chairmnofthboard

We are having a debate on the Canadian health care. I think it sounds like it works. Others say it doesn't work and is inefficient and used this as an example.

what do you think?

rk604

Canadian health care is good...i mean, atleast from what i hear from everyone...so i tend to agree aswell.

Matt15

i'm not extremely knowledgeable on the topic but here are my views as a user:

i've never had any trouble getting fast attention when needed and no one in my family has had an issue either, including heart bypass surgeries for my grandfather and kidney cancer in my aunt. however i have heard some horror stories of other surgeries that took months to get done, but again i've never experienced or talked to anyone who has experienced that.

i like the fact that healthcare is just a relatively (compared to the cost of the emergency) cheap living expense taxed from everyone, kind of like car insurance. as opposed to paying insane hospital bills. i know some people don't like the fact that "they have to pay for someone else's health care" but to me it's comforting to know that if something comes up, my family or me will not be turned away from the hospital for not having adequate insurance coverage. and of course if i developed cancer or something, it's nice to know that i won't be out $300,000 by the time i'm treated.

so regardless of what research says about how the system doesn't work, from my point of view it works very well.

wowowox

Canadian healthcare system is not great at all compare to other countries.
It is very slow and takes forever to see a specialist doctor. You better not be very sick !!

BKL

Canadian healthcare is very slow compared to many other developed countries. It takes months usually to see a specialist and unfortunately some patients just cannot wait for that long. I have known individuals going to the U.S to get healthcare simply because they can get the medical diagnosis and treatment right away. But those individuals have paid taxes and Medicare here in Canada as well, so they have to pay double which really defeats the purpose locally. The U.S has their own set of problems, but for an ordinary person working at a regular company, medical treatment is by far faster in the U.S than Canada.

MID ISLE S2K

I have to say our health care is pretty good. Okay sure my father had to wait 18 mnths to get a knee replacement but it was not like he could not walk or anything, more of a convience operation so he waited. Now my family has a heriditary illness and when it stikes its bad straight to the Hospital. Now when this happens the Doctors and Nurses are on top of things, and test and treatments happen fast. My son just finished 3 weeks in hospital. And when all fixed up we did not owe anything. Try that in the States probably would have been a 50.000 bill. Buy a nice s2000 for that money. Went for check up 3 weeks ago doctor asked if i had my flu shots and 5 mins later both shots administered. Now if you dont want to wait for elective surgery sure by all means you can pay to get it done faster. Best of both worlds i think. Sure glad my home and savings are not at risk if i get sick.

RobTheGob

+1 for our health care.

I'd be surprised if a person would have to wait 4 hours to get a leg set...

BKL

In the U.S, an individual with medical insurance (usually with their company) will get the expenses covered by the insurance so no money will be paid out of their pocket after each visit. They pay less taxes than Canada, and still in Canada we pay medicare, although it is cheaper than the state's health insurance. But overall in Canada health fees are not low through taxation and medicare payments, and yet the treatment we get are lagging in treatment time. Sometimes that's ok, sometimes that is not.

BKL

Keep in note that I am only comparing the health services between the two countries for those have access to those services. Like I previously mentioned the U.S has it's own issues with their healthcare since there are individuals who go without it. However, that's based off their capitalistic social order and it cannot really be compared to socialistic Canada.

Vik2000

Slowness is all I hear most of the time.