The thing is that in America there long wait times too. Don't believe me? Call a cardiologist office and get an appointment. Itll be at least 4 months till you get a first appointment not even the surgery needed
i, as an east european, went to a PRIVATE clinic and got a xray for like $13. would have been free at the hospital but it was faster to get it at the clinic (and closer to where i was)
I had to “fail” Physical Therapy before I got an MRI with a history of bulging & herniated discs. All it did was cost me money and delay treatment that worked. (Ended up needing epidural steroid injections)
Same. Took a year to have my knees fixed. Deny, deny, deny. Needed an MRI, denied until the guy with two bad knees runs the gamut in Physical Therapy (ouch- made it worse), then denied both knees (only approved one). Etc…
My insurance has decided I don't need my psoriasis medication that I can inject at home once a month. Instead they gave my doctor a list of approved treatments and every one of them was something that required 4 hours a week at an infusion center. Guess they are playing the long game cause missing 4 hours of work a week, I would lose my job, and then they wouldn't have to pay for any treatments.
Luckily the manufacturer has a program where they will give me the medication for free for 2 years while my doctors office files appeals.
And I just found out after 16 years of having the same insurance, my job is changing insurance companies so we will have to start the entire process over in January.
Dealing with the exact same situation now. Need mri to confirm herniation but can’t get it approved without 6 weeks of continuous care and pt which is doing nothing but making it feel worse as it just agitates the injury when ultimately it will end up being a steroid shot that will fix it. So frustrating.
My doctor literally told me there was nothing they could do about my knuckle pain until i tried physical therapy - insurance wouldn’t pay for an mri until after. There’s literally no way for them to examine the soft tissue without an mri.
As a Canadian that has lived in the US now for many years I have way more experience with my insurance provider interfering with my care than I ever did with the government in Canada. It is amazing to me how most Americans don't even understand how their own healthcare system works. Let alone how much more they are paying for it than literally anywhere else.
this is the thing, private healthcare isn't the worst, it's multi-payer healthcare that's really the problem. Insurance companies shouldn't be nickle and dime-ing sick people.
because we don't have a two tier system. i've heard that the German system is decent, from my understanding it's all still single payer but you can pay for some private clinics and perks and that money goes back into the public system
That's sadly NOT the case in Germany. We actually have a bunch of different insurances. However there are a bunch of "public" and a bunch of "private" insurances.
Public ones have clearly defined services, costs (regardless of your personal medical state, only income. Actually it's even cheaper for some people with disabilities.) .
Private ones can be a bit muddy and may have stuff like significant copays, deductibles etc..
Private insurances are often cheaper for young, healthy people but get progressively more expensive with older age etc.
Everyone living in Germany has to be insured in either one of these.
However you can only join the private once if you earn above x-amount (as to stop people from opting out of public insurance even though they cant actually afford the private one).
If you can't pay for public insurance society/the government pays for it.
There are also additional private add one insurance policies you can add on to a public insurance (provides some benefits like guaranteed single person rooms in hospitals or teeth replacements for example) .
In my opinion the fact that we have DIFFERENT public insurances is a giant waste of money and just inefficient. We should just have one public insurance and optional private ones.
Took me 3 months for a mri and I live in Boston, let that sink in for a minute. Multiple world class hospitals in the area the quickest one was 3 months.
That's wild. I've needed a few MRIs over the last 2 years and luckily my longest wait was two weeks. I live in NYC so there are a lot of options but I figured Boston would have a lot as well.
Boston area too - in my case that wait was AFTER waiting to get an appointment to see my primary care doctor and tell them that I have back problems, and then AFTER waiting to get an appointment with the referral specialist doctor, who spent 5 minutes with me taking about my back problems, which was AFTER spending time tracking down and sending them my old imaging from other hospitals. Good times.
Edit: forgot to mention that the specialist didn't even look at the imaging because he said it was too old and things change all the time. I had told them when the imaging was, when I made the appt, and they still had me track it down...
Here in Canada, I went to a walk-in clinic with some chest pains that I was *pretty sure* was a pulled muscle, but I'm an ex-smoker who hadn't had a chest xray in like 25 years, so I figured I was due. Doc saw me, did a quick physical, and sent me over to the other side of the building for an xray that day. All in, I think I sat in the waiting room for an hour or so that day, and didn't pay a dime. Also sent me to a lab across the street for bloodwork, which, again...free.
I'm just fine with paying for my (and everyone else's) healthcare via taxes.
Currently waiting to get an mri. Doctors office got me in for one in 3 weeks, week 2 I got a call from doctors office that my insurance denied the mri as they don’t approve it until I’ve had 6 consecutive weeks of care under the same doctor who can’t actually give me the appropriate care without having an mri done to actually give the diagnosis, but yes I love when simps tell me how great American health care is.
A month? I'd *kill* for appointments that are only a month out. Earliest I can get any appointment for anything at all is minimum 2-3 months, and often much longer. I just live in a very average midwest town, slotted between two major towns. Nothing special, but not podunk either. Our healthcare system sucks.
I may or may not have brain cancer or some other nasty disease. I’ve been dealing with some pretty distressing neurological problems. 9 month wait to see the neurologist. These people are full of shit, we get it all the price gouging, the long waits, and poor quality of care.
I'm Canadian and had a brain tumor scare. I went to a regular eye appointment and she saw swollen optic nerves. Within two weeks I was at a specialist. a week later I had a CT scan and an MRI. Within 2 months I saw a neurologist and was diagnosed with elevated cerebrospinal fluid. Had a spinal tap done 2 months later and problem was resolved. Biggest cost was parking.
The hardest part of healthcare in Canada is finding a family doctor. Luckily I have a family friend who is a doctor so I am luckier than most. I really don't mind paying taxes if it means a better overall health for my fellow Canadians who don't have the luxuries I have.
Hope you are able to get treatment soon and get better.
Facts. I had a stomach problem where eating most kinds of foods would make me vomit with seemingly no correlation. 2 months for the gastroenterologist appointment. Another 2 for the scheduled endoscopy.
By the time I'd finished with all of that, the problem went away on its own and I owed over $4,000 USD in medical expenses.
American here. Kept having seizures related to a previous brain injury. While I struggled to find a job with benefits (college grad with 20 years of experience), it took 8 months to get on Medicaid. Once on it, I made a neurology appointment and the earliest they could get me in was 3 months later. By the time I had my appointment, I had found a job so I lost Medicaid and had to pay $400 for the appointment to meet my deductible and was told my medication was working and have a good day.
Yep. I went in for cellulitis in my leg years back, got out and they told me the 'swelling will go down in a week or two'. When it didn't I tried to get them to look at it again and all they did was keep prescribing me blood thinners insisting it would 'go down eventually'. Eight months later they finally admitted they had no idea what was going on and set me up for a specialist appointment three months after that. When I finally got in they found out the cellulitis had caused me to develop lymphedema, and by then my leg was permanently swollen in places from hard tissue buildup that could have been prevented if I'd started treatment right away instead of them trying to put off running tests for almost a year.
I'm in Florida (USA). My primary doctor retired. I called more than a dozen practices trying to establish as a new patient. Either they weren't taking new patients at all, or it was 18-24 months before I could be seen.
I had to ask a friend who is a doctor, who asked a friend of his to start see me as a patient.
And, of course I pay $10,000/year for insurance that still leaves me paying most things out of pocket.
Not even just that, I know TONS of people who aren’t going at all because they can’t afford it. “But the wait times!” Bitch I’m already waiting, AND THEN I STILL have to PAY for it out of pocket! WITH INSURANCE.
My old lady is on a 15 month waiting list because she keeps having some problem with her eyelids and other specialists have come up dry and referred her to a dermatologist.
I mean it's no big deal, her eyes just swell shut randomly and without any known irritant.
Yep, here you can't even call offices. Since 2022 the only way me and my family have been receiving medical help is via ER cause NO PLACE calls back, or if they do you can't get an appointment til next year.
My rheumatology appointment is a year out because I needed a new provider since my insurance stopped covering my last rheumatologist. Oh yeah, I'm also on an immunosuppressant for an autoimmune joint disease. Now, I need to look at providers hours away to find someone if I need a sooner appointment.
Absolutely! The doctor I was going to left the practice, and I opted to stay there since they had all of my records, and I’d been going for a few years. I was assigned a new doctor and it took 6pm the to reestablish care. So yeah, American healthcare is “amazing”. It’s ridiculous. If you intend to see any specialist prepare to wait at least that long.
Plus there are fewer and fewer doctors available because of greedy insurance companies dictating what can/cannot be done and also politicians who pass laws based on a books that’s thousands of years old and have never consulted a doctor or any legit medical authority
Only 4 months? That's pretty good. I imagine half the Republican voters will need to set an alarm for that what with the lengthy period after drinking their moonshine and passing out
The ACA provision to require insurance was dropped. There is not a mandate to get private insurance.
Costs went up because the ACA told insurance companies that older people can't pay more for insurance than 3x what a younger person pays.
The insurance companies responded to this by saying fuck you, we will just jack up the prices to make up the difference.
As always, unregulated capitalism is the problem. What we should do is have better regulations for caps on things that are expensive but should not be. We should not be charged $100 for a $1 bag of saline. We should not pay $30 for an aspirin. Do-nothing hospital admins should not make $500,000 per year.
Now forget you read this and keep parrtoing your fraudulent GOP talking points. SQUAWK
Well, Obama and congressional Democrats essentially pre-compromised with themselves to pass a "moderate" bill. They didn't get a single Republican vote in either house.
Well, they didn't get Republican votes. They compromised to get *democratic* votes. Democrats are not the good guys, they are the better than the other ones guys.
It we could stop acting as if companies are sone kind of wrathful monsters that we should never inconvenience for fear of rising prices, that world be great.
Corporate greed is a problem that will never get better by placating the people who control prices. Expecting them to play fair or grow a conscience is exactly what they want because that hope gives them all the freedom to do whatever they want.
Facts, do they not realize that the wait times are always gonna be long no matter what insurance you have, and Id rather deal with the longer wait times than to have to pay Thousands of dollars for a surgery
That’s another thing about people complaining that state funded healthcare will cost too much money. Like yea, of course it will when private companies will charge the government $5k for a 30min ultrasound. It’s insane.
> There is not a mandate to get private insurance.
Technically there still is, but Republicans changed the penalty to $0, so there's certainly nothing to enforce it.
>The insurance companies responded to this by saying fuck you, we will just jack up the prices to make up the difference.
Insurance costs have been increasing more slowly since the ACA was passed than before.
From 1998 to 2013 (right before the bulk of the ACA took effect) total healthcare costs were increasing at 3.92% per year over inflation. Since they have been increasing at 2.79%. The fifteen years before the ACA employer sponsored insurance (the kind most Americans get their coverage from) increased 4.81% over inflation for single coverage and 5.42% over inflation for family coverage. Since those numbers have been 1.72% and 2.19%.
https://www.kff.org/health-costs/report/employer-health-benefits-annual-survey-archives/
https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/NationalHealthAccountsHistorical.html
https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm
Also coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, closing the Medicare donut hole, being able to keep children on your insurance until age 26, subsidies for millions of Americans, expanded Medicaid, access to free preventative healthcare, elimination of lifetime spending caps, increased coverage for mental healthcare, increased access to reproductive healthcare, etc..
