.)

randy lahey

We need 2 tier, where everyone is covered, but those who want good service pay to go somewhere good. The american one only benifits the rich (cause lower taxes as result). But health care in Usa cost around a thousand a month. Health care costs are the cause of 30% of bankrupcies in the US. Plus we dont have a movie like "Sicko" that critize our health care.

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