Universal Nightmare - chime in Canadians!

[Transporter]

I got tested, made a doctors appointment took couple days to get in,doctor hands you a slip go to the lab at the hospital where they do their tests went same day had to wait mabye 10 minutes at the lab and then in a week or so they send results back to your doctor.This is in a small town.

Wow this is very interesting....thanks for the inpute Canucks! So if I were to summarize....a lot of you think the acute/urgent care is good, but getting in for a diagnosis/testing/etc is pretty tough? I am hearing that if you are young they put you off because you are supposed to be "healthy." Is this kind of how it works? So what happens if a 25 year old comes in to get tested for diabtetes? Is he on a list for a year?

May your father rest in peace Dave.

 

[MPS]

I got tested, made a doctors appointment took couple days to get in,doctor hands you a slip go to the lab at the hospital where they do their tests went same day had to wait mabye 10 minutes at the lab and then in a week or so they send results back to your doctor.

That's good.

Let me pose this question to you guys. IMO, most Americans don't want goverment intruding in their lives. If you were in the position we are in.....how would you react?

 

[Gainster]

That's good.

Let me pose this question to you guys. IMO, most Americans don't want goverment intruding in their lives. If you were in the position we are in.....how would you react?

MPS not trying to get sidetracked here but when I read this http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Consumer-strain-Pens-and-apf-1974175437.html?x=0 I just shake my head. Yes there are some things that can be fixed in our healthcare, Letting us buy our health insurance from out of state companys like we can with our auto insurance to break the monopoly held by the Inc companys would be a Great start. But when its a strugle for people to buy school supplies like this the whitehouse is barking up the wrong tree & @ the wrong time.

 

[triple]

I have never, as a Canadian, looked across the border to the US and said "I wish I had their health care?". I have said things like:

I wish we were a little more patriotic like the Americans

I wish we paid the same for your vehicles and toys as the Americans

I wish my dollar was worth a buck all the time in the USA.

Can't say I ever hoped to have your health care sysem ( or lack of one).

 

[Gainster]

I have never, as a Canadian, looked across the border to the US and said "I wish I had their health care?". I have said things like:

I wish we were a little more patriotic like the Americans

I wish we paid the same for your vehicles and toys as the Americans

I wish my dollar was worth a buck all the time in the USA.

Can't say I ever hoped to have your health care sysem ( or lack of one).

75% of us Americans dont have a problem with the health care we have Could it be better? Sure but I am in the opinion we dont need a total overhaul for 25% of the people.

 

[Ken Climb]

That's good.

Let me pose this question to you guys. IMO, most Americans don't want goverment intruding in their lives. If you were in the position we are in.....how would you react?

It would be hard to answer that without knowing some more facts. I think I pay $80 or so for my family of 4. Never had any problems getting treated. My father has heart problems and needed a bypass, It seemed to be done fairly quick. Father in law has lung cancer and is getting Chemo and seems to be taken care of fairly well to I guess. Although The "Chemo" thing sure seems to be outdated no? I remember as a kid people getting "chemo". Its seems wrong after 30 years and all the money going to cancer research that this is still the main treatment. What do you guy's pay?

 

[MPS]

75% of us Americans dont have a problem with the health care we have Could it be better? Sure but I am in the opinion we dont need a total overhaul for 25% of the people.

It's not even 25% bro. They are saying the number without insurance is 47 million. There are about 300 million in the US. So that is about 16%. So we overhaul the whole system for 16%? Not to mention, how many of those 47 million are illegals? To me this is a way for the liberals to gain more control over people...it isn't about health care and doing the "humane" thing.

.

 

[Transporter]

In Alberta we dont pay anything for healthcare right now.But the dentist is another story if you dont have a benifit package through work its cheaper to go to mexico on a vacation and get your work done.I dont know enough about the american system to give an opinion .Could the problem be the elected officials are sometimes head of transportation and then appointed to education or healthcare and they dont know anything about anything except they had enough votes to get elected to parliament.Canadas system is going down the tubes too I think so changes need to be made but somebody that is from the front lines needs to be in charge.

 

[Pinner]

One thing us Canadians need to learn is to be more proactive with OUR health care needs.

Years ago we had many more doctors and nurses per capita, not nearly as many people want to work in the field anymore. (another topic)

Clearly the system is misused by hypochondriacs etc. but if you need some health care it's up to you or a loved one to get it, my doctor asks me "How can I help you?" It's up to me to ask for a check up or blood work etc.

