I work in the Healthcare field and
1.I would not like the US system.
2. There are not 18month waits for surgery. In fact most provinces have published wait times online which has driven demand to bring surgical wait times. A health region in BC has mandated they will reduce their orthopaedic waits by 11% this year.
3. I really dont do much paperwork to get my healthcare, just pay my monthly family premium of $88.
4. $264 a quarter for my family of 4 isnt large, but we get taxed to pay for the system.
5. I sell medical equipment and one nurse that worked in the US and Canada said to me a lot of the equipment in the US is disposable because its used and that cost is billed to the HMO of the patient. In canada most of the equip is reuseable because its much less costly and not to mention environmentally friendly.
Its like using paper plates at home and throwing them out or buying some plates. As a result in Canada the Sterile Processing Staff are much more educated to reprocess the equipment than in the US, where you can be working at Burger king on Monday and sterilizing a resectoscope the very next day with no qualifications.
Some things like MRI have long wait times, but you can pay if you really want to. The NBA and NHL teams in Toronto get MRI's because they pay for use. The province may not adequately fund a MRI centre's operation and they do some work for a cost to meet the financial needs. Vince Carter of the Raptors had an MRI a few years back and that was the response of the manager of the site.
I also ran into a US citizen at a B&B where I stay in BC and he was talking about this whole "socialist" healthcare system with his bad knee from skiing. He asked how much to get a knee done in Canada and what are the requirements. When I told him it was covered by taxation and no extra out of pocket costs and the only requirement was that his Dr. said it needed to be operated he changed his tune. It seems that he is 45 and loves skiing and soccer, but his HMO doesnt deem his bum knee a hinderance to his everyday life, just his recreational life, so he cant get a knee replacement which would cost around $20k.
For the most part, the US has great Dr.'s and if you really need care its not a long wait, but you pay thru the nose as a patient because healthcare is a business.
In Canada its seen as a public service offered and because some people believe that if something is free, they should take all they can....the system can get bogged down. Waits on Vascular, Orthopaedic and general surgery are not too long and there are some amazing surgeons that I have seen. Care is great and cost is not an issue which makes me grateful. When my 4 year old is coughing to the point of passing out from whoopingcough, I am only thinking of his wellbeing in the ER at 3am........not that I may have to cancel the family vacation because of what this is gonna cost.