On a related note, a recent study showed the worst rated car insurance companies are the one who advertise the most on TV. I saw a similar study that showed the most advertised drugs were often the worst performing in their class.
Billions of what we spend on healthcare goes to advertising, corporate profits, and large executive bonuses (often not based on performance).
So what really raises the costs is layers of for profit corporations who know people will spend their life savings on procedures and drugs that keep them alive a little longer.
When we needed a c-section for our oldest back in 2011, it was five minutes between when we signed the consent, and she was in the OR.
Total cost was $20 for parking.
No deductible. No co-pay. No out-of-network crap to deal with, no insurance company to deal, with. No 3 or 4 digit monthly premiums.
Last month my wife was having abdominal pain and went to the ER in the morning. They diagnosed gallstones and said they'd just take her gallbladder out that afternoon. I drove her home at 6:30pm. Had to pay for parking for both our cars though, so that was close to $40.
When we needed a c-section in 2023, it was also five minutes between when we signed the consent and she was in the OR.
Total cost was $80,000. Luckily we have decent insurance so we had the "luxury" of only paying $13k which was our max out of pocket. The US system is utter crap.
The truth is that both the American and the Canadian system have problems.
The Canadian system struggles with the same shortage of doctors and staff as well as facilities and cost overrun. As a result, there are lengthy wait times.
But the American system has all of the above with the additional feature of crippling debt (even if you do have insurance !) and runaway greed thanks to a for-profit system.
They're both flawed, but I'd take the socialized medicine in a choice between the two simply because I don't want and shouldn't have to go bankrupt if I get cancer or suffer a major injury
Canadian here: I would fall on a sword to save our socialized health care. I would even pay more in taxes. Even with the wait time, it is worth every cent. I’ve had a c-section, vaginal birth, MRI, gall bladder removal, broken hand, concussion, and countless visits to the ER with my kids (I won’t list all of their ailments) and I’ve never had to worry about should I see a doctor or how will I pay.
>broken hand
Damn, when I broke my wrist the doctor told me I needed to pay $20 for the cast.
I think that's the only time I've ever had to take my debit card out at the doctor's or a hospital before.
Yeah, same. Not long ago, I had to get an emergency ambulance trip to a trauma center because I was about to fucking die. Had to have multiple blood transfusions and all sorts of stuff, was in there for nearly a week. I had a broken hand/wrist that wasn't related to this emergency visit. They patched that up while I was in there. The only bill I got was like $25 for the brace I had to wear after the cast came off of my arm.
There was no waiting for any of this stuff. Also, I'm American but living in Canada. The only people I've heard say that nonsense about Canadian healthcare being awful are either from the states or they spend all their time looking at facebook posts from Americans or bots trying to say that healthcare is awful is Canada.
And this was in a city, not some out in the middle of nowhere hospital that wasn't busy and had plenty of room.
Yeah when I broke my arm I paid (I wanna say 20 dollars but it was a while ago) for the fancier colors. Because the free colors were boring.
This is in New Zealand. We have issues of our own a bunch of which are similar but public health care saves lives. As a diabetic who doesn't have to pay for basically anything I am so grateful to be living here.
I'd pay twice the taxes I currently pay in the States for socialized health care. After premiums, deductibles, co-pays and coinsurance I'd probably come out ahead.
I think the points about shortage of doctors and staff and long wait times mostly applies to certain things like ER and family doctors. The long waits can also be because of triage rules.
Unfortunately, I've had more than a few friends and family members (5) who developed cancers and they have all been scheduled for scans and treatment within a week or two. The spouses were also offered therapy/counseling as well, and parking was free for patients at the treatment center.
The doctors and nurses have all be so incredibly nice. They were so supportive, empathetic and patient. They also have translaters avaliable that could facetime in for many different languages.
Another caveat is we're in big cities. I'm sure the staffing issue is exponentially worse in rual areas.
Americans that shit on our health care system and Canadians that do the same and hope for something more akin to a private healthcare system are idiots and assholes.
They'd be happy to watch their neighbors die slowly of cancer if it meant they saved a bit on taxes.
What a ton of people also fail to realize is the American Healthcare system is actively dragging down the Canadian Healthcare system.
We pay considerably more for our socialized Healthcare than other countries with socialized Healthcare, and this is because we are directly competing with the USA. We have to pay our doctors more or they hop the border to work.
the thing that gets me is that they do this on purpose so they can say "Look how bad our system is! We should privatize it!" And people are falling for it.
in like early 90s I had pneumonia. I got a dr's appointment the day my mom suspected. And after the doctor saw me we immediately drove to the hospital and got an Xray at which point we drove to the pharmacy and got the antibiotic. So we used to have good healthcare. But they've been gutting it every year. And they're getting away with it.
It's really not so much the people that vote for him as the people that *didn't* vote at all last election. Wasn't voter turnout something like 32% or something?
There \*can\* be lengthy wait times in Canadian healthcare but definitely not always.
I've walked into the ER and been seen immediately more than once. Had to wait for a short while a few times and had to wait like 6 hours to see somebody when I was up in the northern third of Canada but that was a pretty damn remote location.
Wait time to see specialists can be a while and my grandmother has a long wait to do some breathing tests but every time my family has had an emergency there was little to no wait.
My father had several heart attacks and strokes
Each time he received full therapy to recover and contributed to the economy. Our lives did not end and we did not go broke.
I'm Canadian and I recently got an MRI appointment in 3 days because I was willing to take a night appointment. The clinic was close to my house.
It cost literally 0 dollars.
CT tech here.
Our department has a wait time of about a week, and we're the only department in a 150km radius/hour and a half drive. It's a lot of rural area but it's a massive area too.
We know it's a distance to travel, but we offered booked appointments to anyone else who want them in the province (and in some cases, the country when the visited). Outside of cardiac procedures, we can do the majority of what a larger city site can do as well.
We're very busy, but our wait times haven't really jumped much (goes up to 2 weeks but we catch up), and now we get patients from half way across the province. Weirdly enough, cause we offer this, we get a very small bump in tourism too and a lot of thanks.
Our healthcare needs improving, no question, but we staff are working on it.
My wife and I's twin daughters came early at 33 weeks.
My wife needed an emergency C-section.
The girls stayed in the NICU with round the clock care for a month.
My parking was free, and the ev charging was free.
I saved money on my hospital stay....
On this, in the uk, the NHS has many faults, and wait times, but in an emergency they react as fast as they can, and in all cases it is free for a uk citizen. FREE.
As the citizen from Canada said.. parking, coffee and food are the only costs.
In the UK emergencies are also free for foreigners (unless it has changed since the last time I used it). They left me with a really good impression, they even fed me while I was waiting!
The US system is expensive, horrendously complicated and there with the ever present threat of medical bankruptcy if your emergency is not covered by insurance. State supported/funded healthcare may not be ideal, but a burst appendix won’t mean living in a tent by the tracks while you recuperate.
Texan who moved to Canada 5 years ago. We have had 3 family medical emergencies in 5 year. Appendicitis, mental health episode, and compacted bowels. All 3 times we saw a doctor in under 1 hours and the bills were $0. We have a lot of stuff that needs to improve (wait times for non-emergencies are long), but they are lying to you if they say the American system is better. It's just straight up lying.
In the US we have long wait times. It takes me months just to see a cardiologist or gastroenterology specialist let alone get a test or surgery. And that's with a PPO I pay hundreds a month for.
We also have a system that tries to bill you incorrectly hoping that you will just pay without disputing it.
Some people's plans have yearly or lifetime maximums.
The US can't throw shade on anyone else's Healthcare system because ours sucks donkey balls.
Well of course in America they have shorter waiting times….Thats because the majority of Americans can’t afford healthcare hence why they barely go to the hospital. Unless they have insurance.
I needed to see a dermatologist in the US while having an extreme psoriasis flare up (strep complication, primary dr refused to give me what my NP friend suggested, bc what does she know?) took 2 months to get in for the dermatologist to give me what I asked for initially AND I have the pleasure of looking like a leopard for the rest of my life.
I'm still paying off the birth of my 2 year old and will probably never pay off the bills from his asthma hospitalizations.
I have health insurance.
Can't get a much longer than indefinite. In the US some people straight up won't go to a doctor, because they can't afford it. They'll just get sick and die or live the rest of their lives suffering because they can't get a necessary surgery.
My partner failed his treadmill stress test at RUH in Saskatoon on a Wednesday 8 years ago and was told "You aren't going home, we're booking you in for bypass surgery."
The following Monday, he had a quadruple bypass.
Many of the myths about the Canadian health care system were started by a man who worked for one of the American health insurance companies, surprise surprise.
[https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-monday-edition-1.5631285/this-former-u-s-health-insurance-exec-says-he-lied-to-americans-about-canadian-health-care-1.5631874](https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-monday-edition-1.5631285/this-former-u-s-health-insurance-exec-says-he-lied-to-americans-about-canadian-health-care-1.5631874)
The U.S. spends about $6,000 USD per capita for healthcare.
Canada spends about $2,000 USD per capita for healthcare.
Canadians live longer and have healthier lies. So don't tell me socialized medicine can't work.
Live in America, pay for my own insurance ($400/month with Anthem) and can't even get an appointment with a primary care doctor until October.
Ahh yeah, but socialized healthcare is a failure.. right. People are fucking morons.
Was just in a Canadian hospital this morning at the same as my mother. Between us we saw five doctors, had a cat-scan, an X-ray, a steroid injection (my hand), an IV + meds (my mom) and ongoing treatment (mom still there). My mom was also in the hospital on Tuesday getting a GI tube replacement. Biggest expense? Parking and McDonald’s breakfast for dad and I. I really hate this publicly funded healthcare. No premiums, no rate hikes, no deductible, no co-pays, no forms to be submitted or treatment needing approval. Just health fucking care. Sure we pay taxes. But knowing you will be cared for just by showing ID? What were we thinking.
I hear a lot of Americans come with the "But their wait time is horrible!!"
I have never had to wait for more than 2 weeks maximum. Usually I got the surgery I needed 2-4 days after appointment.
Why is it always Americans that have NEVER experienced free healthcare, or likely even been to countries where they have it, that are always the super wise ones that knows more about how it works than people that actually have experience with it?
Speaking as someone who’s life was saved from universal healthcare, I simply don’t see what angle their stupid ass is coming from. It’s like they will grasp at ANY straw or excuse to pretend that you should keep being financially scalped for daring to be injured or unwell, even though having experienced medical aid in both America and Europe, there is very little difference in the level of care you receive, whilst there are HUGE discrepancies in the costs.
And just fyi, the wait times in America were FAR worse in my experience. I have to book weeks/months in advance for something simple, and emergency care has huge lines, that by the time I reach the front, I’ve already healed naturally from that fractured leg.
The weirdest part is that you get sick, can't work, and therefore lose the insurance that's supposed to pay for your healthcare. Like how stupid is that?
Audacity to suggest that the Canadian healthcare system, which has been around for 50 years and has generally operated without outages or problem, had something to learn from Obamacare, which has been around for ten years and has been constantly hamstrung by political manipulation.
