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More equipment does not equal better care. Here is one example.
Not necessarily and not always, I agree...but it can.
In my situation, I do pay more for health insurance than Canada (when you consider the provincial monthly fee + taxes) but I do get more...simple as that.
No need to play games.....I got mine in less than one week he waited months, period.
No games, and I'm right on topic. I think you don't know the answer and you aren't asking yourself why you don't know the answer. You said in another post
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.... Do not switch topic.....here we were discussing access and quality of care, if you are insured the US does better indeed.
Whether or not a person has insurance in Canada doesn't have anything to do with immediate access, and it doesn't have anything to do with quality of care.
Do you know the reason why there is not always immediate access and non-urgent surgical procedures will go on wait lists in Canada but there is immediate access for non-urgent surgeries in USA? Do you care to know the reason why?
No games, and I'm right on topic. I think you don't know the answer and you aren't asking yourself why you don't know the answer. You said in another post
Whether or not a person has insurance in Canada doesn't have anything to do with immediate access, and it doesn't have anything to do with quality of care.
Do you know the reason why there is not always immediate access and non-urgent surgical procedures will go on wait lists in Canada but there is immediate access for non-urgent surgeries in USA? Do you care to know the reason why?
.
All I care is that I get any treatment I need it right then...sure i know the dangers of incurring into "excessive care".....
In US I pay more for health insurance and I get more...again, simple as that.
I have a fairly good family doctor, however the queues to specialist doctors are so long... When I needed one, I had to wait 10 months. In Israel it took me 2 days to get an appointment to such doctor, in Thailand - 1 hour. In Canada - 10 months, and there is no way to go privately.
I don't question your story. There are waiting lists for some conditions in some areas for some patients. Natnasci also has a story about a misdiagnosis in the US so I guess both stories cancel each other out?
Everyone has a story.
My stories about medical care in Canada include one 20 year old story in which I waited a month for knee surgery after tearing something under my knee cap. I didn't like to wait. I was on crutches. There is a shortage of doctors here for that procedure. It didn't kill me. And if it meant that someone else with a more urgent condition was seen before me, then I am very delighted to wait, knowing that everyone gets the care they need. But we definitely need more doctors in many areas.
Then there are the numerous hospital visits and specialist vists my uncle who is dying of cancer had to make without any waiting, and the visits my brother has to make for his chemo and radiation without any waiting (he will probably live), and the numerous hospitalizations and specialist visits my husband goes through. Without waiting other than the wait-and-see that always happens no matter where you are.
Even Canadians can sometimes be fooled with the idea that health care might be better in the US and its "shiney new things." I have told this story before on this forum but maybe it bears repeating. A friend of mine was diagnosed with a type of cancer which is always fatal. His friends convinced him to see a doctor at the Mayo Clinic and they chartered a plane to take him there. People who are dying are desperate. The diagnosis was the same as here and there was no difference in the recommended treatment.
Or, in my family there was a very premature baby and one of the issues the child had was hearing loss and a frozen vocal cord. I don't remember all the details as to why they said it was inoperable here but my brother panicked, wanting his child to have a normal life and fearing the teasing of other children. So off they went to the place of shiney new things and got exactly the same diagnosis and a large bill.
I don't blame either of them for trying. And I'm sure that some of the Canadians who do look for health care in the US do so for similar reasons. Not because health care is lacking, or equipment isn't here or a diagnosis is different. But because when people are desperate they hope.
Not unique to Canada either. One case that comes to mind is Rock Hudson seeking treatment in France when he was diagnosed with AIDS.
Even Canadians can sometimes be fooled with the idea that health care might be better in the US and its "shiney new things." I have told this story before on this forum but maybe it bears repeating. A friend of mine was diagnosed with a type of cancer which is always fatal. His friends convinced him to see a doctor at the Mayo Clinic and they chartered a plane to take him there. People who are dying are desperate. The diagnosis was the same as here and there was no difference in the recommended treatment.
