If you want a preview of the future of American health care, just look to Canada. (accuse, companies)

[Dane_in_LA]

Originally Posted by Govie

Now we have already seen uptick in health coverage thanks to Dear Leader:

Yeah, premiums have never gone up before. (And "Dear Leader"? Didn't I just take you seriously?)

[Govie]

Originally Posted by Dane_in_LA

Economy of scale is an anecdote now? If you say so.

The PPACA is far from perfect, but sometimes you have to take what you can. A public option would have improved things.

You don't think there are waiting times in the US system? If anything, there are more cardiac problems going undiagnosed, simply because people have less access to preventative care.

Course there are wait times here, but not dangerously unhealthy wait times.

[jmking]

Originally Posted by Govie

Course there are wait times here, but not dangerously unhealthy wait times.

How many in the USA who is in need of a pacemaker never receive one, because of cost? How many in Canada who needs a pacemaker never receives one, because of cost?

[urbanlife78]

We would need to actually have Universal Healthcare to be more like Canada. The Republicans already blocked that.

[weltschmerz]

As a nurse, I've worked in both Canada and the US. I prefer the Canadian system, hands down.
I keep hearing anecdotes about "meeting people on a cruise" or "my plumber's neighbour's manicurist lives in Canada", but I know both systems up close and personal.
We would NEVER go back to what you have down there.

[weltschmerz]

You Canadians with your inferiority complex always give me a chuckle. Outside of the weather, it's probably not a coincidence that 90 percent of the Canadian population lives within 200 miles of the American border.

Probably one of the most idiotic things I've read here to date. Sure...over 400 years ago, our founders built our settlements close to the American border in case we'd need access to your healthcare down the road.

[T-Rob123]

I spent the better part (and yes I do mean the better part) of ten years travelling through Canada. As an American citizen I can tell you that from my own personal experiences I had to rely on the Canadian healthcare system a couple of times. There was no waiting and no issue. Now this was ER, so yes, it would be similar to the US in that if the ER is full you'll be waiting longer. Of course the big difference was that when I left I wasn't given a bill. I felt a little weird since I don't pay Canadian taxes, but I realized that if I were paying more in taxes in America and was able to receive the same type of medical treatment, then I'd be pretty damned proud of that.

I have a lot of friends who are Canadian. A couple of them have had medical issues themselves, and many of them have family members who've had issues. All of them have been taken care of.

I'm not saying it's perfect or without any issues at all, but I am saying that I find it laughable when Americans think they are experts on what's going on in other countries based on what's being reported.

[BruSan]

Originally Posted by Govie

Course there are wait times here, but not dangerously unhealthy wait times.

And of course your stats are going to show that folks who simply couldn't get preventative care and dying prematurely are in those wait times somewhere?

Oh wait, they already do show that in your abysmal average life expectancy don't they?

Take any stat you like and we'll dig for an underlying cause to explain that stat differential being a surface level peek at best.

Let's talk about the plethora of insurance carriers with one motive in mind that have existed in whatever system you've used to date, PROFIT!

I'll trump your brother's experience in Canada with mine in Florida watching a friend die from a treatable cancer while duking it out with not just one, but two agencies bent on denying him care. To have to deal with that while watching your life ebb, isn't something I'll head for regardless of the stumbles in ANY Universal Health Care.

Vegas was invented around your type of health care. Roll those dice if you must. Most of us under any Universal Health care will watch from the sidelines.

[weltschmerz]

Lol! The handyman just came over to fix a leaky faucet. He's wearing an eye patch, as he just had cataract surgery. I asked him how long he had to wait...he said about two months. Sure, he could have had it done in the US in a few days, but why pay thousands of dollars for something that's not life-threatening?
Is our system perfect? Of course not. No system is. However, if something needs to be done right away, it gets done, and done well.

[nighttrain55]

Originally Posted by Roadking2003

In 1997, Jacques Chaouilli, MD, a family physician in Montreal, Quebec, decided he could no longer tolerate seeing his patients suffer—sometimes die—lingering on waiting lists for treatment and/or specialty care. He started a private emergency housecall service that got shut down by the government because of its prohibition of private health care. He then decided to challenge Canada’s law prohibiting patients from seeking—and doctors from providing—private health care outside of the government run single-payer monopoly health care system.
....
In an interview in 2009 by the Los Angeles Times, Dr. Day said, in justifying the proliferation of private clinics, "What we have in Canada is access to a government, state-mandated wait list… You cannot force a citizen in a free and democratic society to simply wait for healthcare, and outlaw their ability to extricate themselves from a wait list."

The Canadian experience provides an opportunity to anticipate the future of health care delivery in the United States.

Read the entire article here;

The Depressing Future of American Health Care - Reason.com

it probably would help the discussion, if you use non-partisan websites instead of a libertarian website like reason.com