the-pi-guy said:
What bothers me about these comparisons is that they're always binary. (Often while massively ignoring shortcomings on one particular side). The meaningful question isn't "would you rather have Canadas healthcare system or the US's?" The meaningful question should be "how do we make the best system we can" - which in my opinion - how do we give people care who need care; how do we do it without breaking the bank. The US spends roughly 50% more per person than Canada, that's $5000 per year per person on healthcare, while having millions of people who aren't covered. Do you think that's money that can't fundamentally exist in Canada's system? The US system is better in some regards, if it wasn't it would be an insane disaster. It should be better somehow, we are spending substantially more. And it has some deficits. So how do we get the best of both worlds. That should be the question. |
The healthcare system itself is many shades of grey. It works great, but it's severely understaffed in many places. Also underfunded as our family doctor has been sitting with a broken fax machine for over a month already (why do they still use faxes anyway) and my wife had to bring up her own blood results on her phone to show the doctor...
But when it works it's great. My son recently broke his upper arm playing ice hockey. ER visit, x-rays, cat scan, fracture clinic specialist visit, elbow day surgery (3 pins in his upper arm), pain meds, follow up visit next week. Cost to us, zero, one form signed (consent form for surgery) The efficiency of much less paperwork can't be understated.
Our youngest has chronic acid reflux issues, visits a pediatrician every 3 months to track progress. No wait times there, no cost.
But yes, generally medication isn't covered (only for kids) and you have to pay for that yourself. Luckily there are a lot cheaper alternatives for the same medications in Canada, but still some treatments are out of reach here as well. (There is/was an experimental treatment for my wife's chronic issues, but that would come out to $12,000 a month to import the meds from the USA without any guarantees it would even actually help)
Our main problem is public funding cuts, lack of doctors, especially practitioners and nurses. That's a matter of politics. (F Doug Ford)
And on a smaller scale, the brain drain to the US:
https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-everythings-bigger-in-texas-even-its-herd-of-canadian-health-workers
Texas and Alberta have a lot in common. Cattle ranches, rodeos, a booming oil and gas sector, and thousands of Canadian health-care workers.
Ironically, our healthcare system would be a lot better if the US' predatory health system didn't exist...
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