I worked at a school in Canada and I was a sports coach so I went to the hospital frequently with injured kids. I was injured myself once and had to get a CAT scan. I never had to wait, I could go to any hospital I wanted.
I had a coworker who injured his eye ask me to take him to the emergency room. I thought it would be like a typical American Hospital and take hours. We were in and out in less than an hour, stitches and all. When was the last time you were in and out of an emergency room that quickly?
I house sat for a physician. We talked about there health system and he loved it. Sure, he made a slightly more modest salary than his American counterparts. But he drove a BMW, sent all his kids to private school and lived in a Victorian era home that is worth well over a million dollars so he was not hurting for money.
So what is the deal with all these horror stories? Where are they coming from?
Someone said: "you cannot compare big cities to smaller cities and towns, operating rooms, ERs and wards are being closed all across Canada in smaller cities and towns,"
I lived in a town, village to be exact, of 4,040 so my experience was not exclusively of big cities. Although my sister-in-law lives in Vancouver, so I have experience in both environments. I wonder what Province you live in? Perhaps Alberta?
"I SAT in the ER for & hours with a broken back, I saw a woman go into a diabetic coma while waiting to see a Dr in ER. My daughter started having seizures and was told she had to wait 2 YEARS to see a neurologist, she ended up in ICU with 4 seizures back to back and THEN she got to see one sooner. My friend waited 6 years for a hip replacement in SK .. 'nuff said. "
This is how your story would have gone in the US. Your wait time would likely be the same if not longer in the ER with your broken back. (Last time I was in the ER in the US I did not even get a proper bed for 36 hours, I was in a holding tank.)
The woman in a diabetic coma? She would not have gotten treatment in the US at all until it was too late. A Canadian woman can get treatment no matter what, poor Americans lose limbs all the time to diabetes because they get no treatment because they have no insurance.
Your daughter would have gotten treatment in the US, then you would be bankrupt, even if you had insurance.
Answer by Jon
Simple: There are 30,000,000 Canadians. When you have that many people, surely you can find at least one who doesn't like something, no matter what that thing is. So of course the Republicans will go looking for the tiny percentage of Canadians who don't like healthcare, and trot them out for the American TV audience pretending like these people's opinions are representative of the Canadian population as a whole. Which is completely dishonest.
Interesting article from the LA Times titled "A Canadian Doctor Diagnoses US Healthcare": http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/03/opinion/oe-rachlis3
Answer by thinkingtime
Most of it is invention by politicians in the USA to undermine attempts to get health reform.
There was a lady trumpeting her distress recently that she had to go to the USA to get treatment for her **brain tumour **because of wait lists in Canada. Turned out the wait list to get the CYST removed from her head was 31 days......
Not very true.
Answer by Kam
Watch Michael Moore's, ''Sicko'' if you haven't. He actaully asks this exact same question, and goes to Windsor, ON into emergency rooms & asks patients if those stories are true. They all say no.
Answer by Douglas L
1. In the USA there is a great debate on health care. Special interests have a vested stake in insuring that Universal health care does not come to the USA. For this reason they have mounted a huge smear campaign against the Canadian system.
2. As part of the smear campaign they have enlisted any Canadians with an axe to grind against the Canadian system. Some of them are just crazy. Others really have been let down by the system. No system is perfect.
Answer by isotope2007
you cannot compare big cities to smaller cities and towns, operating rooms, ERs and wards are being closed all across Canada in smaller cities and towns, people are waiting up to 6 years for a hip replacement, waiting lists for specialists can be 2 yrs long, fewer resources, smaller budgets - it depends on where you live, I dont get why most people cant understand that - how self centred and ignorant to not realized peopel living outside Toronto and Vancouver or Victoria are seriously jeorpardized by the failing health care system - check out Kamloops and Regine for starters, Salmon Arm etc
I SAT in the ER for SEVEN hours with a broken back, I saw a woman go into a diabetic coma while waiting to see a Dr in ER. My daughter started having seizures and was told she had to wait TWO YEARS to see a neurologist, she finally ended up in ICU with 4 seizures back to back and THEN she got to see one sooner. My friend waited SIX years for a hip replacement in SK .. 'nuff said.
Vancouver and Toronto have a lot more resources than other areas do
Orignal From: Why do I hear so many horror stories about Canadian health care?
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