Or, in my family there was a very premature baby and one of the issues the child had was hearing loss and a frozen vocal cord. I don't remember all the details as to why they said it was inoperable here but my brother panicked, wanting his child to have a normal life and fearing the teasing of other children. So off they went to the place of shiney new things and got exactly the same diagnosis and a large bill.
I don't blame either of them for trying. And I'm sure that some of the Canadians who do look for health care in the US do so for similar reasons. Not because health care is lacking, or equipment isn't here or a diagnosis is different. But because when people are desperate they hope.
Not unique to Canada either. One case that comes to mind is Rock Hudson seeking treatment in France when he was diagnosed with AIDS.
The US Government agency FDA must approve new drugs and treatments. Sadly ..... in that era of AIDS coming to the world's recognition? The US was slow to approve new DRUGS for it. Something new used in Mexico under-experimental yet? Won't be available in the US perhaps as fast till approval. Europe too, even if it is seen as more proven there already. So Americans SEEK more experimental treatments in other countries. Some countries the US dollar buys a heck lot more treatments in other countries vs in the US too. Especially in Asia.
Recently, that UK child in the news baby Carlie, that was to have life support removed to die? Had the Vatican offer to keep the child on support there and the Parents wanted to try a New treatment in the US first. They needed some approval in the UK system to allow the child to get treated in the US. Sadly, the child died before the systems got their act together.
-Baby Charlie, who suffered from a rare genetic disease that has left him brain damaged and unable to breathe unaided. The life support he is receiving at a London hospital was to be turned off over the objections of his parents, who want to take him to the United States for experimental therapy they believe could prolong his life.
Apparently, new treatments happen around the world. Including the US maybe first too? But approval in the US has requirements first. That other nations gain sooner sometimes for.
It's because in USA there are more than twice as many the number of physicians in ratio to the USA population than there are the number of physicians in ratio to the Canadian population. Even at that, USA still doesn't have enough physicians to meet all the health care demands of the population and there are wait lists for certain procedures in USA. Canada is twice as much worse off in availability of physicians and therefore there are much longer wait lists for certain procedures.
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In US I pay more for health insurance and I get more...again, simple as that.
Wrong. The physician availability or wait lists in either USA or Canada have nothing to do with quality of care or with the cost of health insurance in either country. So when you say you get faster and better quality of care in USA because you pay more for your health insurance, you are incorrect. You and everyone else in USA simply have more doctors to choose from and there is less time to wait for their services because there is more of them.
It's because in USA there are more than twice as many the number of physicians in ratio to the USA population than there are the number of physicians in ratio to the Canadian population. Even at that, USA still doesn't have enough physicians to meet all the health care demands of the population and there are wait lists for certain procedures in USA. Canada is twice as much worse off in availability of physicians and therefore there are much longer wait lists for certain procedures.
......ok so I have more health care personnel and equipment at my disposal...so, you do the math....
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Wrong. The physician availability or wait lists in either USA or Canada have nothing to do with quality of care or with the cost of health insurance in either country. So when you say you get faster and better quality of care in USA because you pay more for your health insurance, you are incorrect. You and everyone else in USA simply have more doctors to choose from and there is less time to wait for their services because there is more of them.
Wrong
Health care personnel ratio to population and equipment ratio to population has some to do with quality of care....not all of it but quite a lot.
I never said that the US is a model of efficiency and cost containment (health care needs dramatic reforming indeed as I said so many times before when this debate arises) but the reality at the moment is exactly as I said....I pay more (probably much more than I should) but I do get more...it is undeniable.
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Even Canadians can sometimes be fooled with the idea that health care might be better in the US and its "shiney new things." I have told this story before on this forum but maybe it bears repeating. A friend of mine was diagnosed with a type of cancer which is always fatal. His friends convinced him to see a doctor at the Mayo Clinic and they chartered a plane to take him there. People who are dying are desperate. The diagnosis was the same as here and there was no difference in the recommended treatment.