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That's BS according to my relatives in Canada. Most things have no wait. It's a common theme the US industry likes to push of course...gotta keep the cash cow going of course.
On the backs of everyone else of course.
Just weighing in on this one.
Not only do I live in Canada, but I am a doctor (retired), and the wait time here for many medical procedures can be years.
On a personal level, I had to wait two years for a radical hysterectomy (and that was after waiting a year for a diagnosis), and during those three years, I couldn’t even visit the washroom without my prolapsed womb falling out into my hand, and I had to reinsert it manually. So yes, one definitely has to wait here.
On average, it takes about six weeks from the time one books an appointment to when one actually sees a GP.
The last time health care was anything like timely in this country was in the seventies, after which time the healthcare system went to hell.
Much the same thing has happened in both Britain and Australia, but since the global population has more than doubled since 1970, longer waits in most places are common, including in the States. The difference in the States is that one can buy one’s way to the front of the line.
Population density affects everything. The average wait time for burial (or cremation) in Britain right now is three weeks.
Until 1980, there was ‘same day’ service in the medical arena in Canada, and the same was true in Aspen, Colorado. (I don’t know what it’s like there now.)
Population density affects everything. The average wait time for burial (or cremation) in Britain right now is three weeks.
Until 1980, there was ‘same day’ service in the medical arena in Canada, and the same was true in Aspen, Colorado. (I don’t know what it’s like there now.)
Mahrie.
Wow. I have some recent experience with this. My father-in-law died on August 17, and his body was brought from the hospital to the mortuary on August 18. It could have been the same day, but he had not made plans ahead of time, so we had to discuss what we wanted to do. The next day, August 19, he was cremated. We live in the population-dense area of Orange County, CA.
Not only do I live in Canada, but I am a doctor (retired), and the wait time here for many medical procedures can be years.
On a personal level, I had to wait two years for a radical hysterectomy (and that was after waiting a year for a diagnosis), and during those three years, I couldn’t even visit the washroom without my prolapsed womb falling out into my hand, and I had to reinsert it manually. So yes, one definitely has to wait here.
On average, it takes about six weeks from the time one books an appointment to when one actually sees a GP.
The last time health care was anything like timely in this country was in the seventies, after which time the healthcare system went to hell.
Much the same thing has happened in both Britain and Australia, but since the global population has more than doubled since 1970, longer waits in most places are common, including in the States. The difference in the States is that one can buy one’s way to the front of the line.
Population density affects everything. The average wait time for burial (or cremation) in Britain right now is three weeks.
Until 1980, there was ‘same day’ service in the medical arena in Canada, and the same was true in Aspen, Colorado. (I don’t know what it’s like there now.)
Mahrie.
Wow, you actually believe this? You think THIS is the reason why wait times are so much shorter in the US than in Canada?
In spite of a much higher population density in the US (vs Canada - US is ranked 191 in the world and Canada is ranked 239, out of 254 countries) and in spite of an imperfect healthcare system, what we DON'T have is long wait times - or people "buying their way to the front of the line." Heck, I don't even know how that would work. I guess you consider private insurance to be "buying one's way to the front of the line?" I swear to you - SWEAR to you - that while I am asked for proof of insurance when I visit the doctor - since the insurance is going to be billed - they really don't care what plan I'm on. And if I'm going to have surgery, and they run the insurance and come up with a figure I have to pay first (called a deductible) they will still work with me, put me on a payment plan, that sort of thing, if I need to do that. I can't recall a time that any treatment was actually postponed because I had to wait till I was able to "buy my way to the front of the line."
There are very few people in the US who are uninsured and not on Medicare or Medicaid. And those who aren't can still go to the ER and be treated - the same day. They don't have to pay off anyone to do so.
8.8 percent of Americans are uninsured - that means that 91.2 percent ARE insured. And the vast majority of those people are between the ages of 26 and 34 (and they still have an 86 percent insurance rate). https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/12/rate...8-percent.html
In 2016, the Commonwealth Fund collected healthcare data from 11 countries, and on the specific question of specialist wait times, they found the following: Canada, with its public system, does, indeed, have long wait times: 59% of patients waited at least 4 weeks to see a specialist—compared to only 25% of patients in the United States with its private system.
(Language alert on this particular article, which in spite of it's inflammatory profanity and language in general, actually does - inadvertently - show that wait times, among other challenges - are a reality in socialized medicine in general and Canada specifically) https://askepticalhuman.com/politics...imes-rationing
The US had the shortest wait time for appointments, and procedures, both immediately necessary and elective, of all countries analyzed by the way.
I'm not saying we have a perfect health care system in the US - but I had to jump in when I saw this post. Let's at least talk factually about the differences.
Not only do I live in Canada, but I am a doctor (retired), and the wait time here for many medical procedures can be years.
