Canadian Health Care - just wait

[Wade]

So, you want to know what it will look like, when we eventually have a single payer healthcare system? Where everyone is covered with "health care"?

It's simple, once you cover everyone under socialized medicine, everyone is scared to go back to the private system. And, they'll do anything to keep private healthcare away. The average wait time to be referred to a specialist is 9.5 weeks in Canada.

http://www.canada.com/health/Coyne+t...936/story.html

[MountainMan]

Originally Posted by Wade

So, you want to know what it will look like, when we eventually have a single payer healthcare system? Where everyone is covered with "health care"?

It's simple, once you cover everyone under socialized medicine, everyone is scared to go back to the private system. And, they'll do anything to keep private healthcare away. The average wait time to be referred to a specialist is 9.5 weeks in Canada.

http://www.canada.com/health/Coyne+t...936/story.html

Thats not necessarily true for all of us Canadians, personaly I would prefer a public/private partnershis where as all people have access to healthcare, but those that worked harder and have the money to do so should have the right to pay and get it fast tracked through a private entity. It would help wait times for those in the public service since I would not longer be in queue, attract better doctors, and be better off for everyone.

Its a battle we are currently having here, in my province we can currently excersise that right, its far from perfect, but I dont hate it either. Despite this, looks like you guys are in for a rough ride down there, especially the timing of it all, wish ya luck.

[Wade]

The part of the story about costs going up, hits home here. The government wants to do all of this to get "everyone" healthcare, and control costs.

The solution to controlling cost, longer wait times. Americans don't like to wait.

I'm also wondering, wait times by themselves can't save money. Another reason why we "must" have social healthcare is because delaying healthcare results in greater expense. They beat that into us down here. Waiting until it's an emergency, blah blah blah.

There's two reasons why healthcare is expensive in the US right now. One, poor people end up waiting and running to an emergency room. It's the easiest way for them. Two, when someone that can't pay (won't buy insurance, and won't work to get insurance) shows up at a hospital, they end up charging sick people with insurance, for them. Now, how unethical is that? You charge sick people triple, to pay for some 3rd generation meth addict's hospital bill. The reason this works in most cases, is because a lot of hospitals are "non-profit", so they have to flush the profits somehow.

I'm not for killing off poor people, I'm for incentivising them to buy insurance, and work harder to get it. Thereby reducing working people's healthcare costs.

[Fosgate]

That's part of the problem. When I was peddling insurance I had a freshly divorced mother of three get a quote for her and her three kids at nearly $1000 monthly premium. That was a steal compared to Cobra which was nearly $1500. Ridiculous that health insurance for a family costs more than a mortgage.

[Pinner]

Wait times are based on priority, if you need something ASAP you will get it ASAP. I witnessed a guy complain of a bad headache and was in the MRI room a couple minutes later. If your Doctor wants a MRI to see why your knee hurts, you'll probably be waiting awhile.

I won't engage in a health care debate but I will say this, Americans spend about 2X more per capita than other first world countries and rank nowhere near the top of the care provided.

There must be a better way, health care for profit isn't working.

[Wade]

Originally Posted by Pinner

Wait times are based on priority, if you need something ASAP you will get it ASAP. I witnessed a guy complain of a bad headache and was in the MRI room a couple minutes later. If your Doctor wants a MRI to see why your knee hurts, you'll probably be waiting awhile.

I won't engage in a health care debate but I will say this, Americans spend about 2X more per capita than other first world countries and rank nowhere near the top of the care provided.

There must be a better way, health care for profit isn't working.

The article is specifically talking about referrals to experts. Not tests ordered by your doctor.

Here, they have a area with xrays and MRI, and if you need a test, your doc calls down and tells them your coming down. Your in and out in 20 minutes, life threatening or a bad cough. If you need an expert, they refer you, and usually the only thing that will slow you down, is a doctor that's on vacation. So, a week or two, at worst. (although women have been having problems seeing specialist in their area, though most claim it's not worth dealing with babies these days, because of all the law suits.)

Problem is, all the uninsured, show up at the emergency room. And, they demand everything, that the insured get, plus making up for their putting off the doctor visit.

I know people that went in for major surgery. They told them they had no money, the "non-profit" hosipital says no problem, that's why we charge so much, so we can give everyone good healthcare.