Quote:
Originally Posted by hyrum
I can point you to places where you can read about people waiting in pain for a joint replacement because its considered "elective" surgery. Also there are new techniques and materials but they only pay for "your grandfather's" joint replacement, not the new materials (e.g. metal or ceramic vs plastic). Some of them have been going to India for it. This is not to say there aren't similar problems in America with insurance coverage issues of the same nature.
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Living in Canada I'd like to read all about the system I currently live with. I bet the story(s) isn't as straight forward as your post suggests
The reality is the Canadian system is not great, not bad, but pretty good. There are problems such as an acute lack of access to family doctors. There simply aren't enough of them and the one's practicing are overworked and a little underpaid (IMO).
The entire system is predicated upon referrals starting with the family doctor. Once the referral is made you get absolute access to the service, despite a potentially long wait (several weeks or a couple of months) for an elective procedure. If a condition is potentially life threatening etc. a patient is moved to the front of the line and the care is immediate … and yes, it is the SAME level of care available in the states.
In many regards the system is slow to adopt new procedures, techniques and materials –but ultimately they ARE adopted and in fact many MORE procedures are available to EVERYONE and not merely those with insurance! It is regularly argued in parliament that there should be some privatization of some elective services to permit those who can afford to accelerate the process to do so instead of going south or elsewhere. I might ad that an equal number of Americans are going to Malaysia and India for such services because it is more immediate and or cheaper
Our current conservative government might very well pass legislation that privatizes some services. I also think a nominal fee should be charged for each visit to a clinic. People who need to take an aspirin and get a good nights sleep overrun the clinics and place incredible stress on the aforementioned overworked family doctors.
The bottom line is I have lived in Canada for 14 years. I have NEVER come across a single person who has been denied the best care available in modern health sciences, myself included. Furthermore I am not a fan of MM and consider his work fiction … his fiction is as dangerous as the fiction one often hears about the Canadian health system by Americans who ignorantly fear national health care.