The people complaining about waiting a year for a hip replacement should have been on the list last year...

I can honestly say, I have heard little if ANY, complaints.

 

[snowmobiler]

75% of us Americans dont have a problem with the health care we have

i dont know 1 person outside the internet world that doesnt have a problem with the healthcare system we have now.weird

 

[Grizzly Adams]

Try getting an MRI or Cat scan in a timely fashion. First visit family doc, then wait 6 months for a specialist appointment, then 8 weeks for tests to happen, 3 more weeks before 2nd visit to specialist, then get surgery date 4 months off. 13 months is way too long for a tax paying citizen to wait for medical remedy. This timeline is accurate as my friend just got his operation last week. Makes my 9 month wait seem acceptable???? I'd take the tax savings and pay my own way if I was able to! No Canadian can opt out of this mess even if you want to. You can pay to have your operation or MRI done private but you will keep on paying for the ineffective system anyways.
News flash No Government can operate any business as well and profitable as private industry. Should a janitor in the medical sector be worth double what a janitor in an office building is? I will not argue with the amount of pay that a trained medical professional makes but all the untrained support staff should be in line with what the private sector pays. Any one have any idea how much the non medical costs of our health care system are? I'll bet it's a pretty astronomical amount! It sucked waiting all winter for tests etc. last year. Good luck with your medical system in the states if you socialize it.

 

[MTm7]

canadian health care has to be better than no health care.

yeah thats a good case for 'american exceptionalism'! or did i misunderstand you?

 

[Transporter]

Problem with wait times for MRI etc is the inefficiency I know a guy that had too go to 3 different cities for three different MRI's instead of going to one place and getting it all done at once.Ive been to a specialist and waited 3 months and all they did was prescribe a medication, simple phone call to my doctor by them would have freed up a spot for someone that really needed the appointment and would have saved me 4 hours of driving.

 

[DaveB]

wait 6 months for a specialist appointment, then 8 weeks for tests to happen, 3 more weeks before 2nd visit to specialist, then get surgery date 4 months off

Exactly....or worse. Welcome to being dead if you're really sick.

 

[snowmobiler]

yeah thats a good case for 'american exceptionalism'! or did i misunderstand you?

meant to say any health care is better than no health care.

 

[bigfoot]

My family and I get excellent health care here and we're not loaded. Just average folks.

I haven't seen anyone mention the incredibly higher Canadian tax rates in comparison to the US, we get deductions in taxes for things like mortgages and children that Canadians don't get, plus we have no Value Added Tax in addition to income taxes that they have in Canada. Anyone seen the differences in fuel prices despite Canada being an exporter? Nationalized Healthcare=Ridiculous tax rates. If I'm reading right they still carry private insurance in addition?

 

[winter brew]

The issue I have with the current system isn't with the care....the DR's and RN's I have dealt with have been exceptional. I have been battling with ins co's and the state for literally over a year to get a relatively simple back surgery....the amount of time and $$ spend on all the needless red tape, delays, hoping the patient (me) will just give up and go away to avoid paying for a surgery, has BY FAR exceeded the cost of just doing the surgery in the first place. The MRI, surgery etc was VERY quick and well done once the ins.co. was out of the picture. THAT is one reason our health care costs are too high, the needless time wasting by ins. co's. If the Dr's were in control things would happen MUCH quicker (and cheaper!).
Another story......my father on Medicare had a simple procedure done recently....1 hour and then on his way home. He got a copy of the bill to turn in to get reimbursed for the medication he had to buy. The bill from the hospital to Medicare showed a overnight stay in a private room, a much more elaborate version of the same procedure and misc. medications not given.....something that was a few hundred dollars was billed at several thousand. I'm sure this happens every day in every hospital. He brought it to their attention, but who knows if it was corrected. Once again the problem with our helth care system....along with the downfall of the bank industry, auto industry, Ins. co's, etc.....all comes down to GREED! Nothing else, just greed.

 

[hypnotoad]

i don't think it really matters what happens with health care, it will never be as good as it could be. i haven't really read into what your health care reform involves, will it be getting ride of the current system all together?

 

[bigfoot]

i don't think it really matters what happens with health care, it will never be as good as it could be. i haven't really read into what your health care reform involves, will it be getting ride of the current system all together?

Pretty much, over a period of a few years forcing everyone into a government run system.

 

[swampwater]

And where do we find no health care? Swampy

meant to say any health care is better than no health care.