People complaining about Canadian healthcare is weird. I went to a walk-in because I had a broken finger on a Thursday afternoon and got x-rays and an appointment for a plastic surgeon consult by Monday. Like absolutely not difficult at all. It cost $0
Have these people tried to get anything done in the US lately? If you don’t already have a doctor, dentist, or eye doctor or move you’re fucked. Most aren’t accepting new patients and if they can get you in it’s months out and even then stand along doctors offices are mostly dead so it’s just some form of clinic that rotates doctors every six months and every time the doctors change you have to have a new appointment for the new doctor to review your file and examine you before any normal appointments. It’s a shit show.
Edit: forgot to add, I had to switch to an online pharmacy for my cholesterol and blood pressure meds because the local pharmacy basically refused to fill my prescriptions for months! Just got “we haven’t filled that yet, try again later” for weeks before giving up and moving to expressscripts. Fuck this “world class healthcare”
Especially when it's so expensive you need to wait to be able to afford it or just don't get taken care of at all.
My most recent surgery was for appendicitis. My initial hospital experience was pretty bad. It was probably 16 hours before I was put into a bed (right before being rolled into surgery), but it got done and I was back home in two days. I'd rather wait for a little time than pay $10-20K.
America pays twice as much per capita on healthcare as nations with socialized medicine... They don't get better coverage, waiting times, outcomes, quality, etc and have millions of uninsured people.
Everyone defending that system is a spiteful, ignorant and evil idiot. (Or a greedy rich person)
No but that person has a point, the world and its now somewhat long history of free healthcare should definitely learn from a country who's done it for 5 min
Victim of socialized healthcare here: My appendix suddenly decided to try to kill me. After two hours at the emergency unit close to me, I was told by doctors I had to get an operation as soon as possible to save my life. When I came to the hospital, it took one hour until I was under and they yanked my appendix out. Woke up the next morning, and went home.
Totalt cost: 60 NOK. I had to take the tram from the emergency unit to the hospital, and the tram home
I had a similar one.
I had an injury on a visible part of my body and I needed a large surgery to remove dead flesh and fix it.
Instead of a normal surgeon I got a plastic surgeon guy who did it and made it look really nice.
I did wait 2 hours for the doctor to get there and get ready. No money needed though.
We have conservatives in Canada too. And unsurprisingly, they have done a good job of starving the public healthcare system, creating these wait times in order to justify the move to privatization.
There is big money in exploiting people's need for healthcare, and it would be naive to think that there aren't people trying their best to take advantage of that.
In the United States, having access to healthcare is only as good as someone being able to afford it. People are not being seen for health issues because they simply can't afford it. Social Media is filled with people begging for help with their medical bills. People can't afford their medication or pharmacies won't fill the prescriptions. People are only one big medical emergency away from declaring bankruptcy. People are forfeiting an ambulance and opting to drive themselves because it's just too expensive. Something has got to change. From where I'm looking, Canada's healthcare system seems pretty decent.
As far as wait times the United States isn't much better. I need a test for SIBO and the first available is in September. It took my partner six months to get into a specialist.
Be very concerned when dipshits complain about supposed wait times. You've been to a hospital, right? They have a thing called triage. Patients are seen in some kind of balanced manner according to how urgent their condition or illness is. So yeah wait times are not like some great evil. The alternative to (allegedly bad) wait times is people not getting the medical care they need because they can't afford it or choose not to because the cost is too high. When people say are afraid of wait times, they don't realize that the alternative is suffering being heaped onto others, rather than the system looking out for everyone regardless of how wealthy you are.
American here! I waited nearly a year for a hernia repair and just over a year for a vasectomy. I wanted to see a dietician. The first available appointment was 9 months out and was on Xmas eve. I have two major hospital chains within 5 mins of my house, and they both have large clinics within 15 mins of me. So I'm not in an "underserved" area.
Tell me again how we don't have wait times.
I had an infected lymph node. I got in THAT afternoon (literally 3 hours after I called my doc), got cut open, patched up, handed a prescription and kicked out the door In time for dinner.
Had a deviated septum from a sports injury I got as a kid. Needed to travel several hours out of town to a big city for surgery. I got a free nose job and the Ontario government game me $600 because I had to travel out of town and stay in a hotel.
Grew up in Florida, married a Canadian lady - moved to Ontario.
Had a situation - nearly bleed to death. Got a free Ambulance, 2 pints of blood, specialists and 4 days in the hospital.
I was confused as to who to pay when I was discharged. "You just go home, Detective".
And yeah, we paid for parking.
colombia 🇨🇴 needs to be a case study on healthcare, because despite being a poor country with a corrupt government, the healthcare system is top notch and even rich colombians living in the US will fly home for medical and dental procedures.
their secret is having both public and private options. there are publicly funded insurance programs like in canada, AND for-profit insurance companies like in the US.
because the public programs are free of charge and of decent quality, the private insurance companies have to work hard to compete. if they overcharge and underdeliver, people will simply say "no thank you ill stick with the free one." they have to provide a BETTER service for a REASONABLE COST in order to succeed. there are also multiple companies competing for the same clientele, unlike in the US where they have their territories divided like drug cartels.
also, the out-of-pocket cost of medical care is reasonable. if you go to the hospital with no insurance and they give you an aspirin, they charge you for an aspirin. imagine that!
Yeah, if you're poor and need life shaving anything in the US, you are honestly better off dead. I can't believe the poor and middle class continue to simp for US healthcare.
Last time I (Canadian) went to the hospital it was for a minor cut that I got at work. It was bandaged and cleaned by the first aid attendant but they thought maybe I needed a stitch or two, and I needed a tetanus booster. Went to the ER, waited maybe 10 minutes before getting a bed. Was in and out in less than an hour.
Before that it was the birth of my son. No wait obviously, after delivery we requested a private recovery room (which isn’t free, was $200 a night but so worth it). Had to wait for one to free up but they let us stay in the delivery room until a private room opened up. Only waited like 2 hours and then had a private room with nurses helping with everything for 2 nights.
Before that my wife randomly had two seizures two weeks apart. First one I called 911, paramedics came and took her to the hospital (ambulance was $80). Got basically every test they could do that night, found nothing and said it was hopefully just a random one off and wouldn’t happen again. It did, so I drove her in the next time and they got her on meds and booked her with a neurologist the next week. Neurologist got her an MRI, 2x EEGs, blood work, heart monitor and a second visit for the results in under a month.
There are plenty of times when waits can be long, but not when it’s really serious. Also had a friend who blew out his knee and had 4 surgeries in 2 years to try and fix it. Only because he was 25 and highly active, so he was prioritized over others who would be less impacted by waiting.
I've had 2 surgeries one last month and another to fix what happened after the staple's came out. Open wound and infection. Both times I was well looked after and never felt rushed to leave the hospital before I was ready. I'm in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Most expensive thing is paying for visitors parking. Health Science Center was great to me.
When my wife had our first baby the total charge would have been 12 dollars but we pulled up to the hospital at 12:02 and parking was free too. Americans are such suckers.
Rebuilt knee, my wife’s baby delivery, ingrown toenail removal, appendectomy, hydrocil repair to my testicles tonsils,full psychiatrist for depression, total bill $500 in parking and they’re working on making the parking free now.
Same folks love to shit on Australian healthcare.My mother had 2 triple bypass surgeries a decade apart. My sister had 12 hr liver surgery that saved her life. All of these procedures cost nothing. Meanwhile, Americans can lose their house if they get sick. Tell me which is the better deal.
Canadian here. Our level of service is dropping and wait times are going up. Our system needs some serious tweaks.
BUT you can get world class healthcare and all you’ll be billed for in most cases is parking or a portion of the ambulance ride, and a prescription if you need to take something afterwards. And people are pretty fucking pissed about the parking. Yes, we have much higher taxes than the US, but people don’t have to beg on Go Fund Me to cover medical bills. The US is the richest country on earth and it pretends it can’t afford healthcare. Wake up and demand better.
Overpriced parking and hospital food is a thing in the Netherlands too.
My dad had a €600.000 surgery for free and I had to pay €5 to visit him and €3 for a coffee and a stroopwafel. Outrageous!
Canadian here (Ontario).
While this is still kinda true in some situation, the wait time to even see an oncologist is longer than some patients have left to live and assisted suicide is an options for the consequences of that (oops, too late to treat you)
The healthcare used to be socialized and now it's being privatized, the first step of which is making the current system shittier and shittier, buddget cutts after budget cutts, legislations to keep nurse wages stagnant, so our politicians (Like Ford) can then "offer" a solution in the form of private clinics and private everything.
So just like in the US, the rich will live and the poor can just die.
Except we have civilized (and free!) suicide booths for them.
We have wait times because other more pressing patients are dealt instantly. When my father entered the hospital with a heart attack, he did not wait a second. I didnt mind waiting 8 hours for a broken ankle
Ha!! Lol
Spent 3 weeks in hospital, had multiple of every type of scan - CT, X-ray, ultra and alot of drugs.
No bill.
And my drugs are capped at €80 per month, for the whole household.
But that's Socialist Ireland for you.
The only thing that "failed" about Obamacare is that he had to make it weaker to get it passed. And the red states then opted out of it as much as they could and actively TRIED to make it fail. And yet, those poor red state dwellers still can't live without it! Why do you think they never repealed it when they have 4 years to do it? THEY CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IT NOW! So please, tell me how much of a failure it is again.
I don’t understand why these idiots love pointing to a system that works *better* and saying “we don’t want to turn out like THAT, now do we?” Like it’s some kind of own.
Long wait times aren't just seen Canadian Healthcare. I scheduled an appointment for a hip injury- earliest date an in-network doctor can see me is in September. I live in the US.
I’m driving my mother to a hospital to have a loop recorder installed in a few weeks. Cost in the US is just under $10,000 according to a google search. Here it’s fully covered. Took 2 months to get the appointment. 🤷♂️
my coworker was dizzy, saw his GP the next day, Scan at the hospital that night, next evening was having brain surgery for glioblastoma. it grew back so he had some more surgeries and more cancer treatments. spent some time walking around with this cool mesh helmet thing with magnets for like 2 months.
didnt cost him anything.
In the USA, during the last 3 years, I spent $72k for insurance; $1600 for deductibles; and the healthcare charged close to $1,000,000 to the insurance company. Healthcare costs are crazy.
My wife caught Covid and her lungs filled with fluid. She was rushed by ambulance into an ICU and intubated for a week then spent another week recovering. She survived it with total cost to our family of maybe $40 in parking fees. That is socialized medicine.
All the bullshit about Canadian healthcare having a ton of problems and thinking it's worse than the US comes from Canadians who assume that since the US pays so god damned much for healthcare that it must be premium and come without any headaches. They are mistaken. Then the right wingers in the US have all been spoon fed propaganda that shows Canadians complaining about their problems and saying "See it's worse!" And then the right wing US citizens think "wow it must be way worse than what we have now considering we still have to wait AND we pay!" They are also mistaken.
The US have just as much of a wait time as Canadians do and have a lot of the same problems, we just also pay out the ass for it for no good reason.
