Tell me about the Canadian health care system, please....

[Baz]

Had a brief conversation this morning with a local builder and he said he wishes we could have a health care system similar to Canada's.

Wondering if any of our Canadian friends would care to enlighten me.

TIA!

[GWN7]

You go to the Dr. The Dr. bills the government. You get better or you die. Depends on the Dr.

Dr's hated the idea and fought tooth and nail when the system was first proposed in Saskatchewan. My BIL made $340K last year. Dr's don't hate the system anymore.

[Christien]

That's a huge can of worms that isn't a simple or straightforward discussion. In general, I do believe socialized health care is the better option, but it's far from perfect. In fact, if my family were living in the US in the same kind of area with the same income (which is purely hypothetical, because my wife is an elementary school teacher and would barely get half her salary in the US) we would likely get better health care. But we're in the segment of population that could afford a proper health insurance plan.

A large part of the premise is that a healthy population is a working and productive one. I think that's by and large shown to be true amongst countries with socialized health care (which, tellingly, includes every first-world nation except the US). But that's not to say there aren't problems. Wait times can be very prolonged, even fatal, as has been shown here more than once. There are no real stand-out facilities here, like the Mayo clinic. GPs over book (ours is terrible for this). After moving a family can wait months, even years, to get a new family Dr and in the meantime rely on walk-in clinics and ERs.

It's a very thorny issue. Your friend might be right - it might be better for him. And maybe not for you. Both can be correct.

[recycled sixtie]

Each Province has the mandate to run their own health care system. Some provinces charge premiums and some don't. Even if I get sick in another province then it is covered(the last time this happened I paid for an ambulance and I got reimbursed).Hospital expenses were covered no problem.

Some folks pay for private health care here as they don't want to wait too long for an op. Certain procedures you may have to wait so if you want an op now you can get it done privately.

Some folks here go to clinics down in the US. Overall the system is good but will likely get more overloaded as the average age of the population increases. I don't hear of many docs moving to the US. I have no complaints. The cost of health care is covered through our income taxes. However they could impose health care premiums again.

Guy

[2porscheguy]

Baz, our health care system is by no means perfect. The system works fairly well IF YOU DON'T MIND WAITING A BIT! That being said no one here goes bankrupt after having open heart surgery or other highly specialized procedures performed but there are wait times for many procedures and this can definitely be region specific. For instance, as I am considered relatively low risk for colon cancer, I had to wait almost 2 years to get a colonoscopy done. Mine turned out to be negative (thank god!) so now I'm booked again....in ten years!

My wife however, who's father passed away from CC at age 65, get's hers done every two years. Her procedure is prebooked though so if she misses her appointment she is once again at the back of the line and has to wait two years again.

In eye care...you might have remembered that I am an Optometrist...the current wait times for Cataract surgery is around 4-6 months in Southern Alberta. However if I have a patient that develops a serious sight or health threatening condition (retinal detachment, choroidal melanoma, etc.) I can usually have the patient seen by a retinal surgeon or other specialist within 24-48 hours.

[creaturecat]

$72 per month in B C. Per person.
I have always received excellent care here.
No big waits for anything.
You can walk in, off the street, and see a doctor, in a clinic, usually within the hour, quite often quicker, in my experience.
Walk down the street from the clinic, get an x-ray, might take another half hour.
A cat scan may take longer, same with an MRI.
As Guy has noted, you may fast-track anything by going to a private clinic. The private clinic thing is actually reasonably inexpensive.
Health care, for the most part - in rural areas of B C - leaves a lot to be desired. The doctors all want to live in Vancouver.

[Trog]

I've heard it described as follows:

-The US health care system is the best health care in the world that nobody can afford.

-The Canadian health care system is the best health care in the world that nobody can get.

[Nostril Cheese]

My wife is Canadian and broke her leg in northern Ontario.

They flew in a specialist to fix the bones, total out of pocket cost was $83.

[seanmccafferty]

Got a hip replacement 5 years ago. I gave the doc a preferred date for getting it done (I wanted to wait until the golf season ended but soon enough that I would be ready to go for a Florida trip in February). No problem - got the date I wanted - in and out of the hospital in 3 days -- total cost around $100 -- they make you pay for TV in your room
Had catatact surgery last winter. Two hospital visits, one for eye, 3-3.5 hrs per visit. Total cost - $50 -- parking at the hospital . Pre-op doctor visits, all post-op drugs - free, covered by work health plan. Waited 3 months after assessment for surgery date - wasn't a problem for me.

You pay for it in your taxes, you might wait a little longer to get treatment in non-life threatening situations but you don't end up financially decimated if (when) you need help.

[Baz]

Thanks for all the replies.

Sounds like a pretty good setup to me. No wonder my friend spoke highly of your system.

BTW, I bought my last shipment of contact lenses from Canada, Alex. Got tired of being held hostage here by the annual eye exam requirement in order to buy contacts. My prescription hasn't changed in over 15 years. I don't mind getting an exam every few years or so - but every year seems excessive for me.

I love buying from Canada. I also get my dogs' heartworm meds from Canada.

