Quick Post on Canadian Healthcare
POSTED BY: RIPWash
UPDATED: Sunday, April 6, 2025 14:16
VIEWED: 6200
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Rue and I went back and forth for a bit on Canadian healthcare in another thread. It didn't dawn on me until recently that I DO in fact know a Canadian. A person I talk to on a regular basis, actually.
I asked her what she thought about their healthcare system and she shed a little light on it for me. We didn't really discuss it in depth, but what she did say was interesting.
She appreciated the fact that she doesn't have to pay extra for it (i.e. she already pays via her taxes), but the wait times are a factor and that is something she doesn't like. If she had a cough that she was worried about, for example, she could make an appointment, but it may be 4 weeks until she could get in to see a doctor. By the time she gets in, who knows what it could blossom in to if it is, indeed, serious.
The reason for this is not what I thought, but it does make a lot of sense. Since it's free, many people take advantage of it. People will go to a doctor or a hospital for very minor things and thus clog the system. While she did like the free aspect of the system, she did say that the price tag (basically . . . nada) was the problem. That if people actually had to pay for their care, it would mean more to them and they'd be a bit more frugal with it. Take the cough again. People there may set up the appointment to see a doctor even if the cough is not that bad. In the U.S. I know I only set an appointment to see a doctor about a cough if I'm coughing so much it's uncomfortable. A minor cough and I go get some medicine and see what happens. And even then, I can set an appointment with a doctor and, in most cases, get in within a few days or even the SAME day.
All of that being said, I do see the American pubic taking a huge advantage of a free healthcare system that could cause a tremendous, and possibly unforeseeable burden on that system. And that's not even to mention the folks that are here illegaly that would get that care, as well.
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Mal: You think she'll hold together?
Zoë: She's torn up plenty, but she'll fly true.
Mal: Could be bumpy.
Zoë: Always is
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Quote:Canada manages to provide health care for everyone ... even those with niggling little problems... at a far LOWER percent of GDP and far LOWER per-capita cost. Their health care delivery system is so much more efficient than ours that if we were to adopt their system we could cover everybody and SAVE money. If you want, I can pencil-whip those saving for you, but it would be in the billions of dollars per year.
All of that being said, I do see the American pubic taking a huge advantage of a free healthcare system that could cause a tremendous, and possibly unforeseeable burden on that system
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We should have strapped him into a glider, filled it nose heavy w/ explosives, and dropped his Allah lovin' ass into a large, empty field. After which, release wild boars into the area so they could make good use of his remains. Now THAT's justice.- rappy
Yeah, that's what Sheikh Issa said. Seems you both have a lot in common.- signy
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Like I said, Sig, the cost savings are all well and good. But it's the burden on the system by the American people and those here illegally that concerns me. I doubt Canada has over 10 million illegal aliens that they have to take into consideration on top of their population.
You glossed over the fact that the person I talked to said it could take FOUR weeks to see a doctor for something relatively minor. If that's the case, it's almost useless. Sure, if it's minor, no big deal. But what if it's something that could get worse over that 4 week period? Wouldn't it be cheaper on the system to have had that problem taken care of quickly instead of the major costs to take care of it when it becomes something worse?
I sometimes get accute bronchitis. Even with medicine it's a bear to deal with and my chest is in pain all the time from coughing so much. Tell me I gotta wait 4 weeks to see a doctor? Yeah . . . right.
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Mal: You think she'll hold together?
Zoë: She's torn up plenty, but she'll fly true.
Mal: Could be bumpy.
Zoë: Always is
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"You glossed over the fact that the person I talked to said it could take FOUR weeks to see a doctor for something relatively minor."
It's called triage.
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Silence is consent.
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Quote:Yes, that is a factor. Costa Rica has free healthcare, and a huge number of illegal Nicaraguans who come just for that. We would have to find a way of screening out the illegals.
But it's the burden on the system by the American people and those here illegally that concerns me. I doubt Canada has over 10 million illegal aliens that they have to take into consideration on top of their population.
Quote:Then you go the the ER, eh?
You glossed over the fact that the person I talked to said it could take FOUR weeks to see a doctor for something relatively minor. If that's the case, it's almost useless. Sure, if it's minor, no big deal. But what if it's something that could get worse over that 4 week period?
I have a Canadian friend and when he unexpectedly coughed up blood he was in the hospital IMMEDIATELY, and from there went to surgery, chemo, and bone-marrow transplant as quickly as medically possible.
OTOH I have several colleagues and family members who got raked over the coals by Kaiser HMO. One complained of neck pain, they told him (without doing any tests) that he had arthritis, gave him some ibuprofin and told him to go home. It wasn't until his leg became paralyzed three years later that they discovered a spinal tumor. Another was bounced back and forth between gyno and family docotrs for two years complaining of fatigue when she finally got mad enough to demand tests and they discovered a pituitary tumor. A sister who had back pain- they told her she needed exercise, so lived with the pain for over a decade before getting an MRI out of pocket and discovering two severely herniated disks. A hubby who was given antibiotics and ibuprofin for YEARS before consulting out of network, and was discovered to have prostate cancer.
It's not like our system works that well either.
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We should have strapped him into a glider, filled it nose heavy w/ explosives, and dropped his Allah lovin' ass into a large, empty field. After which, release wild boars into the area so they could make good use of his remains. Now THAT's justice.- rappy
Yeah, that's what Sheikh Issa said. Seems you both have a lot in common.- signy
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Meh, compared to what I've seen, and been through, that's soft-peddling it there, Siggy.
Wasn't till I turned to "grey market" healthcare in desperation that I actually made any recovery at all, and in lieu of fat wads of cash, that takes influence of a kind most people simply do not have.
As for triage, well, when *financial* reasons top the sort list, people like me wind up left to die.
And most of em do, I just happen to be a very tough, infinitely stubborn jackass.
-F
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Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:Quote:Then you go the the ER, eh?
... But what if it's something that could get worse over that 4 week period?
I wonder if there's any mechanism to prevent overuse of that option. Since it would appear that the only way to get quick attention is the emergency room, I could see a trend toward that as a first choice for anyone who felt their problem was serious - and nearly everyone thinks their problems are serious.
SergeantX
"It's cold and it's a broken hallelujah"
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One of the reasons Government run health care is cheaper is that many die waiting for expensive procedures. I heard recently that Great Britain has the highest mortality rate for breast cancer in Europe. A woman with breast cancer in the UK has something like an 800% greater chance of dieing than a woman in the US.
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There is an issue of healthcare availablity in Canada - but it is in sparsely populated or remote areas. That is the same as in the US, where it's hard to get doctors to practice in rural North Dakota, for example. OTOH in metropolitan areas healthcare in Canada is far superior to the US. In Canada, eveyrone is covered and healthcare is easily available. In the US roughly 40% of people lack needed health insurance and so will go without any care at all, if they should need it. (Or, turn up in the county ER.)
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Silence is consent.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SergeantX:Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:Quote:Then you go the the ER, eh?
... But what if it's something that could get worse over that 4 week period?
I wonder if there's any mechanism to prevent overuse of that option. Since it would appear that the only way to get quick attention is the emergency room, I could see a trend toward that as a first choice for anyone who felt their problem was serious - and nearly everyone thinks their problems are serious.
SergeantX
"It's cold and it's a broken hallelujah"
Kirk, have you looked around lately? That's the system we've GOT. And where do you think the illegals currently go? That's right - they go to the ER. You know the old adage about what "home" is? That place that, if you have to go there, they have to take you in? Yeah, in that case, the ER is home.
Mike
Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day...
Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
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