Canadian Health Care....is this an accurate description?

Question

Re: A letter to the editor of the (Mansfield, Ohio) News Journal summarizing Canadian Health Care. Is this accurate? Thank you.

http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071115/OPINION03/711150303

Answer 1

Not in the least. The first thing which jumps out at me about how this article is in fact sourceless rhetoric and bullshit, is the simple fact that Canada does not have nationalized heath care. There is no Canadian heath care system. All heath care systems in Canada are provincially run. As well as the following blatant lies:

The fee. The province with the highest fess is Alberta which is $88/ family, that is if you can afford it. In most provinces there is no fee for heath care.

You never have to pay to visit a doctor. If the man did not carry extended private insurance he may very well have been charged for a splint which is a medical device and not included in heath costs. (however it is tax deductable)

You are not covered under Canadian heath care unless you have landed immigrant status.

Medications necessary to live, such as chemotherapy drugs, diabetes tests and supplies, and in many places aids medications are fully covered. despite the fact that the Canadian medical system does not cover drugs and drug plans they will pick up the cost of necessary medications for low income people.

You do not wait years for a test unless you live on the far reaches of Manitoulin island where going to the doctor requires a bush pilot, and a three hour flight.

There is no such thing as a waiting list for emergency care. You need a by pass, you get one right away. If a condition is life threatening , it is taken immediately.

You can get as many opinions as I want. In fact I can see any doctor I want within Canada, for any reason and not worry if their cost is going to be covered.

The only thing that is true is you may wait hours in the emergency room to be seen. Yes. The emergency is for emergencies. (You would think it would be obvious by the name). It works on a system of priorities. If you go to the emergency room for a head cold, you are sitting pretty low on their radar. All those people having acute allergic reactions, who are bleeding or in severe pain are going to go ahead of you. The most urgent patients receive the most urgent care. That really does not seem like an unreasonable way to delegate care.

Answer 2

Some of this is accurate but some is complete rubbish.
For example: I am an immigrant to Canada but I pay the same premium and taxes as a Canadian earning the same amount as me (I suspect that comment in the article means illegal immigrants or asylum seakers - I am here on a work permit).
Also I have not heard of anyone waiting a year for heart surgey if it is an emergengy.
I think most Canadians would definitely not want a system similar to the American system where many thousands of poor people can't afford healthcare or insurance.

Answer 3

The title is accurate. The first line, then the second line I will accept. After that it is all bogus. I'd call it worse, but Yahoo would sensor it. In Canada we don't have free health care - it is Universal Health care. It means it is available to everyone, but those that work, pay Insurance fees/premiums.

My pet peeve is Americans that compare the worst of Canada to the best insured of the US. They compare extreme cases of waiting in Canada when many Americans aren't insured and don't get treatment at all. Also a pet peeve is how if there is a problem in Canada Health Care it is automatically blamed on the Universal Health Care part of it. Other factors are the small population and the huge geography.

My example for how this is wrong is Emergency Room waiting time. I have experience of friends and family and personal visits. The visit samples include three cities with several weekend night visits to varying degree of busy emergency rooms. I can't report a single case of where the wait was HOURS long. The only cases of that is some American chat buddies who report it to me all the time.

My latest visit. My aging Mom is visiting me from out of town and arrived last Friday Night very sick. She wanted to go to Emergency. From when she wanted to go, I had taken her, she saw the doctor, brought her to the drug store and had her home in bed all within an hour.

Answer 4

No, it is not accurate. This letter is part of an "urban legend" e-mail that was running around for a while. Check out the link below.

While there definitely are flaws with the Health Care system here (and keep in mind each province is different - health care is administered by the provinces, there is no national plan), I'd far rather have a system where everyone is covered equally regardless of their ability to afford insurance.

Answer 5

Canada's health care system is far from perfect. For example: my father died after his illness was diagnosed too late.
But the letter cited in the Mansfield News Journal is grossly inaccurate. The Canadian health care system is paid for almost entirely with tax money, although some provinces also have a small monthly or yearly fee.
The same kind of problems that were cited by the letter writer -- long waits for major operations and other procedures -- occur in the United States as well. Unless you have cash to pay for a major procedure (sometimes as much as $100,000 in the U.S.) you may be forced to wait your turn.
There are no quotas for operations, although factors such as the number of surgeons, surgical facilities and other constraints do come into play.
Although it comes down to much more than statistics, an interesting comparison of the Canadian and American health systems can be made by comparing life expectancy, infant mortality rates, average health care costs, etc. In 2004, per-capita spending for health care in the U.S. was more than double that in Canada: in the U.S., it totaled US$6,096; in Canada, US$3,038. American citizens paid this amount through insurance premiums and, sometimes, by paying cash, Canadians paid through the tax system.
Life expectancy is longer in Canada, and Canada's infant mortality rate is lower than that of the U.S., but there is debate about the underlying causes of these differences. The World Health Organization's ratings of health care system performance among 191 member nations, published in 2000, ranked Canada 30th and the U.S. 37th, and the overall health of Canadians 35th and Americans 72nd.
The health care system in Canada is largely government-funded, with most services provided by private enterprises. Waiting times for major non-emergency surgery have been longer in Canada, and Canada has been slightly slower to adopt expensive technology and medicines. Consequently, Canada has had higher mortality rates for some conditions, such as heart attacks. Canadian health administrators say that these problems are improving (though they could improve further, in the opinion of this person).
Still, if I had to choose between ours and the American system, most Canadians have indicated in poll after poll that they would be very unhappy if we adopted an American-style system.

