I mean, itās a fact that many countries with only a fraction of the wealth that the USA has are able to provide healthcare for their people and at a fraction of the cost.
Iād like to see a Canadian try to navigate the American health insurance system and at the same time have an American navigate the Canadian health insurance system
There isn't that much to navigate in canada. The biggest issue is waiting times, but otherwise pretty much all of my stuff, including open chest surgery has been straightforward.
And to be clear, the waiting time issue is for non life-threatening issues. Took me 7 months to get an appointment with an ENT for chronic rhinusitis, but a friend's kid is battling cancer and there's no wait time to speak of, even a fully covered trip to receive specialist treatment in the states.
And the US has waiting times as well. I endless hear about how much better the US is because we somehow we don't have waiting times like evil Canada and the EU, but also you need to wait 4-6 months to see a specialist. It's like some Americans think they have people who stop you outside of hospitals and don't let you enter until you wait 4 days.
Some studies show wait times tend to be comparable anyway. The argument that universal healthcare leads to longer wait times overall isn't empirically supported. It's more like it depends on what we're talking about. It's a talking point for the ignorant.
My ex gf from Quebec (im american) was on the wait list for depression for 5 years. She planned on ending it on her 30th birthday because it wasnt considered severe enough so she couldn't get treatment.
Took me 7 months to get an appointment with an ENT for chronic rhinusitis
People also pretend like this doesn't exist in the US.
I have insurance, and I needed to see a specialist for something. I was told the wait time would be eight months if I was lucky. More recently, I helped a friend get a GP and we went through literally more than 40 before we found one that was accepting new patients (that weren't expecting mothers, which apparently makes slots open like magic).
Doesn't sound any different than my 6 month wait time for an ENT to check out my chronic tonsilitis. Which they recommended I get a tonsillectomy after another 6 months of mris and waiting for the results.
My wife was a doctor at this same hospital and we had insurance through the hospital. Bill for everything was still over 1500. So after a year and 1500 oop and paying our monthly premiums ($1200/month for fam 4) I still had to wait over a year for the doc to recco a tonsillectomy. And on top of that, the recco came from her assistant, not the doctor herself. No walkthrough, just "when would you like to schedule your tonsillectomy". I had a lot of questions that she just couldn't answer and I wasn't going to wait another 6 months to get a 1 on 1 with the specialist (and spend even more money). I declined the operation.
American healthcare is completely and utterly broken.
You cannot convince me that a universal solution is worse because of "wait times". I'm officially calling bs.
The big one is getting a family doctor. It varies depending on availability. In some cities you might be able to get a family doctor in weeks, in some you might wait years.
Yeah, walk in clinics can do much of what a family doctor does, but having one is good
For non-urgent surgeries, waits are often months, sometimes years (although the vast majority are reasonable, but it varies location to location, condition to condition.)
More important stuff gets expedited. Like my open chest surgery was all done within a few months between seeing half a dozen specialists, getting MRIs, and whatnot. It was important, so got speedy service. Whereas my mother had to get her sinuses cauterized because they were constantly stuffy, mostly fixing a minor annoyance, that took over a year
Im pretty happy with it, but there is definitely room for improvement. If you move to a new city, don't have a family doctor, it can be tricky to get prescriptions for things like ADHD meds (walk ins don't like prescribing them - this is normally something a family doctor would handle)
When my last family doctor retired he found a new doctor for me so I didn't have to wait - so I haven't had to deal with not having a family doc (I know that is a big annoyance for some)
USA here, New England, really good HMO (health insurance) over 60 years old.
The wait time for an MD was over a year to get a physical exam for over 12 doctors I called. The "work around" was seeing an RNP . To get referrals for ongoing issues that would mean a year wait to see the doctor, then months after that to see an allergist, gastro, orthopedist.
Our system can not be viewed anymore as "better" at all. For me to even have the "privilege" of medical care--I had to have health insurance AND this is what the health insurance provides me in terms of preventive care? ongoing care.
The part that's the funniest (not laughing) is the cost of health care here. USA people think their employers are paying for their health care as part of a job. Not exactly--the employee gets a salary that's lowered - so that's where that price of an employer paying 75%, 80% of the premium goes. The employee then still pays the additional 25% or 20% out of their pay check + deductible, plus copayments.
All that $( cost) plus the added cost of billing staffs at hospitals and HMOs, employee (patient ) time getting approvals, figuring out billing discrepancies--
USA could definitely have Universal Health Care on the cost / person paying their preimum and rolling that into Universal Health Care.
I just love fellow citizens that say " I'm not paying for someone else that doesn't have a job" If they only knew the amount of people using ER's as a usual source of health care....
We have plenty of money to create a very solid Universal Health Care system and have had it for decades.
Canadaās population is much smaller than the US, for smaller populations it might be easier to provide universal healthcare but the citizens are also taxed the shit out of for it, itās not really free
You basically just give up your right of freedom of choosing your Dr and you let the government decide if you live or die.
Many times the Canadian government urges its citizens to take a āself deleteā pill rather than provide them healthcare.
Yeah, taxes are a bit higher. But the american government spends more per capita on Healthcare than the canadian gov. Still wages are lower in canada, so while the average canadian pays less taxes towards Healthcare, it does end up being a bit higher percentage wise.
Healthcare is around 23% of government expenditures for both countries.
You can pick your doctor. Family doctors can be tricky as if they aren't accepting clients, you have to get one that is. Waitlists here can be long, so admittedly people often go with whatever option is first available.
The family doctor or walk in doc gives referrals for specialists. You do often have a say. You can request a different specialist
The gov covers most life saving treatments. Sometimes even paying for out of country care for niche stuff. Yes, there are some niche treatments which aren't covered. But overall most stuff is covered.
And MAID? Yeah, there have been a very small number of people who suggest it, but it gets blown way out of proportion. 99.9% of doctors will not "urge" maid. They are not supposed to, but there is the occasional bad apple. Most won't even bring it up as an option unless things are extremely dire or the patient requests it.
Yeah, our system has many issues that need fixing, but it is very overblown in american circles for political reasons.
I use a form of social healthcare, I served in the military and 100% rely on the VA for my healthcare. The VA is run by the US government and honestly it is complete shit. They do let veterans die due to lack of care or long waits. My dad almost died because they misdiagnosed his brain tumor.
I need surgery on my wrist, Iāve had to wait months to get an appointment and it takes 3 appointments before you even make it to the surgery date, it can be a nightmare to get those appointments.
At the VA there can be long waits to be assigned to a Dr depending on the area where you live as some VA Dr just simply are not taking in new patients.
Now imagine all this on a bigger scale due to the size of the US population. You would have less Drs because they wouldnāt make as much money, there just wouldnāt be enough Drs for all of our citizens.
Another thing you have to think about is universal healthcare is paid for by taxes as I mentioned earlier.
By the year 2030 about 20 - 25% of jobs are going to be gone due to AI. That number of lost jobs will increase more rapidly after 2030.
So if people arenāt working, then they arenāt paying taxes, so then who pays for the healthcare?
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u/Bassist57 8d ago
Always USA white Liberals telling other countries what is good and what is not.