Further to your comment, Sammieswife, these new drugs can be extremely costly, to the point of bankruptcy or death for some people. Canadian health-care is nowhere near perfect. Nothing is. We have long waits for MRI's, knee replacements, cataract surgery, etc. etc. etc.
Agreed nothing is perfect..but in speaking of emergencies and necessities - at least you can get that knee replacement and cataract surgery - my dad, a Canadian, waited 3 weeks for his cataract surgery and my mother had waited 2 months until an infection issue was cleared up. I don't consider those wait times extraordinarily long. On the flip side, my father was taken immediately by me to the hospital for a heart attack and admitted immediately, kept in intensive care for a week - without a question or a wait. My aunt was transferred immediately from one hospital to a major hospital specializing in cardiology 200 miles away to get emergency heart surgery - no wait, no question, no problem. Those are emergencies - all such things should be covered.
I myself waited for a neurologist appointment in a major facility for 2 months (in Canada) - did I complain???? Not at all. I had been seeing a neurologist for 5 years and wanted a second opinion for a possible brain operation - I opted for a facility that dealt with the specialities. My condition wasn't life threatening or I would have been rushed ahead of everyone else. I could wait - it wasn't an issue. If it had been 6 months down the road it wouldn't have been an issue. I cannot even get health insurance in the USA that will let me get a check up or care without it costing me thousands upon thousands of dollars a year - which I don't have. So all the machinery in the world as I said means nothing if you don't have the resources to be allowed to use it.
Again it's what you believe in. I am a firm believer that necessary medical and emergency care should be available for all equally. So the opinion of what better health care is, depends on your value and belief system. sammieswife.
