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Calling all Canadians. I need your personal opinions.
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| neo geo |
| OK so I live in the great country of the United States, at least I was told it's great. You know we are having this big deal about health care reform and in some ways I'm for it but in other ways I'm not. I've not had medical insurance since I was 19 and I'm 30 now. If I get shot today I have to go to charity and I will more than likely die. I have spoke to many people here in the states and I always say that we need a system much like that similar to that of Canada's. Every time I say that people get all worked up and start going off about how crappy the system is in Canada and if you want to see a doctor you have to wait hours and even sometimes months just for having basic tests done. Now, I have traveled in Europe a bunch and when I speak to Canadian people about their medical system they all seem to say the total opposite and say they love it. Sorry, I threw in the part about Europe because I live in the South of the states and I don't meet many Canadian friends way down here. So, I want to know from people on here; what do you think of your medical system? Give me the pros and cons and do you feel as if it works for you. For me I'm ed. I sat in the E.R. of a charity hospital for 18 hours one night when I had horrible stomach pain and began coughing up blood. I sat in the waiting room across from a guy who sat in his chair for 8 hours with a knife stuck in his abdomen and he would ask people if he thought it was a good idea to pull out the knife. In this country they don't give a . If you don't have money then you are useless to the system and can die for all they care. For the American people on here ready to tell me I'm un-American and need to leave the country, kiss my ass because I fought for two years in Afgan dodging bullets so I have the right for my free speech. |
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| tubularbills |
| where in Afghan? |
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| Sushipunk |
Thank you for that massive wall of text.
I can't speak about Canada's system, but I'm Australian, and we have (from what I understand) a very similar system here.
It's very, very good. You don't have to wait months for tests at all. Seeing a bulk billing (read as: free) doctor is pretty easy too, and if you go to a regular doctor that charges, then medicare gives you back some of what you paid (about 50%, I think? I hardly ever go to the doc). |
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| Joss Weatherby |
Need a one payer system. We are ed money wise and the country isn't ever going to be again, so might as well say it and write checks our ass cant cash as long as we can help some people.
I doubt the chinese will subsidize our medical when they come to collect our debt. They already have enough people in their country to give free health care to. |
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| djscitec |
| quote: | Originally posted by Sushipunk
Thank you for that massive wall of text.
I can't speak about Canada's system, but I'm Australian, and we have (from what I understand) a very similar system here.
It's very, very good. You don't have to wait months for tests at all. Seeing a bulk billing (read as: free) doctor is pretty easy too, and if you go to a regular doctor that charges, then medicare gives you back some of what you paid (about 50%, I think? I hardly ever go to the doc). |
The problem with free is that most public hospitals are overcrowded and therefore if you need to get surgery done, you will have to wait in queue which can be up to a few years time.
If you can afford it, still better to get private health insurance because private hospitals keep patients around for a few days extra after surgeries etc just to make sure you're 100% whereas a public hospital will kick you out the door ASAP.
Lot of benefits with private health :) In the end, you pay what you get. |
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| Theresa |
Pros:
- can go to a doctor anytime I feel ill.
- no need to worry if I can afford it.
- no need to worry if "maybe it isn't serious".
- typically can see a doctor whenever you need to.
- can get the tests (blood, x-ray, ultrasound etc.) relatively fast and without additional charge.
Cons:
- if going to a walk-in clinic, depending on the time of day, can take several hours to be seen.
- I don't think this is Canadian specific... hospitals have the triage system, so if you aren't a serious emergency, you may wait for a long time at a hospital.
- some more complicated/expensive tests can take a long time to get.
- finding a personal family doctor is incredibly hard.
Overall, I think our health care system is excellent (especially in comparison to the U.S.) Some of my family was living in the U.S. and actually moved back to Canada because the health care was so bad there.
I am no health care expert, but from what I understand, I think if the U.S. were to adopt a similar system to the one Canada has, it would solve a lot of Canada's problems as well as the U.S.'s. One of the biggest challenges we have is the brain drain, aka our doctors go to the U.S. because they can make more money. If that wasn't an option, I would imagine that more doctors who would stick around in Canada and thus, resolve our waiting time issues.
Honestly, I would rather put up with waiting over having to pay out of the ass for health care. If anything is serious enough, it always gets priority anyway, so whatever... if I have to wait for 3 hours because I have a sore throat, but don't have to go into debt to be seen, I am happy :) |
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| Sushipunk |
| quote: | Originally posted by djscitec
The problem with free is that most public hospitals are overcrowded and therefore if you need to get surgery done, you will have to wait in queue which can be up to a few years time.
If you can afford it, still better to get private health insurance because private hospitals keep patients around for a few days extra after surgeries etc just to make sure you're 100% whereas a public hospital will kick you out the door ASAP.
Lot of benefits with private health :) In the end, you pay what you get. |
I do have private health insurance, for exactly that possibility. Public hospitals don't exactly 'kick you out the door' though, that's a huge exaggeration. In the case of recovering from surgery, a patient will be asked whether they're ready/able to leave the hospital (within reason) before being signed out by the doctors.
Cases are treated on 'need' though. Someone with a life threatening condition (like cancer or, say, a knife in their ribs) isn't going to be made to wait months/years for treatment.
Make no mistake, the medical care available in AU is very, very good. |
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| djscitec |
| quote: | Originally posted by Sushipunk
I do have private health insurance, for exactly that possibility.
Cases are treated on 'need' though. Someone with a life threatening condition (like cancer or something) isn't going to be made to wait months/years for treatment. |
oh yeah definitely.. but say you needed to remove 4 wisdom teeth, they will make you wait. |
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| Sushipunk |
| quote: | Originally posted by djscitec
oh yeah definitely.. but say you needed to remove 4 wisdom teeth, they will make you wait. |
I edited my prev post a bit, but it still stands.
You example is true - Wisdom teeth are not life threatening, and so you will wait for treatment. However, if the pain was getting so severe that you were debilitated, and required to take heavy painkillers all the time, it's probable that you would be upgraded in the queue. |
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| djscitec |
I wasn't implying that someone would literally be kicked out of the door but in comparison to private hospital, it's much different.
For one in the private hospital, in 1 room they don't have more than 2 patients sharing the room, whereas in a public one they have up to 3 patients in 1 room.
Also, public hospitals are just hectic and everywhere you go people are running around frantic, crazily whereas it's a lot more peaceful in a private hospital because less people, not to mention the standard of all the facilities in a private hospitals are well, including the food they serve you.
Things like that here and there, you get your own nurse to look after you, whereas in private you may have different nurses and sometimes no nurses at all when you want one on-call. |
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| Sushipunk |
| quote: | Originally posted by djscitec
I wasn't implying that someone would literally be kicked out of the door but in comparison to private hospital, it's much different.
For one in the private hospital, in 1 room they don't have more than 2 patients sharing the room, whereas in a public one they have up to 3 patients in 1 room.
Also, public hospitals are just hectic and everywhere you go people are running around frantic, crazily whereas it's a lot more peaceful in a private hospital because less people, not to mention the standard of all the facilities in a private hospitals are well, including the food they serve you.
Things like that here and there, you get your own nurse to look after you, whereas in private you may have different nurses and sometimes no nurses at all when you want one on-call. |
Sure. But it's totally free :)
(ok, Medicare levi on your taxes, not 100% free)
Still excellent healthcare, especially in comparison to some other places. |
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