Thanks again for the replies and information guys - very interesting!

[Brian 162]

If it's life threatening you go to the front of the line.
eg; my ex-gf had abdominal pain in late June. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She was booked for surgery 2 days after the diagnosis. She just finished chemo in Dec, still more tests to follow.
The bad. She missed an appointment with her doctor. She forgot because of all the drugs she is on. Her doctors receptionist tells her $30 for missed appt. After complaining the doctor FIRED her as a patient.

[Trog]

Originally Posted by Brian 162

If it's life threatening you go to the front of the line.
eg; my ex-gf had abdominal pain in late June. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She was booked for surgery 2 days after the diagnosis. She just finished chemo in Dec, still more tests to follow.
The bad. She missed an appointment with her doctor. She forgot because of all the drugs she is on. Her doctors receptionist tells her $30 for missed appt. After complaining the doctor FIRED her as a patient.

My Mother was recently fired by her doctor because she was too healthy. Now at 80, she's in a panic to find a new family doctor.

[sc_rufctr]

In Aus we have Medicare. (does not cover dental) After reading his thread our system sounds pretty much the same.

We pay for it through our taxes. It's called the Medicare levy and it's 2.0% of our taxable income.
(Which means people on pensions and the unemployed don't pay)

IMO... We get good service and value for money. Yes you have to wait for elective surgery but generally it works well.
I believe it should be a basic human right to be able to get decent health care. That goes for everyone on the planet.

[creaturecat]

For the most part, doctors in rural B C will not accept new patients.
The B C government has a web site dedicated to obtaining a G P

If you go to the website?
The web site tells you to go ask your nieghbour if they have any suggestions/ideas.

[Trog]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

In Aus we have Medicare. (does not cover dental) After reading his thread our system sounds pretty much the same.

We pay for it through our taxes. It's called the Medicare levy and it's 2.0% of our taxable income.
(Which means people on pensions and the unemployed don't pay)

IMO... We get good service and value for money. Yes you have to wait for elective surgery but generally it works well.
I believe it should be a basic human right to be able to get decent health care. That goes for everyone on the planet.

For the most part, Canadian Medicare is funded via general tax revenues. We really don't know exactly what our individual contribution is. Suffice it to say, low or no income earners don't pay very much.

[jorian]

15 years ago I got diagnosed with a brain tumor. I was on the table 4 days later. The day of the surgery I was in for 8 hours surrounded by 8-10 doctors/specialists. I figured that would have been a $100K day if I had no coverage. Total out of pocket - $0. Lots of people ***** and moan about our system but when you need it, it delivers and doesn't bankrupt you.

[GWN7]

As mentioned the medical payments are paid for with tax money. Commonly called "sin" taxes. A pkg. of smokes is about $15 and a 750 ml bottle of whiskey is about $32 (prices vary depending on the province). If you smoke lots and drink lots you prepay for your medical care.

A guy I know went to the Dr here and he was told "you have the flu. It will get better in 14 to 21 days". Not satisfied with this he flew down to the Mayo Clinic (he's worth a couple mil cash) and they did a battery of tests costing $25,000. They told him he had the flu and would feel better in 14 to 21 days.

[creaturecat]

Originally Posted by jorian

15 years ago I got diagnosed with a brain tumor. I was on the table 4 days later. The day of the surgery I was in for 8 hours surrounded by 8-10 doctors/specialists. I figured that would have been a $100K day if I had no coverage. Total out of pocket - $0. Lots of people ***** and moan about our system but when you need it, it delivers and doesn't bankrupt you.

Wow. Yikes.

My last deal was absolutely nothing in comparison, however I was wacked pretty good by a car a while back, the care I received was exemplary. In all respects.
VGH emergency, couple of hours on the table.

[t-tom]

It's not just smokes and whiskey. The Toronto maple leafs offered my little sister a job, 120k a year she spent 2 weeks up there came back and said it would be like making 10 bucks an hour here. There is nothing free about their system. Is it better than ours maybe, I do agree that everyone should have access to medical care without it bankrupting them but Canada does not have the lowlife scum sucking bottom feeder problems that we have here in the US. If the U.S. could clear up even a fraction of the fraud in our medical system it would work a lot better. I read a study a few years ago that .70 of every dollar spent on Medicare goes to fraud or administration costs. Our system is kinda sad, but what's worse is we're the ones that made it sad.

[porsche4life]

Contrast this with the American system. My mom is currently fighting very aggressive breast cancer. She caught it early and the prognosis ia good. With very good coverage through Blue Cross, her total out of pocket for last year was almost 10k, and I'd suspect this year will be similar. Last year she had 5 rounds of chemo and all the prelim testing and that bill was approaching 200k to the insurance company. This year will be three more rounds of chemo, surgery, and 30 radiation treatments. I'll be shocked if that's not more than the original 200k. After each of her chemo treatments she gets a neulasta injection. That one shot is $10k for one little vial!

Overall, Canada's system is sound better and better. I'm paying 130/month for crap insurance just so I will have something to cover if I had something bad happen like my mom, it is tempting to go without, but damn it could be pricey.