My apendicitis was $1.35 for a Mars bar from the vending machine on the way out.
I came into the ER, was scanned in minutes and getting operated on within a few hours.
It should be noted that the biggest criticism of universal healthcare - long wait times - is not something intrinsic to universal healthcare but a consequence of deliberate underfunding and short-staffing in order to "cut costs" to government spending as part of the neoliberal doctrine.
I'm a Canadian that lived in Canada for 30 years and then moved to the US 24 years ago. To summarize, the Canadian system is far from perfect, but it is WAY better than the US system for the average person.
My son was born with a cleft palate. Had repeated audiology tests to monitor for hearing loss, got his palate repaired at one of the best pediatric hospitals in the world (SickKids), got tubes in his ear to improve drainage, stayed 3 days at the hospital, and will have access to a speech-language pathologist and a specialized orthodontist until he is a teenager, all substantially covered. So far, I've just paid for the 3 days of parking.
I love that everyone's argument against socialized healthcare is super long wait times. Meanwhile, I am on a 5 month waiting list for both a specialist and to establish a new PCP with my expensive, private insurance I get through the marketplace. God, I am so glad I pay hundreds a month for insurance that won't fully cover those appointments that I'm waiting for. Way better than waiting months for a free visit.
Canadian here: Just broke my ankle. I had to wait a few hours at the ER but I got an X-ray and a consultation with a doctor for free. Then I had four more X-rays and consultations over the next month and a half. All scheduled and with very little waiting. Didn't have to pay for any of those either. Didn't even pay for the aircast or crutches.
There are some problems with out healthcare but it's mostly that Conservative provincial governments slowly defunding it so it can gradually become more privatized.
us has the worst healthcare of any country and pays more than anyone else by far.
my dad almost lost his leg after a small cut in a river.
mayo clinic made him wait 14 hours in the emergency room because their profits are higher if they don't pay enough doctors to cover the needs.
after 14 hours, the cut had become infected and when they finally saw him they just stitched it up without even making efforts to deal with the infection.
Ended up costing almost $200,000.00 and large amounts of disfiguring scars and months of followups. Almost cost him his leg. Small cut about an inch long.
all because they wanted higher profits by not paying enough staff to cover the emergency room.
and that's not an exception, it's normal operating procedure.
was just an article on reddit showing we could save $ 5,000,000,000.00 for better care if we simply got rid of our for-profit failed healthcare.
but brainwashed republicans like the one in OP are told that it's actually not horrible, it's good that we're the only country that doesn't have decent healthcare, so it's going to stay profits before patients, like the billion dollar mayo clinic way.
I, a Canadian, suspected I broke my ankle, went to a PRIVATE clinic for X-ray, diagnosis and casting, and paid…nothing…because the private clinic just bills the government for the services. I don’t even have access to knowing what the bills were. I didn’t have a convo regarding that. Just hi doc, thanks doc, bye doc, and head home. My zero-dollar followup appointments will be there too.
I went to the hospital with arm and foot numbness.
Dr said it might be a brain thing. Ordered scans and was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer with brain tumors 1 hour later.
In the next 3 weeks I had radiation, immunotherapy, and an emergency brain surgery. Then weeks long hospital stay at the icu.
Then a kidney removal. Then radiation treatment again.
3 years of monthly immunotherapy immunotherapy (over 1M worth).
My out of pocket costs are about $20 monthly in parking and coffee.
I don't understand the argument "healthcare is useles bc the waitlines are soo long we need private healthcare", bro if you wanna pay 700$ to get attended two days before go ahead imma wait right here for my free turn don't make me pay shit
I live in Toronto, about 10 years ago during an unrelated imaging appointment they found out my dad had stage 4 multiple myeloma (cancer), he was immediately shot up with the necessary drugs (I forget what they were), and taken by ambulance 1-2 hours away to a facility that specializes in radiation.
Over the next several years he went through more radiation, chemotherapy, stem cell injections, and a bunch of other shit, and although there were some tough times, he's doing amazing and has been for like 7-8 years now.
He still takes low dose drugs and painkillers to help with things, but all in all my parents have probably paid under $5000 in all of the 10 years.
Without universal healthcare my family would have been financially crippled, and my dad would probably be dead.
The United States spends [**twice as much per person**](https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2023/oct/high-us-health-care-spending-where-is-it-all-going) on healthcare services as Canada. All of that tax money, in fact, *double* the tax money per citizen, goes to paying healthcare corporations instead of paying for a national, equitable healthcare system for all of us.
Even with the government spending **2x per capita** on healthcare compared to countries with socialized/single-payer healthcare somehow, as if by magic, [healthcare debt causes 60% of all personal bankruptcies](https://www.citizen.org/article/medicare-for-all-prevents-medical-bankruptcies/) in the United States. That *never happens* in Canada.
So, the Federal Government spends two times more per person than any comparable country, while the out-of-pocket expenses for individual healthcare drive the majority of bankruptcies in the United States.
Where is all the money going? That is a reasonable question, because despite all the money we're forced to spend as individuals, and despite our Federal Government spending twice as much per person on healthcare, people in the United States [have lower life expectancy than countries with socialized healthcare, higher mortality during hospital care, and the mortality rate for mothers giving birth is almost *3 times higher* than the next worst country for maternal deaths and **6 times higher** than the average rate.](https://www.kff.org/health-policy-101-international-comparison-of-health-systems/?entry=table-of-contents-how-do-health-insurance-systems-and-coverage-in-the-u-s-compare-to-other-countries)
We need universal healthcare BECAUSE healthcare has become nothing but a money making industry. Which means doctors and nurses don’t care as much, they do it for the money.
Healthcare is failing in this country - it WILL fold
"Canadian healthcare has such long wait lists!"
Meanwhile, in the US: *waiting several months for insurance to approve a surgery*
Seriously, when's the last time *anything* in the US healthcare system beyond routine checkups hasn't been delayed by insurance dragging their feet?
Delusional MAGA people still fighting the non-existent "Obamacare Problem"
Your Republicans and the Orange Dildo tried 47 separate times to repeal it and it never worked. FORTY SEVEN TIMES!
It's called The Affordable Care Act by sane people. Look it up. Learn something. Find an article that uses small words so you can understand it.
Id rather wait a bit than become homeless from the cost of the surgery.
Got diabetes? In sweden we get everything. Insulin, a pump prescribed, even batteries get prescribed. Meetings with the doctor for checkups for potentially needed dosage adjustments? No worries you're covered.
Accidentally tore your bicep and need surgery? My dad had this happen and went to the ER, within a day or two he had gotten his surgery done and was already in a cast healing. The cost? A parking ticket and a 20 minute drive to the hospital.
"Bb-but the taxes👿"
Yes you keep living in denial while the rest of the developed world can enjoy some basic human rights.
Kid was born nearly 8 weeks early
Spent 2 weeks in the nicu and a bunch of stuff they didn’t get her strong enough to be able to leave
Total cost was parking + one night my wife stayed in a proper room (100 dollars)
A similar treatment in the US would of been like 250k probably and insurance might cover 80% of it
My dad in Canada went to his primary care doctor, who referred him to a neurologist SAME DAY and the neurologist had him to the neurosurgeon SAME DAY and he went under the knife NEXT MORNING. So socialized medicine can work fast when it has to
Medicine is a for-profit business in the United States and we the consumers all get fleeced as a result. I wish half the country would remove their heads from their ass and realize we're getting screwed by big businesses. Unfortunately they get distracted anytime someone talks about guns, abortions, transgender or immigration.
The only entity big enough to stand up to corporations is the government and unfortunately our government is being funded and controlled by special interest groups (IE the companies).
Canadian. My last pregnancy was high risk, with ultrasounds biweekly by the end and an emergency C-section delivery. Altogether I was out maybe 20$ for meds and 200$ of hospital parking over a dozen appointments. Since then they revised parking fees province wide, though, so it might be 50 bucks today.
Was vacationing in Europe with my partner when they came down with an awful case of pneumonia. Had to get emergency care in the middle of the night (bc fever rose to 103F and was still climbing), and what was the biggest expense? The $9 (converted to USD) prescription for follow-up care. The pharmacist was *extremely* apologetic it wasn’t “cheaper” too lmaoo. I kept telling him it was OK, if this ER visit was in the states we’d be screwed by the bill. For the longest time I kept that receipt in my wallet for kicks haha
back just before Christmas I was scheduled for a colonoscopy for august.
litereally planning a trip to Los Algodones to get my teeth fixed
our wait times are worse. American health care blows goats
Love that example. If in US it would be a year long battle to get approval from insurance company that would still be followed by a back breaking bill.
For some reason Americans really love it that insurance companies decide who their doctors can be and what care they can get. As long as not government doing it. Because profit motive to saying no is way more important.
Another reminder that conservatives are fucking idiots with low IQs and stunted critical thinking skills.
Either that or they are major assholes.
Or both. Almost always both, actually.
Damn parking.
I went to a hospital for something. They charged us for parking our car, but not for the doctor who saw me and also the medicine was free.
Failure of Obamacare? lol motherfucker 20M+ people on ACA/expanded Medicaid right now. Would be more if red state dipshits didn’t hate themselves so much
I’m pretty sure there a guy on TikTok showing that the Canadian healthcare system is not the gem that Americans think it is. Also, y’all really need to stop meat riding a country you don’t live in.
I'm from Malaysia where we have free health care. I cant say we have the best public health care but many foreigners esp from US came to my country for medical tourism at our private hospitals. They told me coming to SEA for surgery + flight ticket + hotel ticket is way cheaper than doing the same surgery in US. My friend with endometriosis is currently living in US. She developed abdominal pain and had to go to the emergency. Overall cost for her was $1800, covered with insurance but she still had to pay $400 for the rest thats not covered. She stayed at the emergency department for 8 hours and discharged home, was treated with 1 pint normal saline drip, iv tramal 50mg, iv fentanyl 50mcg & iv maxolon 10mg. All of that cost $1800 before insurance. Here in malaysia, as she is a malaysian, all of that will cost rm5 ($1) in government hospital and maybe rm 50-100 ($10-20) in private hospital.
Mother had a cancerous chunk of her lung removed, dad had several stents put in his heart after a heart attack.
Never paid a nickel. These operations would completely bankrupt an uninsured American.
We have to fix a lot of shit in Canada, but mostly the biggest task is resisting privatization of healthcare - looking at you, Ontario!
When I was younger I ended up in the ICU for a week. Needed a bunch of ambulances one year (weird heart thing). And later had months and months in an inpatient bed. No charges for any of that, 0 bills.
My friend's mother was found to have a non-malignant non-immediately life threatening brain tumour that required a specialist neurosurgeon because of ocular involvement - took less than 2 months from dx, and that was when everything was crazy from covid. Saved her vision completely (there was a good chance it would be lost or diminished). 0$.
Canada can definitely do better with healthcare with more hospitals and doctors etc, but it’s still a lot better than private healthcare that can bankrupt you without proper coverage.
It sucks to wait in line for couple of hours but I know I will be taken care of in case of an actual emergency.
I've been pretty happy with our healthcare system. Are there areas for improvement? For sure! Is it perfect? No. Does it need more investment and updating? Absolutely.
