Canadian Health Care (page 2)

Corvin

You love these gentle people, yet you mock them?

LOL, it was merely a harmless jest, and I was wondering if anyone would catch it. You are the big winner, yayyyy!

Seriously, I do like Canadians. I met a beautiful Canadian girl, Christine, quite a few years ago prior to meeting Mary, we fell in love, had a long distance romance, the romance faded but we remained good friends. Mary loves her too. Christine gives me permission to poke a little fun.

Can't wait for a real Canadian to reply to this thread.

Shutterbug

It, like everything else the government controls, has been mismanaged

Exactly. It is usually necessary to keep the current politicians feet to the fire in order to get thing done correctly, and that is in any country.

Also, Canada has the FINEST NURSES IN THE WORLD. If you want to travel, or emigrate to the US, all you have to do is get your BSc in Nursing from Dalhousie University, and you can write your own ticket. And you can take THAT to the bank

Indeed they do have fine nurses in Canada, I know because we have many of them down here in U.S. However, travel is not the main reason for emigrating, money seems to be the biggest motivator, followed by unhapiness with the Canadian Health care system. Even after importing nurses to the US there is still a need for more. We learned that when my wife had a couple of short hospital stays within the past year, the nurses were over worked and really couldn't keep up with the demands on them.

had an abcess. Saw my GP in January, and after 3 years of treating it, decided to go the surgery route. Got an appt. with the surgeon in February, had surgery on March 30, because he had a cancellation. If I had waited the normal time, the surgery would have been late May. NOT BAD, HUH? And that was not life-threatening

Here in the US, in my experience, that abcess would have been handled the next day. Really don't know why you put up with the thing for three years. That should have received more prompt attention.

Yes Wednesday, just like your wonderful country (hahaha, 40 million Americans have NO HEALTH CARE NONE

This is true and should be addressed. However, my son suffers from TMJ which causes his jaw to lock down on occasion. Well a year or so ago he had to go to the emergency room a four AM. He was promptly seen by a Doctor who gave him some medication to relax his muscles and after that took effect, the doc snapped the jaw back in place. They didn't even ask about insurance until after he was treated, and then was told to pay the bill as he could afford it. If you show up at an emergency room in the US they must take you.

Bottom line, neither US or Canadian health care is perfect, but we do seem to get quicker care in the US. However, if Doctors are emigrating at the same rate as nurses, they better raise the pay for these people in Canada or the medical care will have more delays than is the case currently.

Also, Talesin, Corvin merely asked the question, and Wednesday attempted to submit an answer to his question. Can't for the life of me see what either one of them said that would get you so upset. Bug

SixofNine

Christine gives me permission to poke a little fun.

*knowing look* swingers aye? nudge nudge* wink wink* Say no more.... say no more.

Corvin

Shutterbug, your commentary and opinions are great, but what I was looking for is: Are CANADIANS happy with their healthcare system. I don't care if you don't like it. You get to go sit at the special ed table with my pal Tony on this one. JK

Corvin

SixofNine

I can't speak for all ~~swingers~~ Canadians of course, but most seem to want improvement to their system, but can't imagine a scenario where basic healthcare was not provided.

Corvin

*knowing look* swingers aye? nudge nudge* wink wink* Say no more.... say no more.

Are you baiting me, sixofnine? I am not sayin nothing about that. LOL.

OK, back to the Canadian healthcare system thing.

Scully

I'm a Canadian. I am also a nurse. I hope I am qualified to speak to question.

First of all, I am not fond of the term "socialized medicine" as it has third-world, communist-type connotations. In Canada, we call it "Universal Health Care" and it means that everyone in this country is entitled to and receives medical care. It is something that the vast majority of Canadians value and prioritize higher than our education system, even though we are apt to bitch and moan about how much we pay in taxes to cover the cost of running Universal Health Care.

I can't speak on behalf of all physicians. Of course there are those who have a bottom line approach to life, and those are the ones who emigrate to the US. But I know a couple of MDs who left Canada to practice in the US, and came back within 5 years. They ended up hating the way health care is practiced in the States, where people are HMOd and nickel and dimed to death, sometimes literally.

As a nurse, I have colleagues who have practiced in the States. They prefer it here. The standard of care in Canada is geared toward what is in the best interests of the patient, whereas in the US it is geared by what is the fastest way to send patients home and maximize the profit margin to the hospital. I feel that I give better care to my patients because my maximum workload is eight patients in a 12 hour shift, and I do get to go home at the end of my shift. Those are quality of care issues that are addressed by our Union contract. I correspond with a lot of American RNs and know that they often have 10 or more patients in their assignment. And when they have a colleague call in sick the next shift, they don't get to go home. That isn't safe for the patients or for the nurse. The next time you're in hospital, ask your nurse how long it's been since he or she has had a break (to eat, to pee, or just to rest). Sometimes when I've had a really busy shift, half my shift will have gone by before I get to take a few minutes to have a potty break. But that's the exception, not the norm.

As talesin said, you will always have horror stories here and there, no matter what system you are working with. But overall, in spite of all the complaints about fiscal issues, I have been very happy with the level of service I have received as a patient, and with the standard of care that is expected of me in a professional capacity. They couldn't pay me enough to work or live or seek medical treatment in the US.

Love, Scully

Simon

From what I know, I think the Canadian healthcare sysem is kind of a mix between the US (no money? piss off and die then) and the UK NHS (everyone gets exactly the same, your urgent op is in 3 years. "psst. slip us a few quid and I'll see you next week") systems.

I think there is great reason to have some base level universal healthcare system funded by the state. To suplement that, people can chose to go private if they wish.

In the UK, you would expect to go to hospital and not expect them to start checking your wallet or paperwork before they treat you. You get the treatment first and most things are covered through national insurance that everyone pays. If you are unemployed then you are credited.

The UK is probably too far to the "socialist" side - I think only China's red army employs more people than the National Health System and beuracracy and waste is unbelievable. It is a black hole that will swallow as much money as you can feed it. Not good.

The US is probably too far on the conservative side where the poor and unfortunate are consigned to the crap heap and money talks for everything.

Maybe Canada has a right being somewhere in the middle?

jgnat

I think any health care system will suffer from excessive bureaucracy; whether it is run by government or an HMO. Here are some papers on the status of health care. I compared "self-reported health" from Alberta, Washington State, and Europe.

In Alberta, 88% reported their health as good, very good, or excellent in 2002
http://www.health.gov.ab.ca/resources/publications/pdf/PI2002_report.pdf

By comparison, 91% of citizens in Washington State considered themselves in good health in 1999.
http://www.ofm.wa.gov/researchbriefs/brief002.pdf

European results: http://www.euroqol.org/grafs/grafA.htm

Simon

You have to be careful when comparing different reports as the methodologies may be different and the demographics of the respondents different.

eg. if you stand in a mall asking people you will probably get different results than an online survey that will likely exclude the poor / less well off who are not online.

ie. You may not be comparing how good the healthcare is but how well-off the people you are asking are.

Canadian Health Care

Share this