Canadian Brothers, Tell me about your country’s healthcare system

[Crazy CanuckMember 4215]

Scandinavian wrote:

Oneforfreedom wrote:

Scandinavian wrote:

This is the way the world works. Sooner or later the freeloaders will always overburden the net payers, hence; the socialist health cares of the world (i.e. most non-US countries) get insane health care waiting lines. I had a former colleague who busted his knee pretty badly, to the degree that he could not work (he’s an excavator machinist). He went to an examination and got told he’d have to wait 10-12 months for a surgery in the public health care line, he then got a price on the same surgery in the private sector; 40 000 NOK (€4000/$4300). He payed and was back at work just two weeks later.

I agree. That is horrible. From your use of the currency NOK, I believe this is in Norway? If so, I am shocked since I’ve always heard great things about Norwegian healthcare.

At the same time though, American healthcare is NOT 100% capitalist at all. Remember- we have VA, Medicare, and even the military. All are paid for by taxpayers, and they have been going relatively well. Sure you have the occasional scandal. But now take a look at emergences.

If your appendix bursts tomorrow….AND you have insurance, you could expect to pay $8-10,000 since you’ll most likely be in the private sector.

Norway/Iceland/Australia/Britain/Canada: You pay nothing.

Yes, it is Norway. And yes, if my appendix burst I will probably only pay around $20 or so, but that is a “good” disease. Get cancer and you’re all dependant on current health care lines. Sometimes you might get lucky and get a spot in a few days or a couple of weeks, but if you’re unlucky you might have to wait a year or so… Best part is that occasionally our govt buy hospital beds from Sweden, so that way we expand our resources, but then a swede will wait an extra period of time.

Cancer is either environmental cause or stress related. Cell phones are worst for cancer. If you use one make sure to use it safely.

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[Maraudrz1Participant 2250]

I am in the VA health care system. It has it’s problems too. Sometimes you have to wait months just to get an eye appointment, or MRI, or a Dr’s app’t. The money spent on the VA system is huge. I don’t have the numbers right now but the money spent by the federal gov’t in this country makes our defense budget miniscule. It is the main reason we have so much debt in this country.

Women's brains and vagina have one thing in common. There is nothing in there until a man puts something in there.

[OneforfreedomParticipant 930]

Great, thank you for your input.

So let me ask then: what’s the solution?
If you get sick or have a medical emergency, what can you do to prevent financial insolvency?

[Anonymous 5]

I would rather wait an hour than pay $10,000+ like in the states. I have been to hospital a bunch of times and longest I had to wait was an hour. That is honestly not that bad. Never had to pay any bills. Actually, I had to pay for an ambulance one time. It was $45.

I could never imagine living in the states. $10,000 bill would bankrupt me. It would cripple me. They are nuts for charging you guys that much money.

[narwhalParticipant]

Oneforfreedom wrote:

Great, thank you for your input.

So let me ask then: what’s the solution?
If you get sick or have a medical emergency, what can you do to prevent financial insolvency?

No one’s going to like the answer. The question I ask is, how come the auto insurance industry, and pretty much all other insurance agencies work, but not health insurance? For all other insurance, your premiums, deductibles, etc are based on the risk that the insurance company has to take to cover you. They will offer you discounts if you do certain things to reduce your risk (get an alarm system on your home). And if the risk is too high, they simply drop you.

Health insurance isn’t allowed to do that…by law. Hospitals are not allowed to reject you, even if it’s clear you have no means of paying for the services you need, through insurance or otherwise. Insurance can’t drop you when the risk is to great for them to manage. They can’t (or don’t) offer discounts for healthy behavior. Paying patients are overcharged for services because of the costs of making the service available and to pay for those that don’t pay. Insurance covers maintenance drugs (imagine auto covering your oil change), and that’s surely because it’s cheaper to pay for maintenance then the eventual costs of not maintaining. This just scratches the surface really.

So really, there is no answer to make medical care affordable. It is the nature of the beast. There are some things that can be done to cut out some of the waste in the system though, and many of these things are happening. It boils down to using the right tool for the job. You don’t need a Dr for most common medical issues, and we are seeing more nurse practitioner’s handling the more minor stuff. We have ERs for the true emergencies, and Urgent Care centers for the more minor stuff. We are starting to get more centralized medical records. Why can’t we have less equipped ambulances for the basic transportation where the fully trained EMTs and expensive medical equipment are a waste? Insurance companies and hospital systems aren’t exactly helping to make everything more efficient as they have profits and such to be concerned about. The government sure isn’t helping.

