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As an American and Canadian, who has never lived in Canada but spent time there and is married to a European with close ties to her family I am in a unique position to compare and contrast.
Yes in Both Canada and Europe there are waiting lines, reasonable waiting lines. My former boss lives in Ontario and his former business partner developed breast cancer and she was bumped to the front of the queue immediately. She received great treatment, waited 3 days for her first doctor's appt., and she is doing well. My Uncle, in Ontario, also had to wait 6 month for his knee surgery. It was a bit of nuisance he said but he was totally fine with it. He gets that people with a greater need should be bumped up in the que and I agree. If I have a cold and your wife has breast cancer then by all means I am getting out the way. IMO that's the way it should be.
I have friends and family in Ireland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. All of them are very happy with their care and would not chose the American system whereby you lose your job and your insurance is gone. My Irish relatives said they paid an upgrade, I believe like Switzerland, to go to the better hospital. I wish the US would go to the Swiss system.
What I have heard from my friends and relatives around the world, I would generalize the level of care to be a B grade or A-grade. I believe the US has the best medical care in the world if you can afford it There's the key distinction, a lot can't afford a system with endless red tape your HMO arguing with Doctor's admin all day, playing games with the billing, and all the nonsense that happens here in the US.
Now my former boss/friend did tell me that experimental drugs are not covered in Canada, but I my research has shown that public health insurance in Canada varies a bit from province to province. Alberta's seem to be the worst, because unlike Ontario and BC they seem to have a more Libertarian attitude. I don't know about the other provinces though maybe some can chime in.
I would appreciate it if someone whom lives in Canada or a European country disagrees I would like to see your opinion.
Lastly my American friend has been living in Ukraine for 5 years and he said the health care there is a joke. No one with money goes to the included health care, all of them pay for an upgrade so more like Ireland or the Swiss.
having a co-worker who emigrated from canada to the USA, she has told me the horror stories about canadas health care as well.
her father died waiting for a triple bypass after being on the waiting list for 8 months. in the USA the wait would have been minimal.
her mother had hip replacement and the doctor left 2 medical instruments in her after the surgery was done. she died from goverment health care as well. is every health care system perfect, no it isnt. but it is sure hard for a person to say that a health care system is good when it is responsible for killing both of your parents.
the co-worker is a newfie. she has told me that she is used to the nickname.
having a co-worker who emigrated from canada to the USA, she has told me the horror stories about canadas health care as well.
her father died waiting for a triple bypass after being on the waiting list for 8 months. in the USA the wait would have been minimal.
her mother had hip replacement and the doctor left 2 medical instruments in her after the surgery was done. she died from goverment health care as well. is every health care system perfect, no it isnt. but it is sure hard for a person to say that a health care system is good when it is responsible for killing both of your parents.
the co-worker is a newfie. she has told me that she is used to the nickname.
I appreciate the feedback and the same stories happen in the US every day. I guess I look at it like this....I would rather have everyone covered at B grade with the option to pay to upgrade then have a country where we do where we have the best medical tech but more and more can't afford it. A friend was telling me about how his mother was waiting for chemo treatment in the US, and the lady behind her was denied chemo because her policy wouldn't cover it without a 5k deductible. She told them crying f off and was going home to die, which she did not too far after that. I am sure you have heard or read of nurses leaving sponges in people during operations in the US or other instruments, I have over my 43 years.
That is sad though about your co-worker's parents, just sad.
I appreciate the feedback and the same stories happen in the US every day. I guess I look at it like this....I would rather have everyone covered at B grade with the option to pay to upgrade then have a country where we do where we have the best medical tech but more and more can't afford it. A friend was telling me about how his mother was waiting for chemo treatment in the US, and the lady behind her was denied chemo because her policy wouldn't cover it without a 5k deductible. She told them crying f off and was going home to die, which she did not too far after that. I am sure you have heard or read of nurses leaving sponges in people during operations in the US or other instruments, I have over my 43 years.
That is sad though about your co-worker's parents, just sad.
I would rather have everyone afford their own HC, and not force anyone to help pay for anyone elses HC, and not have any HC paid for by goverment except for those that cannot do it for themselves.
You know that the medical and health insurance industry has played us over like a fiddle when we as a society have been brainwashed into thinking that insurance is a good thing and that we're crazy to be without it. Think outside the box a little here people and don't think the typical self absorbed "Well I'm glad that me and my family have it protecting us which means its wonderful." The problem with healthcare in America is not that so many are uninsured, but rather that there are so many who ARE insured and that this health insurance "middleman" is largely responsible for the sky high prices today.
It astounds me how so few people see insurance as the scam and the cancer that it is, and a cancer that has been increasingly forced upon us.
You know that the medical and health insurance industry has played us over like a fiddle when we as a society have been brainwashed into thinking that insurance is a good thing and that we're crazy to be without it. Think outside the box a little here people and don't think the typical self absorbed "Well I'm glad that me and my family have it protecting us which means its wonderful." The problem with healthcare in America is not that so many are uninsured, but rather that there are so many who ARE insured and that this health insurance "middleman" is largely responsible for the sky high prices today.
It astounds me how so few people see insurance as the scam and the cancer that it is, and a cancer that has been increasingly forced upon us.
So do you saee the problem just with the ins co,s , or do you see more then that?
You know that the medical and health insurance industry has played us over like a fiddle when we as a society have been brainwashed into thinking that insurance is a good thing and that we're crazy to be without it. Think outside the box a little here people and don't think the typical self absorbed "Well I'm glad that me and my family have it protecting us which means its wonderful." The problem with healthcare in America is not that so many are uninsured, but rather that there are so many who ARE insured and that this health insurance "middleman" is largely responsible for the sky high prices today.
It astounds me how so few people see insurance as the scam and the cancer that it is, and a cancer that has been increasingly forced upon us.
Do you notice how many that say they have no insurance also say they just go without any kind of medical care?
Understandable that ins premiums may be unaffordable but when 'saving' thousands for ins premiums, it leaves little excuse for not paying $$s or even a couple/few hundred dollars out of pocket on occassion .
(This is not addressing those who already have chronic high cost problems ) but those who, for instance, need to keep tabs on type 2 diabetes that can be controlled by a few blood tests a year and Metformin.....a woman that wants a checkup ,mammogram and pap smear.There is no reason to forego those kinds of things or blame the world because you can't afford insurance to pay for them.
It's how it used to be and is no longer...one big reason why premiums are now so high.You pay the little bills,insurance is there for the big ones
I appreciate the feedback and the same stories happen in the US every day. I guess I look at it like this....I would rather have everyone covered at B grade with the option to pay to upgrade then have a country where we do where we have the best medical tech but more and more can't afford it. A friend was telling me about how his mother was waiting for chemo treatment in the US, and the lady behind her was denied chemo because her policy wouldn't cover it without a 5k deductible. She told them crying f off and was going home to die, which she did not too far after that. I am sure you have heard or read of nurses leaving sponges in people during operations in the US or other instruments, I have over my 43 years.
That is sad though about your co-worker's parents, just sad.
No, I haven't. In this country nurses do not perform invasive surgery.
"A 65 year old gynecologist in Massachusetts was reprimanded by state regulators after he accidentally left a surgical sponge inside a patient during surgery for a hysterectomy even though a nurse told him that a sponge was missing."
"Researchers believe that up to surgeons leave equipment inside at least 1,500 patients’ bodies each year in the US."
"That was because the surgeon left a sponge inside his body — and it remained there for almost a year before it was detected."
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