Health Care..

[fishermccann]

As a footnote. My eldest son is on his way to becoming a MD. He is in Australia. In his 3rd year, becoming an Orthopedic surgeon, after earning a HBASc., a Masters Degree in Food and Nutrition, at Columbia in NYC, and a Phd, in Physiology at Western . He has said our system is superior to Australia. He also advised his parents, the wife and I, to get the first jab offered , as soon as it was available.. We took his word , we got our first shot on March 15th.

[JBen]

Can’t find the ones I recall reading. But while searching for those, I came across this one.

Most topics, whether this or a couple others easily named shouldn’t be viewed in vacuums.

https://globalnews.ca/news/3599458/c...s-peers-study/

should have added.
We Canucks often look down our noses at the US. Personally you couldn’t pay me, to move there. This being one reason.

but the reality is, we really don’t have much to be smug about. Not when you weigh things on the whole per se. is our healthcare “better”? Sure, by miles. But it’s wanting. Very.

[Jakezilla]

There are plenty of good and bad stories on both sides of the border. I have had 2 relatively young family members, (women in their early 30's) suffer from cervical and ovarian cancer. One died because of a failure in the system and her story was documented CBC radio. The other one survived in spite of the system and she only survived because of other family members in the health care system demanding action from their peers. If the other family members would not have intervened her diagnosis would have been delayed by 5 to 6 months. The original doctor ordered a CAT scan but it was a 5 month wait because it was not an emergency.

I have lived the US and experienced the insurance system down there..."Go ahead and get sick and then we will tell you we will pay for it or not depending on your level of your coverage." That's not perfect either.

Depending on who you are and what your means are you are going to prefer one system to the other. Myself, I would prefer the US system where you can get your wallet out if you need something done bad enough.

You can also argue that the US system limits entrepreuriship and innovation. Health coverage connected to a job is a big deal for a lot of people. There are plenty of people not taking risks in life or business because they are afraid to quit their job and lose their coverage.

The idea of our coverage being good just because it is "free" is a pretty low standard.

[MikePal]

works both ways....my wife's Uncle was up from North Carolina....he had to pop into a local ER to have a boil on his butt looked at. In and out in about 1hr, then handed him a bill for $750. Probably not as bad if it had been a US hosptital...but still reminded me what 'stuff' costs in our Hosptials.

I never complain about our health care, some of the best health care in the world when you consider what it costs us individually . I had Kidney surgery with two nights in the Hospital and all it cost me was $28 for parking.

Reality is, the bill was most assuredly more than all the provincial taxes they took off my pay check for the past 25 yrs...

[fishermccann]

Totally agree. But to compare us to the only industrialized country in the free world without government health care , is an apples to oranges type of comparison. Heath care maybe the only thing that Cuba leads the world in. They are far from ‘free ‘.

[MarkB]

works both ways....my wife's Uncle was up from North Carolina....he had to pop into a local ER to have a boil on his butt looked at. In and out in about 1hr, then handed him a bill for $750. Probably not as bad if it had been a US hosptital...but still reminded me what 'stuff' costs in our Hosptials.

I never complain about our health care, some of the best health care in the world when you consider what it costs us individually . I had Kidney surgery with two nights in the Hospital and all it cost me was $28 for parking.

Reality is, the bill was most assuredly more than all the provincial taxes they took off my pay check for the past 25 yrs...

My son cut his foot on a shell at the beach in Florida. Needed two stitches. In and out in 45 minutes. First bill was like $4500.
I just gave it to my company provided travel insurance ... I didn't get involved ... but I did see the final settlement ... $1500 or something.
(1) Insurance companies know how to negotiate, (2) proves how much prices are inflated, because I'm pretty sure that hospital wouldn't operate at a loss ... and (3) it still was $1500 for 45 minutes!!!!

I always said the big issue with the US is you could do everything right in life, but one person in your family gets sick, and you are done ... THAT is a fatal flaw. No one that is having to care for a sick child should have to go bankrupt dealing with it ... that is exactly where government (people) support should come in.

[JoePa]

The one thing that is a plus down here is the availability of equipment - if you need a test using a MRI or any other procedure you can get it in a matter of days - no wait

[MikePal]

The one thing that is a plus down here is the availability of equipment - if you need a test using a MRI or any other procedure you can get it in a matter of days - no wait

We have that here to Joe...if i need an MRI, I can book one within 48hrs and its only a 30 minute drive. Cross the US bridge and head for the Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center in Ogdensburg and pay the nice lady $800 US...HaHa..

[fishermccann]

Maybe you could make a trade and ship JoePa some of our cheaper prescription meds the Americans crave.

[JBen]

Just a few personal experiences.

One of my first eye openers, was atleast 20 years ago. I was in St Mike having dislocated my thumb. Next to me was an elderly man, having a cast put on his leg. He got presented with a bill for a few grand. He was an American tourist.

Joe about equipment. I don’t know why they botched the first two biopsies they did on me. Just know they did.

A work colleague endured something far worse. I don’t recall all specifics. Just that he was diagnosed as terminal at one of Toronto’s best. Lived the next 18 months like he was dying. On advice from friends he flew to the mayo clinic on his own dime. Nothing seriously wrong. The hospital here offered him a crazy amount of $ not to sue. He didn’t want a penny ( nice guy that way). On the advice of a lawyer he accepted pennies (something about there had to be a settlement so he wouldn’t sue down the road). So he took pennies, but stipulated that the hospital use the difference between their offer and his amount to buy updated equipment which was the cause of the faulty diagnosis.

I think, over the the last twenty years as I’ve aged, and run into life. I’m now around $50,000 in out of pocket expenses for things not covered or this/that.

While it’s certainly not common here, (yet). People do go bankrupt here to. Two seconds on Google for Go Fund me trying help out Canadian families with medical expenses is all it takes.

then there are wait times. People dying waiting. Quotas on elective type surgeries. Canadians paying for better/faster treatment in the US despite paying a ton in taxes, or simply

vaccines.

Our system, while good.isn’t all that.