Answer 6

Load of crap
Ive never been given pills and made to wait for an operation
went to doctor on friday operated on on sat.and im not even canadian

americans should watch Michael Moores documentary called "Sicko"

Answer 7

No, there is a lot of mis-representation of the Canadian heathcare in the US.

Just as there is mis-representation of US healthcare in Canada.

To gam:
The wait for operations (some serious - prostrate cancer for one) is longer in Canada. I don't know where you got the idea that if you have $100K you don't have to wait for an operation in the US. You schedule your operation based on when you and the doctor deem it necessary, not on a waiting list. If you have insurance, you go.

Answer 8

NO That stupid thing drives me nuts. It's been going around for a long time and it's just garbage.

>>Canadian health care is not free. According to a Canadian
>> citizen, couples pay $96 a month. Plus they pay taxes
>>according to their tax bracket to keep the health care
>>system afloat. Most of their taxes go directly to health care.

Yes some provinces have premiums. Here in Alberta I pay $80 or so a month for our family. Health care is NOT free but it is not true that most of our taxes go to health care.

>>They get a health diagnosis instead of health care. When
>>they need an operation they see a doctor, are given a drug
>>for pain and wait for as much as two years for an
>>operation. Doctors want to move as many patients through
>> as possible for government reimbursement.

I've never heard of ANYONE waiting two years for surgery. Most wait times if you look them up, are approximately 4-6 weeks with some up to 4 months for non-emergencies. when I had an emergency a few years ago I was in within 3 hours.


>>The government allots so many operations per year and
>>then it stops unless they go to their local newspaper and
>>plead their case and embarrass the government and get
>>special treatment.

This is JUST PLAIN FALSE AND UNTRUE

>>The government is good at finding new ways to tax, but
>>they don't call it a tax; it is now a "user fee."
>>Examples, according to a Canadian citizen: A man cut his >>hand on a power saw, requiring his hand be put in a splint.
>>He pays $125 for a splint and $60 for each and every visit
>>thereafter on the hand.

Yes he probably pays for a spint (never that much) but he would not pay for any dr. visits.


>>They wait hours for emergency room treatment.

Yes this could be true but I hear the same from the States. ER rooms are triaged and those with non-emergencies that go to the ER crowd it and make things worse. True emergencies are usually treated quickly.

>>When diagnosed with a heart blockage, they go a waiting
>>list and often they die before they get treatment.

GARBAGE

>>If they are a smoker, forget health care.

FALSE

>>Obese people are a drain on the health care system.
>>Canadians say health care is for healthy people only.

While this may be true they still get health care.

>>No second opinions.

False

>>Immigrants are covered automatically at taxpayer expense
>> and they pay no premiums.

Not true. They have to be here for a certain amount of time and then pay the same as others.

>>They pay for diabetic needles, but drug users get needles >>free.

In some places drug users do get free needles and this is a sore point for a lot of people!!

>>They wait for a test anywhere up to a year in Canada so
>>extreme cases come to America and pay cash.

I don't know anyone who's had to wait that long so I can't say it's true...

>They can spend money after taxes on anything but they
>aren't allowed by law to spend their money on an operation
>they need because that would be jumping the queue. They
>must wait their turn except if they are a hockey player or an athlete.

Don't have a clue.

>Canadians tell Americans to never vote for their kind of
>health system.

Not true. I'd rather have what we have then be stuck with no insurance and no health care.

Answer 9

Citizens of countries with universal health car plans, such as Canada and the UK, have longer life expectancies than those of the US.
Nuff said!

Answer 10

Unfortunately yes. I am an American, but I worked up in Canada for a time. One of my Canadian co-workers was diagnosed with cancer. They put him on a six-month waiting list for surgery. Of course by then his cancer would have been inoperable and he would have died. He traveled to the United States and paid for the surgery himself. There are thousands of Canadians in American Hospitals. If Canadian health care was so good, there would be NONE!!!