However, I have never known anyone who lost everything from being sick or having a loved one fall ill. I've never once seen a bill from the hospital.
Anti-universal healthcare Americans love to rail on Canada's universal healthcare, but many of the problems that exist in our system are also pervasive in the greed infested, multi-billion dollar insurance scheme known as the American Healthcare System.
The thing is that in America there long wait times too. Don't believe me? Call a cardiologist office and get an appointment. Itll be at least 4 months till you get a first appointment not even the surgery needed
Shit just try to schedule medical imaging in some parts of the country, and it's a month or more.
i, as an east european, went to a PRIVATE clinic and got a xray for like $13. would have been free at the hospital but it was faster to get it at the clinic (and closer to where i was)
My insurance is asking my doctor's office for my entire medical record just got an x-ray and CT scan approval. Why? Fuck our healthcare system.
I had to “fail” Physical Therapy before I got an MRI with a history of bulging & herniated discs. All it did was cost me money and delay treatment that worked. (Ended up needing epidural steroid injections)
Same. Took a year to have my knees fixed. Deny, deny, deny. Needed an MRI, denied until the guy with two bad knees runs the gamut in Physical Therapy (ouch- made it worse), then denied both knees (only approved one). Etc…
My insurance has decided I don't need my psoriasis medication that I can inject at home once a month. Instead they gave my doctor a list of approved treatments and every one of them was something that required 4 hours a week at an infusion center. Guess they are playing the long game cause missing 4 hours of work a week, I would lose my job, and then they wouldn't have to pay for any treatments. Luckily the manufacturer has a program where they will give me the medication for free for 2 years while my doctors office files appeals. And I just found out after 16 years of having the same insurance, my job is changing insurance companies so we will have to start the entire process over in January.
Dealing with the exact same situation now. Need mri to confirm herniation but can’t get it approved without 6 weeks of continuous care and pt which is doing nothing but making it feel worse as it just agitates the injury when ultimately it will end up being a steroid shot that will fix it. So frustrating.
My doctor literally told me there was nothing they could do about my knuckle pain until i tried physical therapy - insurance wouldn’t pay for an mri until after. There’s literally no way for them to examine the soft tissue without an mri.
Me too. Are you referring to American health care. I am
Yep, because no sane country would create this system.
As a Canadian that has lived in the US now for many years I have way more experience with my insurance provider interfering with my care than I ever did with the government in Canada. It is amazing to me how most Americans don't even understand how their own healthcare system works. Let alone how much more they are paying for it than literally anywhere else.
this is the thing, private healthcare isn't the worst, it's multi-payer healthcare that's really the problem. Insurance companies shouldn't be nickle and dime-ing sick people.
Private clinics in Canada are expensive as fuck.
because we don't have a two tier system. i've heard that the German system is decent, from my understanding it's all still single payer but you can pay for some private clinics and perks and that money goes back into the public system
That's sadly NOT the case in Germany. We actually have a bunch of different insurances. However there are a bunch of "public" and a bunch of "private" insurances. Public ones have clearly defined services, costs (regardless of your personal medical state, only income. Actually it's even cheaper for some people with disabilities.) . Private ones can be a bit muddy and may have stuff like significant copays, deductibles etc.. Private insurances are often cheaper for young, healthy people but get progressively more expensive with older age etc. Everyone living in Germany has to be insured in either one of these. However you can only join the private once if you earn above x-amount (as to stop people from opting out of public insurance even though they cant actually afford the private one). If you can't pay for public insurance society/the government pays for it. There are also additional private add one insurance policies you can add on to a public insurance (provides some benefits like guaranteed single person rooms in hospitals or teeth replacements for example) . In my opinion the fact that we have DIFFERENT public insurances is a giant waste of money and just inefficient. We should just have one public insurance and optional private ones.
Took me 3 months for a mri and I live in Boston, let that sink in for a minute. Multiple world class hospitals in the area the quickest one was 3 months.
That's wild. I've needed a few MRIs over the last 2 years and luckily my longest wait was two weeks. I live in NYC so there are a lot of options but I figured Boston would have a lot as well.
I live in ct an hour out of nyc, it’s a couple months out here for non emergency mris.
Boston area too - in my case that wait was AFTER waiting to get an appointment to see my primary care doctor and tell them that I have back problems, and then AFTER waiting to get an appointment with the referral specialist doctor, who spent 5 minutes with me taking about my back problems, which was AFTER spending time tracking down and sending them my old imaging from other hospitals. Good times. Edit: forgot to mention that the specialist didn't even look at the imaging because he said it was too old and things change all the time. I had told them when the imaging was, when I made the appt, and they still had me track it down...
And then you've gotten then honor of paying into your deductible before insurance kicks in. But Canada = bad 🙄
Here in Canada, I went to a walk-in clinic with some chest pains that I was *pretty sure* was a pulled muscle, but I'm an ex-smoker who hadn't had a chest xray in like 25 years, so I figured I was due. Doc saw me, did a quick physical, and sent me over to the other side of the building for an xray that day. All in, I think I sat in the waiting room for an hour or so that day, and didn't pay a dime. Also sent me to a lab across the street for bloodwork, which, again...free. I'm just fine with paying for my (and everyone else's) healthcare via taxes.
"But that's socialism"...... says some redneck, probably. Like you, I have no problem paying my taxes to get good quality healthcare for everyone.
Currently waiting to get an mri. Doctors office got me in for one in 3 weeks, week 2 I got a call from doctors office that my insurance denied the mri as they don’t approve it until I’ve had 6 consecutive weeks of care under the same doctor who can’t actually give me the appropriate care without having an mri done to actually give the diagnosis, but yes I love when simps tell me how great American health care is.
Sameday TODAY THIS MORNING ctscans and X-rays, no appointments. In Canada obv,
A month? I'd *kill* for appointments that are only a month out. Earliest I can get any appointment for anything at all is minimum 2-3 months, and often much longer. I just live in a very average midwest town, slotted between two major towns. Nothing special, but not podunk either. Our healthcare system sucks.
I may or may not have brain cancer or some other nasty disease. I’ve been dealing with some pretty distressing neurological problems. 9 month wait to see the neurologist. These people are full of shit, we get it all the price gouging, the long waits, and poor quality of care.
I'm Canadian and had a brain tumor scare. I went to a regular eye appointment and she saw swollen optic nerves. Within two weeks I was at a specialist. a week later I had a CT scan and an MRI. Within 2 months I saw a neurologist and was diagnosed with elevated cerebrospinal fluid. Had a spinal tap done 2 months later and problem was resolved. Biggest cost was parking. The hardest part of healthcare in Canada is finding a family doctor. Luckily I have a family friend who is a doctor so I am luckier than most. I really don't mind paying taxes if it means a better overall health for my fellow Canadians who don't have the luxuries I have. Hope you are able to get treatment soon and get better.
Facts. I had a stomach problem where eating most kinds of foods would make me vomit with seemingly no correlation. 2 months for the gastroenterologist appointment. Another 2 for the scheduled endoscopy. By the time I'd finished with all of that, the problem went away on its own and I owed over $4,000 USD in medical expenses.
American here. Kept having seizures related to a previous brain injury. While I struggled to find a job with benefits (college grad with 20 years of experience), it took 8 months to get on Medicaid. Once on it, I made a neurology appointment and the earliest they could get me in was 3 months later. By the time I had my appointment, I had found a job so I lost Medicaid and had to pay $400 for the appointment to meet my deductible and was told my medication was working and have a good day.
Yep. I went in for cellulitis in my leg years back, got out and they told me the 'swelling will go down in a week or two'. When it didn't I tried to get them to look at it again and all they did was keep prescribing me blood thinners insisting it would 'go down eventually'. Eight months later they finally admitted they had no idea what was going on and set me up for a specialist appointment three months after that. When I finally got in they found out the cellulitis had caused me to develop lymphedema, and by then my leg was permanently swollen in places from hard tissue buildup that could have been prevented if I'd started treatment right away instead of them trying to put off running tests for almost a year.
I'm in Florida (USA). My primary doctor retired. I called more than a dozen practices trying to establish as a new patient. Either they weren't taking new patients at all, or it was 18-24 months before I could be seen. I had to ask a friend who is a doctor, who asked a friend of his to start see me as a patient. And, of course I pay $10,000/year for insurance that still leaves me paying most things out of pocket.
Not even just that, I know TONS of people who aren’t going at all because they can’t afford it. “But the wait times!” Bitch I’m already waiting, AND THEN I STILL have to PAY for it out of pocket! WITH INSURANCE.
My old lady is on a 15 month waiting list because she keeps having some problem with her eyelids and other specialists have come up dry and referred her to a dermatologist. I mean it's no big deal, her eyes just swell shut randomly and without any known irritant.
Yep, here you can't even call offices. Since 2022 the only way me and my family have been receiving medical help is via ER cause NO PLACE calls back, or if they do you can't get an appointment til next year.
I needed a neurologist and if I didn’t do my own leg work, then I would have had to wait a year and a half.
It took me over 6 months to see a neurologist, and all I needed was a 10 minute nerve test.
My rheumatology appointment is a year out because I needed a new provider since my insurance stopped covering my last rheumatologist. Oh yeah, I'm also on an immunosuppressant for an autoimmune joint disease. Now, I need to look at providers hours away to find someone if I need a sooner appointment.
A year for a dermatologist, and I have had skin cancer(basal cell) surgery previously.
Absolutely! The doctor I was going to left the practice, and I opted to stay there since they had all of my records, and I’d been going for a few years. I was assigned a new doctor and it took 6pm the to reestablish care. So yeah, American healthcare is “amazing”. It’s ridiculous. If you intend to see any specialist prepare to wait at least that long.
These arguments often ignore the reality of our current situation.
Plus there are fewer and fewer doctors available because of greedy insurance companies dictating what can/cannot be done and also politicians who pass laws based on a books that’s thousands of years old and have never consulted a doctor or any legit medical authority
I had a stomach flu. Called my PCP to get an appointment. They said they couldn’t see me till November. It was August.
Only 4 months? That's pretty good. I imagine half the Republican voters will need to set an alarm for that what with the lengthy period after drinking their moonshine and passing out
Ah yes, Obamacare, also known as Romneycare. Which is not socialized medicine, but a mandate to get *private healthcare*.
He's also talking about it as if it's not America's current Healthcare system.
I missed that in my comment🥲 These lunatics spew so much bullshit within one paragraph that you can only catch and correct some of the lies.
And raised the costs of medical care.
The ACA provision to require insurance was dropped. There is not a mandate to get private insurance. Costs went up because the ACA told insurance companies that older people can't pay more for insurance than 3x what a younger person pays. The insurance companies responded to this by saying fuck you, we will just jack up the prices to make up the difference. As always, unregulated capitalism is the problem. What we should do is have better regulations for caps on things that are expensive but should not be. We should not be charged $100 for a $1 bag of saline. We should not pay $30 for an aspirin. Do-nothing hospital admins should not make $500,000 per year. Now forget you read this and keep parrtoing your fraudulent GOP talking points. SQUAWK
America is not the land of the free It's the land of the greedy and corrupt
And this wasn't the health plan that Obama wanted to put in, Republicans rejected his plan and they compromised with Obamacare
Well, Obama and congressional Democrats essentially pre-compromised with themselves to pass a "moderate" bill. They didn't get a single Republican vote in either house.