As an to social medicine, I reject the idea that I am responsible for another person’s health, yet have no say on what kind of healthy style they lead. If you want me to pay for your diabetes treatment, then I should be able to tell you to lay off the Big Macs.

Ok. Then do it.

[OneforfreedomParticipant 930]

Anonymous wrote:

I would rather wait an hour than pay $10,000+ like in the states. I have been to hospital a bunch of times and longest I had to wait was an hour. That is honestly not that bad. Never had to pay any bills. Actually, I had to pay for an ambulance one time. It was $45.

Are you in Canada? Which province is this?

narwhal wrote:

As an to social medicine, I reject the idea that I am responsible for another person’s health, yet have no say on what kind of healthy style they lead. If you want me to pay for your diabetes treatment, then I should be able to tell you to lay off the Big Macs.

Fair point. I never thought about it like this.

[нσтησσвParticipant 830]

when i was 6 years old or so, i got a very deep cut in my knee; right to the bone.

i had to wait 9 hours in the waiting room… for stitches. f~~~ing c~~~s with a sprained ankle went AHEAD OF ME!
OH! apparently an extremely deep cut bleeding out is worth less attention than a f~~~ing muscle sprain! the bitch with the sprained ankle only had to wait 2 hours.

Canada’s healthcare system is ran mostly by incompetent dumb asses.

Neither system is good in my mind; both are full of corruption. heck, the medical industry in general is full of corruption.

Guess how much a f~~~ing X-Ray printer costs? $100k+
BETTER YET! Guess how much a f~~~ing over-glorified air conditioner for skin costs? $50k+

Guess how much an endoscope costs lol.

Really, an endoscope should be not much more expensive than a projector.
An x-ray printer should be not much more than a photocopier.

And, god for bid the out-dated BUGGY AS F~~~ING S~~~ SOFTWARE! that they use and REFUSE! to change.

i have about 2 months of IT experience with the medical peeps; fired because i wasn’t “friendly” enough. lol.

OH! and my favourite! guess how much an anesthetics vaporizer costs? $10k+ and its just a f~~~ing metal canister.
Gawd, even lab equipment in general is overpriced. a good sized centrifuge will cost you $100k+
Something you could probably make yourself with $1k.

My Goal: To Leave Society.

[Lee from DGMParticipant 21]

Healthcare in Asia is absurdly cheap, but it is cheaper just about anywhere on earth. South America, Mexico, China, Russia, India…also most people won’t ever move to another country.

The issue is that you are good only for incidents up to major. Anything major you need to be in a very developed nation, or you die. Too many details to go into. But regular illness? $30 for CAT scans, and you keep the film image. $155 to have a 1.5cm tumor removed from your head, biopsy, followup, invisible scar.

There is ONE thing USA healthcare is good for – sudden violent illness, stroke, trauma. In the USA you will get helicoptered, ICU’d, fixed up, and stay alive with rehab nurses to get you walking again. Yes, it will cost you $2 million USD but you are alive. Stroke CAN be fixed, but only IF you are fewer than a few hours from a very modern hospital with the drugs to prevent brain damage. Stroke in Asia? Road accident in Asia? You are screwed.

In most nations, you will simply die on the road as the locals take your wallet, motorcycle, and cell phone.

China, Vietnam, Thailand all good and very inexpensive. Singapore, Jp and Korea are very developed top tier care that is a bit cheaper than the USA.

Also, Doctors and Nurses are actual caring human beings in other countries. None of this rush in rush out nonsense the USA has, and your 3 minute appointment.

[OneforfreedomParticipant 930]

Lee from DGM wrote:

There is ONE thing USA healthcare is good for – sudden violent illness, stroke, trauma. In the USA you will get helicoptered, ICU’d, fixed up, and stay alive with rehab nurses to get you walking again. Yes, it will cost you $2 million USD but you are alive. Stroke CAN be fixed, but only IF you are fewer than a few hours from a very modern hospital with the drugs to prevent brain damage. Stroke in Asia? Road accident in Asia? You are screwed.

This is true. U.S. emergency medicine is excellent.

Lee from DGM wrote:

China, Vietnam, Thailand all good and very inexpensive. Singapore, Jp and Korea are very developed top tier care that is a bit cheaper than the USA.

Yep. One of the reasons I want to retire in Thailand.

Lee from DGM wrote:

Also, Doctors and Nurses are actual caring human beings in other countries. None of this rush in rush out nonsense the USA has, and your 3 minute appointment.

This is the thing that really gets to me. They treat you like a burden here in the U.S. Other countries are more hospitable.

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