This is a question for Canadians...................

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Canadiangirl

I'm really unsure where all this misinformation is coming from about our system but its really amazing to hear the falsehoods. I haven't had any problems with our healthcare system and a very large health concern hit my family. I was able to continue my education at University while my dad was diagnosed and treated for his cancer. I'm not sure if this is always the case, but my dad was immediately given treatment, sent to specialists, and received constant follow up appointments. He *did not* have to wait 'months' for treatment. The doctors and nurses were wonderful to him and guess what? We didn't have *any* hospital bills. If this is how the healthcare system works in Canada then I support it fully. I know if we didn't live in Canada I wouldn't have been able to continue my education and the cancer would have ruined my family financially. The Cdn system allowed my family to only worry about my dad's health rather then worrying about if we had enough money.

Yes, there can be a wait in the emergency rooms but it is based on priority of injury. If someone comes in with a major injury they wouldn't be waiting hours for treament but if someone comes in because they have a cold then expect a wait. Again, I don't have a problem with this philosopy and would be more than happy to wait for the people who are worse off than me to get treatment.

Another poster is right though, we do have a shortage of doctors and nurses. I know of one nurse who had to travel to NY state since she couldn't find work in Ontario. This girl didn't want to move to the US but they offered her a job with bad benefits.

I'm sorry to hear about your sister Woerden, I know how hard it is when a family member has cancer.

Sam R

I love the Canadian health care system (minus wait times lol). I understand that there is going to be others who need medical attention first :) And here in Canada they support those values. What scares me about the American health care system is the thought that if you have money, you can get in faster, or even better treatment :(

Bob A

Health care should not be a privilage but a right.Here in Canada we have Government controlled health care it's not perfect but every one is intitled to it.No one here dies because they can't afford to have a major operation or even basic medical attention.

Gypsy

As a Canadian, I have to say that the system is fairly good, though imperfect. What people don't mention or acknowledge is that we're taxed to death to pay for healthcare.. Would I trade it for privatized care? NO!

woerden

As a Canadian who's lived in the U.S. a few times, I wouldn't trade universal healthcare for anything.

It's not "free" per se. We simply pay into the system via taxes.

I haven't had any major medical issues (knock wood), but it's very reassuring that I won't go bankrupt if I get cancer or something. The hospital isn't going to take my house if I can't pay the costs of treatment.

Personally, I find the American system abhorrent. Asking an ill person how they plan to pay prior to treatment, or providing substandard care because they don't have insurance, is reprehensible. It's truly the haves and the have nots. And that's just wrong on so many levels.

The current healthcare system in Canada is not perfect, but it wasn't always like this (there has been a lot of abuse over the past 20 years). As it is, if I'm ill...in any way...I can make an appointment with my doctor, and I pay nothing. Zero. Zilch. If it's an emergency, I'm rushed to the hospital and receive treatment, and my out of pocket expenses are, again, nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

My sister was diagnosed already in stage 4 cancer. Her excellent healthcare allowed her to live another 3 years. When she entered the hospital with sudden, life-threatening pnuemonia, she was in a state-of-the-art ICU bed, with every imaginable technology available to her. Sadly, she passed away just before Christmas last year. The cost to her grieving family for her 3 years of intensive treatment and week-long stay in ICU? Not a penny. I can't even imagine if, that whole time, they were worried about paying the tens of thousands her care must have "cost" over 3 years, much less all the high-tech equipment and tools used in her final days. That would be a terrible legacy to leave her husband and child.

What I found scariest, living in the U.S., is that healthcare isn't just limited to those with insurance and those without, but those with healthcare are a minute away from being denied coverage. The entire system is based on whether or not some suit will approve a treatment. I remember watching a story about this, where an American doctor said he has to call the insurance company to get approval for a particular line of treatment. The Canadian doctor just laughed when told of that. Medical decisions should be made by doctors and their patients. Period.

In reality, if the Americans who currently pay for private insurance would simply transfer that money to a form of healthcare tax, they wouldn't be paying more, and everyone could be covered by national healthcare...including themselves! But trying to get Americans to see the benefit of paying a new tax seems almost futile.

petey

I actually favour the two tiered system that Canada has adopted, u have the basic universal plan for all citizens that is funded from the tax base but also have the option of going private if u don't want to wait or for other reasons, it's true that private is faster but not everyone can afford that so a benevolent compassionate society supports average and poor people with the public system so that no one is left out...and the wait times are not like the american guy said above, there might have been that case in Winnipeg but that's an isolated incident that stuff doesn't happen here at all..

Edit: it's true that there is a shortage of Docs and nurses, many have bailed for the more lucrative "greener" pasture of the US fiscally focused system..greed wins !

davem

The difference is that you pay for health care if you choose to have it, and we pay very dearly for it through our taxes so yeah it's universal but it's not free. In the end we pay as much or more than you do.

You get quicker service than we do if you're ill though. Wait times here are long, even for things like cancer or a catscan or specialist doctor appointment you can wait months. The wait times are shameful in Ontario.

Ninja

Yeah you guys need to lighten up and help your fellow man out a bit. Universal health care is the way to go, why do you think im here in Toronto fool dont you think Im crazy about that florida weather??

MasterPython

The Canadian health care system needs a major overhaul or it will collapse. In my city a five hour wait in emergency means it's a slow day. And if you don't have a family doctor now you are not getting one in the foreseeable future. I can't see it getting any better.

wcwc

As an American living in Canada, I can tell you what you don't know about is the shortage of health care personnel and facilities. Calgary, a city of a million people, has fewer hospitals than the city I grew up in, Akron, Ohio, which has a little more than 200,000 people. Canadians pride themselves on how everyone can get health care, but it will take weeks or months to get the care you need. And if you need to go to the emergency room, good luck. There was a man in Winnipeg not long ago who died waiting in the emergency room because of lack of staffing. He wasn't the first and he won't be the last.

Another thing Canadians pride themselves on is how much less it costs them, as a percentage of national income, to provide health care for their population, compared to what the US spends. What they don't point out is that new advances in medicine are made disproportionately in the United States. Yes, it costs the US more to provide the health care it does, but the health care system in the US is responsible for a very large portion of new medical technologies and techniques and new drugs. If the US switches to a single-payer system, many of those advancements just won't be made.

Bowchicawowow

Hahahah.......Canada

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