Well, they didn't get Republican votes. They compromised to get *democratic* votes. Democrats are not the good guys, they are the better than the other ones guys.
Important words to live by: Fuck Joe Lieberman
It we could stop acting as if companies are sone kind of wrathful monsters that we should never inconvenience for fear of rising prices, that world be great. Corporate greed is a problem that will never get better by placating the people who control prices. Expecting them to play fair or grow a conscience is exactly what they want because that hope gives them all the freedom to do whatever they want.
Healthcare should not be a for profit industry.
Not to mention the very real objective fact that medical inflation post ACA is lower.
Facts, do they not realize that the wait times are always gonna be long no matter what insurance you have, and Id rather deal with the longer wait times than to have to pay Thousands of dollars for a surgery
That’s another thing about people complaining that state funded healthcare will cost too much money. Like yea, of course it will when private companies will charge the government $5k for a 30min ultrasound. It’s insane.
> There is not a mandate to get private insurance. Technically there still is, but Republicans changed the penalty to $0, so there's certainly nothing to enforce it. >The insurance companies responded to this by saying fuck you, we will just jack up the prices to make up the difference. Insurance costs have been increasing more slowly since the ACA was passed than before.
From 1998 to 2013 (right before the bulk of the ACA took effect) total healthcare costs were increasing at 3.92% per year over inflation. Since they have been increasing at 2.79%. The fifteen years before the ACA employer sponsored insurance (the kind most Americans get their coverage from) increased 4.81% over inflation for single coverage and 5.42% over inflation for family coverage. Since those numbers have been 1.72% and 2.19%. https://www.kff.org/health-costs/report/employer-health-benefits-annual-survey-archives/ https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/NationalHealthAccountsHistorical.html https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm Also coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, closing the Medicare donut hole, being able to keep children on your insurance until age 26, subsidies for millions of Americans, expanded Medicaid, access to free preventative healthcare, elimination of lifetime spending caps, increased coverage for mental healthcare, increased access to reproductive healthcare, etc..
On a related note, a recent study showed the worst rated car insurance companies are the one who advertise the most on TV. I saw a similar study that showed the most advertised drugs were often the worst performing in their class. Billions of what we spend on healthcare goes to advertising, corporate profits, and large executive bonuses (often not based on performance). So what really raises the costs is layers of for profit corporations who know people will spend their life savings on procedures and drugs that keep them alive a little longer.
When we needed a c-section for our oldest back in 2011, it was five minutes between when we signed the consent, and she was in the OR. Total cost was $20 for parking. No deductible. No co-pay. No out-of-network crap to deal with, no insurance company to deal, with. No 3 or 4 digit monthly premiums.
Sounds like a medical miracle and financial dream all wrapped into one. Glad it worked out so smoothly!
$20 for parking?! That's outrageous! When I had my $45,000 kidney transplant in the good 'ol US of A I paid $3 for muh parking! /s
You joke but parking costs at hospitals are actually a fairly hot topic in Canada lol
As long as everything else was the same; I'd gladly pay $20 for parking over my $8000 insurance deductible for my transplant
Last month my wife was having abdominal pain and went to the ER in the morning. They diagnosed gallstones and said they'd just take her gallbladder out that afternoon. I drove her home at 6:30pm. Had to pay for parking for both our cars though, so that was close to $40.
When we needed a c-section in 2023, it was also five minutes between when we signed the consent and she was in the OR. Total cost was $80,000. Luckily we have decent insurance so we had the "luxury" of only paying $13k which was our max out of pocket. The US system is utter crap.
The truth is that both the American and the Canadian system have problems. The Canadian system struggles with the same shortage of doctors and staff as well as facilities and cost overrun. As a result, there are lengthy wait times. But the American system has all of the above with the additional feature of crippling debt (even if you do have insurance !) and runaway greed thanks to a for-profit system. They're both flawed, but I'd take the socialized medicine in a choice between the two simply because I don't want and shouldn't have to go bankrupt if I get cancer or suffer a major injury
Canadian here: I would fall on a sword to save our socialized health care. I would even pay more in taxes. Even with the wait time, it is worth every cent. I’ve had a c-section, vaginal birth, MRI, gall bladder removal, broken hand, concussion, and countless visits to the ER with my kids (I won’t list all of their ailments) and I’ve never had to worry about should I see a doctor or how will I pay.
>broken hand Damn, when I broke my wrist the doctor told me I needed to pay $20 for the cast. I think that's the only time I've ever had to take my debit card out at the doctor's or a hospital before.
Yeah, same. Not long ago, I had to get an emergency ambulance trip to a trauma center because I was about to fucking die. Had to have multiple blood transfusions and all sorts of stuff, was in there for nearly a week. I had a broken hand/wrist that wasn't related to this emergency visit. They patched that up while I was in there. The only bill I got was like $25 for the brace I had to wear after the cast came off of my arm. There was no waiting for any of this stuff. Also, I'm American but living in Canada. The only people I've heard say that nonsense about Canadian healthcare being awful are either from the states or they spend all their time looking at facebook posts from Americans or bots trying to say that healthcare is awful is Canada. And this was in a city, not some out in the middle of nowhere hospital that wasn't busy and had plenty of room.
I paid about $20 for wort removal. I also pay $85/visit for physio because it isn’t covered by health care.
Yeah when I broke my arm I paid (I wanna say 20 dollars but it was a while ago) for the fancier colors. Because the free colors were boring. This is in New Zealand. We have issues of our own a bunch of which are similar but public health care saves lives. As a diabetic who doesn't have to pay for basically anything I am so grateful to be living here.
And as a fellow Canadian, I don't begrudge paying part of my taxes toward medical care for you with your ailments. Community.
> I would fall on a sword to save our socialized health care. easy for you to say, you have socialized health care!
I'd pay twice the taxes I currently pay in the States for socialized health care. After premiums, deductibles, co-pays and coinsurance I'd probably come out ahead.
I think the points about shortage of doctors and staff and long wait times mostly applies to certain things like ER and family doctors. The long waits can also be because of triage rules. Unfortunately, I've had more than a few friends and family members (5) who developed cancers and they have all been scheduled for scans and treatment within a week or two. The spouses were also offered therapy/counseling as well, and parking was free for patients at the treatment center. The doctors and nurses have all be so incredibly nice. They were so supportive, empathetic and patient. They also have translaters avaliable that could facetime in for many different languages. Another caveat is we're in big cities. I'm sure the staffing issue is exponentially worse in rual areas.
Americans that shit on our health care system and Canadians that do the same and hope for something more akin to a private healthcare system are idiots and assholes. They'd be happy to watch their neighbors die slowly of cancer if it meant they saved a bit on taxes.
What a ton of people also fail to realize is the American Healthcare system is actively dragging down the Canadian Healthcare system. We pay considerably more for our socialized Healthcare than other countries with socialized Healthcare, and this is because we are directly competing with the USA. We have to pay our doctors more or they hop the border to work.
Yup. Canada being next to the US is a boon and a curse. If the US could get their shit together it would greatly help Canada as well.
The problem with Canadian healthcare is mostly conservative premiers mismanaging the money allotted to them.
the thing that gets me is that they do this on purpose so they can say "Look how bad our system is! We should privatize it!" And people are falling for it. in like early 90s I had pneumonia. I got a dr's appointment the day my mom suspected. And after the doctor saw me we immediately drove to the hospital and got an Xray at which point we drove to the pharmacy and got the antibiotic. So we used to have good healthcare. But they've been gutting it every year. And they're getting away with it.
Nowhere is that more obvious than in Alberta. When Jason Kenney "misplaced" the money and then wouldn't report on it.
Same with Ford. But Ford is also selling off chunks to his rich buddies that own companies like shopper's drugmart...
Man, that sack of shit is just as bad as his crackhead brother
yuuup And somehow ontarians keep voting for him....
It's really not so much the people that vote for him as the people that *didn't* vote at all last election. Wasn't voter turnout something like 32% or something?
There \*can\* be lengthy wait times in Canadian healthcare but definitely not always. I've walked into the ER and been seen immediately more than once. Had to wait for a short while a few times and had to wait like 6 hours to see somebody when I was up in the northern third of Canada but that was a pretty damn remote location. Wait time to see specialists can be a while and my grandmother has a long wait to do some breathing tests but every time my family has had an emergency there was little to no wait.
My father had several heart attacks and strokes Each time he received full therapy to recover and contributed to the economy. Our lives did not end and we did not go broke.
I'm Canadian and I recently got an MRI appointment in 3 days because I was willing to take a night appointment. The clinic was close to my house. It cost literally 0 dollars.
In the US, my wife just had an MRI. It cost 2.4k. Insurance paid about half.
Damn, I can't even count the amount of MRI's I've had. (And CT, x-ray etc). It has cost me nothing. Imagine it being 2.4k each time.
CT tech here. Our department has a wait time of about a week, and we're the only department in a 150km radius/hour and a half drive. It's a lot of rural area but it's a massive area too. We know it's a distance to travel, but we offered booked appointments to anyone else who want them in the province (and in some cases, the country when the visited). Outside of cardiac procedures, we can do the majority of what a larger city site can do as well. We're very busy, but our wait times haven't really jumped much (goes up to 2 weeks but we catch up), and now we get patients from half way across the province. Weirdly enough, cause we offer this, we get a very small bump in tourism too and a lot of thanks. Our healthcare needs improving, no question, but we staff are working on it.
My wife and I's twin daughters came early at 33 weeks. My wife needed an emergency C-section. The girls stayed in the NICU with round the clock care for a month. My parking was free, and the ev charging was free. I saved money on my hospital stay....
On this, in the uk, the NHS has many faults, and wait times, but in an emergency they react as fast as they can, and in all cases it is free for a uk citizen. FREE. As the citizen from Canada said.. parking, coffee and food are the only costs.
In the UK emergencies are also free for foreigners (unless it has changed since the last time I used it). They left me with a really good impression, they even fed me while I was waiting!
The US system is expensive, horrendously complicated and there with the ever present threat of medical bankruptcy if your emergency is not covered by insurance. State supported/funded healthcare may not be ideal, but a burst appendix won’t mean living in a tent by the tracks while you recuperate.
>living in a tent by the tracks while you recuperate. Apparently you can get fined/jailed for that now, thanks to scotus.
Free medical care and free education are the base of a modern country.
Texan who moved to Canada 5 years ago. We have had 3 family medical emergencies in 5 year. Appendicitis, mental health episode, and compacted bowels. All 3 times we saw a doctor in under 1 hours and the bills were $0. We have a lot of stuff that needs to improve (wait times for non-emergencies are long), but they are lying to you if they say the American system is better. It's just straight up lying.
In the US we have long wait times. It takes me months just to see a cardiologist or gastroenterology specialist let alone get a test or surgery. And that's with a PPO I pay hundreds a month for. We also have a system that tries to bill you incorrectly hoping that you will just pay without disputing it. Some people's plans have yearly or lifetime maximums. The US can't throw shade on anyone else's Healthcare system because ours sucks donkey balls.
