sure the healthcare here is Canada is free, but sometimes the waits are terrible. One hospital I went to when I fractured my collar bone had me wait 3 hours while more and more people came in with rather severe issues cause apparently this hospital thinks 2 doctors and a handful of nurses are sufficient staff for early afternoon summer weekday shifts. We were in a large super city to boot.
Please stop saying Canadian Health Care is “free” which it isn’t. The difference is the payment isn’t at using it instead by taxes. Which is a good idea. Better than our present system which we retain. Only with the Republican idea, that Obama likes, of paying the Health Care Industry to help those who have preexisting conditions and are too poor to pay.
Yeah, I saw the previous comment and thought “you’re saying a long wait is an even trade to the same long wait plus a hefty bill?” … they must have just not been aware that the medical service here isn’t any faster or better — and in fact it’s often slower and worse because doctors and hospitals are prioritizing the money before the patient. In Canada you would never have the scenario in which an patient dies in an ambulance on the way to the hospital because the ambulance is getting a run-around about his insurance… but it’s happened here.
90% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the US, so they can get around waiting lists by coming to the US for treatment, and they do. Canadian doctors get around Canadian government restrictions on care by coming to the US to provide services. The US emergency room wait, even if it was several days, would not be remotely the same as Canadian waits, which are routinely measured in months and years. You can get good care in Canada- if you are a dog or a cat in which case the government restrictions on patients per week do not apply.
Many Canadians could get around the wait lists if they could AFFORD to go to the USA. While I live an easy drive from the States, I don’t have the means to pay for health care there. Further, by travelling for health care, we undermine the Medicare system we do have (and that our Prime Minster is doing his best to ruin).
sure the healthcare here is Canada is free, but sometimes the waits are terrible. One hospital I went to when I fractured my collar bone had me wait 3 hours while more and more people came in with rather severe issues cause apparently this hospital thinks 2 doctors and a handful of nurses are sufficient staff for early afternoon summer weekday shifts. We were in a large super city to boot.
Emergency room waiting times in the US are similar, FWIW.
Please stop saying Canadian Health Care is “free” which it isn’t. The difference is the payment isn’t at using it instead by taxes. Which is a good idea. Better than our present system which we retain. Only with the Republican idea, that Obama likes, of paying the Health Care Industry to help those who have preexisting conditions and are too poor to pay.
Yeah, I saw the previous comment and thought “you’re saying a long wait is an even trade to the same long wait plus a hefty bill?” … they must have just not been aware that the medical service here isn’t any faster or better — and in fact it’s often slower and worse because doctors and hospitals are prioritizing the money before the patient. In Canada you would never have the scenario in which an patient dies in an ambulance on the way to the hospital because the ambulance is getting a run-around about his insurance… but it’s happened here.
90% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the US, so they can get around waiting lists by coming to the US for treatment, and they do. Canadian doctors get around Canadian government restrictions on care by coming to the US to provide services. The US emergency room wait, even if it was several days, would not be remotely the same as Canadian waits, which are routinely measured in months and years. You can get good care in Canada- if you are a dog or a cat in which case the government restrictions on patients per week do not apply.
Many Canadians could get around the wait lists if they could AFFORD to go to the USA. While I live an easy drive from the States, I don’t have the means to pay for health care there. Further, by travelling for health care, we undermine the Medicare system we do have (and that our Prime Minster is doing his best to ruin).