On a personal level, I had to wait two years for a radical hysterectomy (and that was after waiting a year for a diagnosis), and during those three years, I couldn’t even visit the washroom without my prolapsed womb falling out into my hand, and I had to reinsert it manually. So yes, one definitely has to wait here.
On average, it takes about six weeks from the time one books an appointment to when one actually sees a GP.
The last time health care was anything like timely in this country was in the seventies, after which time the healthcare system went to hell.
Much the same thing has happened in both Britain and Australia, but since the global population has more than doubled since 1970, longer waits in most places are common, including in the States. The difference in the States is that one can buy one’s way to the front of the line.
Population density affects everything. The average wait time for burial (or cremation) in Britain right now is three weeks.
Until 1980, there was ‘same day’ service in the medical arena in Canada, and the same was true in Aspen, Colorado. (I don’t know what it’s like there now.)
Mahrie.
My stepson who lives in Canada with his mother had to wait 9 months to get an appointment with an endocrinologist.
I agree with Kathryn that it's not that one can "buy one's way to the front of the line"...the lines just ARE shorter. Now, if someone feels they can't go to a specialist or get a certain test because the deductible is too high, that is a different question. That does happen. As a matter of fact, doctors are usually willing to work with patients who are having trouble paying, but you don't get your neurology appointment or your MRI any faster if you have gold-plated insurance or offer cash up front.
I agree with Kathryn that it's not that one can "buy one's way to the front of the line"...the lines just ARE shorter. Now, if someone feels they can't go to a specialist or get a certain test because the deductible is too high, that is a different question. That does happen. As a matter of fact, doctors are usually willing to work with patients who are having trouble paying, but you don't get your neurology appointment or your MRI any faster if you have gold-plated insurance or offer cash up front.
Saibot, I don’t have a dog in this race so I have no wish to argue with you, but I can *assure* you that those with means (in the U.S.) are treated *very* differently from the average wage earner, not that you’ll find too many in hospital administrative positions who will admit to that fact.
By the way, the same is true of the availability of pain medications, such as morphine/heroin. Many hospitals (in both the U.S. and Canada) will refuse to administer one or both of these pain medications beyond a minimal dose. If one happens to be a physician, however, or a patient who has an extremely healthy bank account, miraculously those meds are made available in more reasonable doseages. Much more goes on behind the scenes in the health care industry than most people are aware of. The bottom line, however, is no different from everything else in this world: Those who have the money make the rules, and the rules for rich and poor differ widely.
Wow, you actually believe this? You think THIS is the reason why wait times are so much shorter in the US than in Canada?
In spite of a much higher population density in the US (vs Canada - US is ranked 191 in the world and Canada is ranked 239, out of 254 countries) and in spite of an imperfect healthcare system, what we DON'T have is long wait times - or people "buying their way to the front of the line." Heck, I don't even know how that would work. I guess you consider private insurance to be "buying one's way to the front of the line?" I swear to you - SWEAR to you - that while I am asked for proof of insurance when I visit the doctor - since the insurance is going to be billed - they really don't care what plan I'm on. And if I'm going to have surgery, and they run the insurance and come up with a figure I have to pay first (called a deductible) they will still work with me, put me on a payment plan, that sort of thing, if I need to do that. I can't recall a time that any treatment was actually postponed because I had to wait till I was able to "buy my way to the front of the line."
There are very few people in the US who are uninsured and not on Medicare or Medicaid. And those who aren't can still go to the ER and be treated - the same day. They don't have to pay off anyone to do so.
8.8 percent of Americans are uninsured - that means that 91.2 percent ARE insured. And the vast majority of those people are between the ages of 26 and 34 (and they still have an 86 percent insurance rate). https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/12/rate...8-percent.html
(Language alert on this particular article, which in spite of it's inflammatory profanity and language in general, actually does - inadvertently - show that wait times, among other challenges - are a reality in socialized medicine in general and Canada specifically) https://askepticalhuman.com/politics...imes-rationing
The US had the shortest wait time for appointments, and procedures, both immediately necessary and elective, of all countries analyzed by the way.
I'm not saying we have a perfect health care system in the US - but I had to jump in when I saw this post. Let's at least talk factually about the differences.
Wow. I have some recent experience with this. My father-in-law died on August 17, and his body was brought from the hospital to the mortuary on August 18. It could have been the same day, but he had not made plans ahead of time, so we had to discuss what we wanted to do. The next day, August 19, he was cremated. We live in the population-dense area of Orange County, CA.
I apologize, saibot, I should have made myself clearer. With regard to wait times for burial, I was referring to the UK only. I recently buried my father, and my grandmother was cremated as well, and the wait time was about three weeks for each of them.
You get to look at Trudeau and we get to look at Trump.
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