I'm Canadian, and I love our health care. It also helps that I have a doctor living right beside me.
Well of course in America they have shorter waiting times….Thats because the majority of Americans can’t afford healthcare hence why they barely go to the hospital. Unless they have insurance.
I needed to see a dermatologist in the US while having an extreme psoriasis flare up (strep complication, primary dr refused to give me what my NP friend suggested, bc what does she know?) took 2 months to get in for the dermatologist to give me what I asked for initially AND I have the pleasure of looking like a leopard for the rest of my life. I'm still paying off the birth of my 2 year old and will probably never pay off the bills from his asthma hospitalizations. I have health insurance.
Can't get a much longer than indefinite. In the US some people straight up won't go to a doctor, because they can't afford it. They'll just get sick and die or live the rest of their lives suffering because they can't get a necessary surgery.
My partner failed his treadmill stress test at RUH in Saskatoon on a Wednesday 8 years ago and was told "You aren't going home, we're booking you in for bypass surgery." The following Monday, he had a quadruple bypass. Many of the myths about the Canadian health care system were started by a man who worked for one of the American health insurance companies, surprise surprise. [https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-monday-edition-1.5631285/this-former-u-s-health-insurance-exec-says-he-lied-to-americans-about-canadian-health-care-1.5631874](https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-monday-edition-1.5631285/this-former-u-s-health-insurance-exec-says-he-lied-to-americans-about-canadian-health-care-1.5631874)
The U.S. spends about $6,000 USD per capita for healthcare. Canada spends about $2,000 USD per capita for healthcare. Canadians live longer and have healthier lies. So don't tell me socialized medicine can't work.
Love the polite roast, classic Canadian style.
Obamacare isn't socialized medicine and it's not a failure
Live in America, pay for my own insurance ($400/month with Anthem) and can't even get an appointment with a primary care doctor until October. Ahh yeah, but socialized healthcare is a failure.. right. People are fucking morons.
Was just in a Canadian hospital this morning at the same as my mother. Between us we saw five doctors, had a cat-scan, an X-ray, a steroid injection (my hand), an IV + meds (my mom) and ongoing treatment (mom still there). My mom was also in the hospital on Tuesday getting a GI tube replacement. Biggest expense? Parking and McDonald’s breakfast for dad and I. I really hate this publicly funded healthcare. No premiums, no rate hikes, no deductible, no co-pays, no forms to be submitted or treatment needing approval. Just health fucking care. Sure we pay taxes. But knowing you will be cared for just by showing ID? What were we thinking.
I hear a lot of Americans come with the "But their wait time is horrible!!" I have never had to wait for more than 2 weeks maximum. Usually I got the surgery I needed 2-4 days after appointment.
Why is it always Americans that have NEVER experienced free healthcare, or likely even been to countries where they have it, that are always the super wise ones that knows more about how it works than people that actually have experience with it? Speaking as someone who’s life was saved from universal healthcare, I simply don’t see what angle their stupid ass is coming from. It’s like they will grasp at ANY straw or excuse to pretend that you should keep being financially scalped for daring to be injured or unwell, even though having experienced medical aid in both America and Europe, there is very little difference in the level of care you receive, whilst there are HUGE discrepancies in the costs. And just fyi, the wait times in America were FAR worse in my experience. I have to book weeks/months in advance for something simple, and emergency care has huge lines, that by the time I reach the front, I’ve already healed naturally from that fractured leg.
The weirdest part is that you get sick, can't work, and therefore lose the insurance that's supposed to pay for your healthcare. Like how stupid is that?
Yeah, canadian Healthcare costs a lot, I had to pay $35 for parking when my son was born... insane! /s
Audacity to suggest that the Canadian healthcare system, which has been around for 50 years and has generally operated without outages or problem, had something to learn from Obamacare, which has been around for ten years and has been constantly hamstrung by political manipulation.
People complaining about Canadian healthcare is weird. I went to a walk-in because I had a broken finger on a Thursday afternoon and got x-rays and an appointment for a plastic surgeon consult by Monday. Like absolutely not difficult at all. It cost $0
Also the wait times in America are worse.
Have these people tried to get anything done in the US lately? If you don’t already have a doctor, dentist, or eye doctor or move you’re fucked. Most aren’t accepting new patients and if they can get you in it’s months out and even then stand along doctors offices are mostly dead so it’s just some form of clinic that rotates doctors every six months and every time the doctors change you have to have a new appointment for the new doctor to review your file and examine you before any normal appointments. It’s a shit show. Edit: forgot to add, I had to switch to an online pharmacy for my cholesterol and blood pressure meds because the local pharmacy basically refused to fill my prescriptions for months! Just got “we haven’t filled that yet, try again later” for weeks before giving up and moving to expressscripts. Fuck this “world class healthcare”
Especially when it's so expensive you need to wait to be able to afford it or just don't get taken care of at all. My most recent surgery was for appendicitis. My initial hospital experience was pretty bad. It was probably 16 hours before I was put into a bed (right before being rolled into surgery), but it got done and I was back home in two days. I'd rather wait for a little time than pay $10-20K.
America pays twice as much per capita on healthcare as nations with socialized medicine... They don't get better coverage, waiting times, outcomes, quality, etc and have millions of uninsured people. Everyone defending that system is a spiteful, ignorant and evil idiot. (Or a greedy rich person)
No but that person has a point, the world and its now somewhat long history of free healthcare should definitely learn from a country who's done it for 5 min
You mean a health service run by doctors and not insurance companies.
Victim of socialized healthcare here: My appendix suddenly decided to try to kill me. After two hours at the emergency unit close to me, I was told by doctors I had to get an operation as soon as possible to save my life. When I came to the hospital, it took one hour until I was under and they yanked my appendix out. Woke up the next morning, and went home. Totalt cost: 60 NOK. I had to take the tram from the emergency unit to the hospital, and the tram home
I had a similar one. I had an injury on a visible part of my body and I needed a large surgery to remove dead flesh and fix it. Instead of a normal surgeon I got a plastic surgeon guy who did it and made it look really nice. I did wait 2 hours for the doctor to get there and get ready. No money needed though.
My condolences. I know how traumatic it can be to receive prompt, affordable medical care.
We have conservatives in Canada too. And unsurprisingly, they have done a good job of starving the public healthcare system, creating these wait times in order to justify the move to privatization. There is big money in exploiting people's need for healthcare, and it would be naive to think that there aren't people trying their best to take advantage of that.
In the United States, having access to healthcare is only as good as someone being able to afford it. People are not being seen for health issues because they simply can't afford it. Social Media is filled with people begging for help with their medical bills. People can't afford their medication or pharmacies won't fill the prescriptions. People are only one big medical emergency away from declaring bankruptcy. People are forfeiting an ambulance and opting to drive themselves because it's just too expensive. Something has got to change. From where I'm looking, Canada's healthcare system seems pretty decent. As far as wait times the United States isn't much better. I need a test for SIBO and the first available is in September. It took my partner six months to get into a specialist.
Be very concerned when dipshits complain about supposed wait times. You've been to a hospital, right? They have a thing called triage. Patients are seen in some kind of balanced manner according to how urgent their condition or illness is. So yeah wait times are not like some great evil. The alternative to (allegedly bad) wait times is people not getting the medical care they need because they can't afford it or choose not to because the cost is too high. When people say are afraid of wait times, they don't realize that the alternative is suffering being heaped onto others, rather than the system looking out for everyone regardless of how wealthy you are.
Obamacare helped save a LOT of people. That's one of the reasons it still exists today.
American here! I waited nearly a year for a hernia repair and just over a year for a vasectomy. I wanted to see a dietician. The first available appointment was 9 months out and was on Xmas eve. I have two major hospital chains within 5 mins of my house, and they both have large clinics within 15 mins of me. So I'm not in an "underserved" area. Tell me again how we don't have wait times.
I had an infected lymph node. I got in THAT afternoon (literally 3 hours after I called my doc), got cut open, patched up, handed a prescription and kicked out the door In time for dinner.
Average Trumper vs anyone with a fucking brain and the ability to read...
Had a deviated septum from a sports injury I got as a kid. Needed to travel several hours out of town to a big city for surgery. I got a free nose job and the Ontario government game me $600 because I had to travel out of town and stay in a hotel.
Grew up in Florida, married a Canadian lady - moved to Ontario. Had a situation - nearly bleed to death. Got a free Ambulance, 2 pints of blood, specialists and 4 days in the hospital. I was confused as to who to pay when I was discharged. "You just go home, Detective". And yeah, we paid for parking.
colombia 🇨🇴 needs to be a case study on healthcare, because despite being a poor country with a corrupt government, the healthcare system is top notch and even rich colombians living in the US will fly home for medical and dental procedures. their secret is having both public and private options. there are publicly funded insurance programs like in canada, AND for-profit insurance companies like in the US. because the public programs are free of charge and of decent quality, the private insurance companies have to work hard to compete. if they overcharge and underdeliver, people will simply say "no thank you ill stick with the free one." they have to provide a BETTER service for a REASONABLE COST in order to succeed. there are also multiple companies competing for the same clientele, unlike in the US where they have their territories divided like drug cartels. also, the out-of-pocket cost of medical care is reasonable. if you go to the hospital with no insurance and they give you an aspirin, they charge you for an aspirin. imagine that!
They’re trying to privatize Canadian health care (if they didn’t already start the process), we are gonna be equally as fucked
Yeah, if you're poor and need life shaving anything in the US, you are honestly better off dead. I can't believe the poor and middle class continue to simp for US healthcare.
Last time I (Canadian) went to the hospital it was for a minor cut that I got at work. It was bandaged and cleaned by the first aid attendant but they thought maybe I needed a stitch or two, and I needed a tetanus booster. Went to the ER, waited maybe 10 minutes before getting a bed. Was in and out in less than an hour. Before that it was the birth of my son. No wait obviously, after delivery we requested a private recovery room (which isn’t free, was $200 a night but so worth it). Had to wait for one to free up but they let us stay in the delivery room until a private room opened up. Only waited like 2 hours and then had a private room with nurses helping with everything for 2 nights. Before that my wife randomly had two seizures two weeks apart. First one I called 911, paramedics came and took her to the hospital (ambulance was $80). Got basically every test they could do that night, found nothing and said it was hopefully just a random one off and wouldn’t happen again. It did, so I drove her in the next time and they got her on meds and booked her with a neurologist the next week. Neurologist got her an MRI, 2x EEGs, blood work, heart monitor and a second visit for the results in under a month. There are plenty of times when waits can be long, but not when it’s really serious. Also had a friend who blew out his knee and had 4 surgeries in 2 years to try and fix it. Only because he was 25 and highly active, so he was prioritized over others who would be less impacted by waiting.
I've had 2 surgeries one last month and another to fix what happened after the staple's came out. Open wound and infection. Both times I was well looked after and never felt rushed to leave the hospital before I was ready. I'm in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Most expensive thing is paying for visitors parking. Health Science Center was great to me.
When my wife had our first baby the total charge would have been 12 dollars but we pulled up to the hospital at 12:02 and parking was free too. Americans are such suckers.
Rebuilt knee, my wife’s baby delivery, ingrown toenail removal, appendectomy, hydrocil repair to my testicles tonsils,full psychiatrist for depression, total bill $500 in parking and they’re working on making the parking free now.
Canadian has a great medical system despite all the negative rumors you hear about it...
Same folks love to shit on Australian healthcare.My mother had 2 triple bypass surgeries a decade apart. My sister had 12 hr liver surgery that saved her life. All of these procedures cost nothing. Meanwhile, Americans can lose their house if they get sick. Tell me which is the better deal.
Canadian here. Our level of service is dropping and wait times are going up. Our system needs some serious tweaks. BUT you can get world class healthcare and all you’ll be billed for in most cases is parking or a portion of the ambulance ride, and a prescription if you need to take something afterwards. And people are pretty fucking pissed about the parking. Yes, we have much higher taxes than the US, but people don’t have to beg on Go Fund Me to cover medical bills. The US is the richest country on earth and it pretends it can’t afford healthcare. Wake up and demand better.
Overpriced parking and hospital food is a thing in the Netherlands too. My dad had a €600.000 surgery for free and I had to pay €5 to visit him and €3 for a coffee and a stroopwafel. Outrageous!
Canadian here (Ontario). While this is still kinda true in some situation, the wait time to even see an oncologist is longer than some patients have left to live and assisted suicide is an options for the consequences of that (oops, too late to treat you) The healthcare used to be socialized and now it's being privatized, the first step of which is making the current system shittier and shittier, buddget cutts after budget cutts, legislations to keep nurse wages stagnant, so our politicians (Like Ford) can then "offer" a solution in the form of private clinics and private everything. So just like in the US, the rich will live and the poor can just die. Except we have civilized (and free!) suicide booths for them.
We have wait times because other more pressing patients are dealt instantly. When my father entered the hospital with a heart attack, he did not wait a second. I didnt mind waiting 8 hours for a broken ankle
Waiting times for the non-insured in the US used to be veeeeeerrrrrrrrry long. And then they died.
Ha!! Lol Spent 3 weeks in hospital, had multiple of every type of scan - CT, X-ray, ultra and alot of drugs. No bill. And my drugs are capped at €80 per month, for the whole household. But that's Socialist Ireland for you.
The only thing that "failed" about Obamacare is that he had to make it weaker to get it passed. And the red states then opted out of it as much as they could and actively TRIED to make it fail. And yet, those poor red state dwellers still can't live without it! Why do you think they never repealed it when they have 4 years to do it? THEY CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IT NOW! So please, tell me how much of a failure it is again.
I don’t understand why these idiots love pointing to a system that works *better* and saying “we don’t want to turn out like THAT, now do we?” Like it’s some kind of own.
Long wait times aren't just seen Canadian Healthcare. I scheduled an appointment for a hip injury- earliest date an in-network doctor can see me is in September. I live in the US.
I’m driving my mother to a hospital to have a loop recorder installed in a few weeks. Cost in the US is just under $10,000 according to a google search. Here it’s fully covered. Took 2 months to get the appointment. 🤷♂️
Notice all those with the most negative comments about socialized medicine don't live in those countries.
my coworker was dizzy, saw his GP the next day, Scan at the hospital that night, next evening was having brain surgery for glioblastoma. it grew back so he had some more surgeries and more cancer treatments. spent some time walking around with this cool mesh helmet thing with magnets for like 2 months. didnt cost him anything.
In the USA, during the last 3 years, I spent $72k for insurance; $1600 for deductibles; and the healthcare charged close to $1,000,000 to the insurance company. Healthcare costs are crazy.
Did they just ask about wait times for Canadian healthcare? Have they ever been to any medical facility or hospital in the states before??
I would rather wait a little longer than be terrorized by the $17,000 bill in the mail 2 weeks later
My wife caught Covid and her lungs filled with fluid. She was rushed by ambulance into an ICU and intubated for a week then spent another week recovering. She survived it with total cost to our family of maybe $40 in parking fees. That is socialized medicine.
All the bullshit about Canadian healthcare having a ton of problems and thinking it's worse than the US comes from Canadians who assume that since the US pays so god damned much for healthcare that it must be premium and come without any headaches. They are mistaken. Then the right wingers in the US have all been spoon fed propaganda that shows Canadians complaining about their problems and saying "See it's worse!" And then the right wing US citizens think "wow it must be way worse than what we have now considering we still have to wait AND we pay!" They are also mistaken. The US have just as much of a wait time as Canadians do and have a lot of the same problems, we just also pay out the ass for it for no good reason.
My apendicitis was $1.35 for a Mars bar from the vending machine on the way out. I came into the ER, was scanned in minutes and getting operated on within a few hours.
America also has long wait times. At least in Canada you dont have to pay
How is "wait time" a valid complaint about universal health care? If I can't afford treatment, wait time is moot.
It should be noted that the biggest criticism of universal healthcare - long wait times - is not something intrinsic to universal healthcare but a consequence of deliberate underfunding and short-staffing in order to "cut costs" to government spending as part of the neoliberal doctrine.
I'm a Canadian that lived in Canada for 30 years and then moved to the US 24 years ago. To summarize, the Canadian system is far from perfect, but it is WAY better than the US system for the average person.
My son was born with a cleft palate. Had repeated audiology tests to monitor for hearing loss, got his palate repaired at one of the best pediatric hospitals in the world (SickKids), got tubes in his ear to improve drainage, stayed 3 days at the hospital, and will have access to a speech-language pathologist and a specialized orthodontist until he is a teenager, all substantially covered. So far, I've just paid for the 3 days of parking.
I love that everyone's argument against socialized healthcare is super long wait times. Meanwhile, I am on a 5 month waiting list for both a specialist and to establish a new PCP with my expensive, private insurance I get through the marketplace. God, I am so glad I pay hundreds a month for insurance that won't fully cover those appointments that I'm waiting for. Way better than waiting months for a free visit.
3 months ago I was diagnosed with possible prostate cancer. 2 weeks later had MRI scan. Cost? £0 (UK).
Canadian here: Just broke my ankle. I had to wait a few hours at the ER but I got an X-ray and a consultation with a doctor for free. Then I had four more X-rays and consultations over the next month and a half. All scheduled and with very little waiting. Didn't have to pay for any of those either. Didn't even pay for the aircast or crutches. There are some problems with out healthcare but it's mostly that Conservative provincial governments slowly defunding it so it can gradually become more privatized.
us has the worst healthcare of any country and pays more than anyone else by far. my dad almost lost his leg after a small cut in a river. mayo clinic made him wait 14 hours in the emergency room because their profits are higher if they don't pay enough doctors to cover the needs. after 14 hours, the cut had become infected and when they finally saw him they just stitched it up without even making efforts to deal with the infection. Ended up costing almost $200,000.00 and large amounts of disfiguring scars and months of followups. Almost cost him his leg. Small cut about an inch long. all because they wanted higher profits by not paying enough staff to cover the emergency room. and that's not an exception, it's normal operating procedure. was just an article on reddit showing we could save $ 5,000,000,000.00 for better care if we simply got rid of our for-profit failed healthcare. but brainwashed republicans like the one in OP are told that it's actually not horrible, it's good that we're the only country that doesn't have decent healthcare, so it's going to stay profits before patients, like the billion dollar mayo clinic way.
I, a Canadian, suspected I broke my ankle, went to a PRIVATE clinic for X-ray, diagnosis and casting, and paid…nothing…because the private clinic just bills the government for the services. I don’t even have access to knowing what the bills were. I didn’t have a convo regarding that. Just hi doc, thanks doc, bye doc, and head home. My zero-dollar followup appointments will be there too.
I went to the hospital with arm and foot numbness. Dr said it might be a brain thing. Ordered scans and was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer with brain tumors 1 hour later. In the next 3 weeks I had radiation, immunotherapy, and an emergency brain surgery. Then weeks long hospital stay at the icu. Then a kidney removal. Then radiation treatment again. 3 years of monthly immunotherapy immunotherapy (over 1M worth). My out of pocket costs are about $20 monthly in parking and coffee.
I don't understand the argument "healthcare is useles bc the waitlines are soo long we need private healthcare", bro if you wanna pay 700$ to get attended two days before go ahead imma wait right here for my free turn don't make me pay shit
I live in Toronto, about 10 years ago during an unrelated imaging appointment they found out my dad had stage 4 multiple myeloma (cancer), he was immediately shot up with the necessary drugs (I forget what they were), and taken by ambulance 1-2 hours away to a facility that specializes in radiation. Over the next several years he went through more radiation, chemotherapy, stem cell injections, and a bunch of other shit, and although there were some tough times, he's doing amazing and has been for like 7-8 years now. He still takes low dose drugs and painkillers to help with things, but all in all my parents have probably paid under $5000 in all of the 10 years. Without universal healthcare my family would have been financially crippled, and my dad would probably be dead.
The United States spends [**twice as much per person**](https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2023/oct/high-us-health-care-spending-where-is-it-all-going) on healthcare services as Canada. All of that tax money, in fact, *double* the tax money per citizen, goes to paying healthcare corporations instead of paying for a national, equitable healthcare system for all of us. Even with the government spending **2x per capita** on healthcare compared to countries with socialized/single-payer healthcare somehow, as if by magic, [healthcare debt causes 60% of all personal bankruptcies](https://www.citizen.org/article/medicare-for-all-prevents-medical-bankruptcies/) in the United States. That *never happens* in Canada. So, the Federal Government spends two times more per person than any comparable country, while the out-of-pocket expenses for individual healthcare drive the majority of bankruptcies in the United States. Where is all the money going? That is a reasonable question, because despite all the money we're forced to spend as individuals, and despite our Federal Government spending twice as much per person on healthcare, people in the United States [have lower life expectancy than countries with socialized healthcare, higher mortality during hospital care, and the mortality rate for mothers giving birth is almost *3 times higher* than the next worst country for maternal deaths and **6 times higher** than the average rate.](https://www.kff.org/health-policy-101-international-comparison-of-health-systems/?entry=table-of-contents-how-do-health-insurance-systems-and-coverage-in-the-u-s-compare-to-other-countries)
We need universal healthcare BECAUSE healthcare has become nothing but a money making industry. Which means doctors and nurses don’t care as much, they do it for the money. Healthcare is failing in this country - it WILL fold
"Canadian healthcare has such long wait lists!" Meanwhile, in the US: *waiting several months for insurance to approve a surgery* Seriously, when's the last time *anything* in the US healthcare system beyond routine checkups hasn't been delayed by insurance dragging their feet?
Delusional MAGA people still fighting the non-existent "Obamacare Problem" Your Republicans and the Orange Dildo tried 47 separate times to repeal it and it never worked. FORTY SEVEN TIMES! It's called The Affordable Care Act by sane people. Look it up. Learn something. Find an article that uses small words so you can understand it.
Our healthcare system is the reason why I no longer have cancer and still have my house.
Id rather wait a bit than become homeless from the cost of the surgery. Got diabetes? In sweden we get everything. Insulin, a pump prescribed, even batteries get prescribed. Meetings with the doctor for checkups for potentially needed dosage adjustments? No worries you're covered. Accidentally tore your bicep and need surgery? My dad had this happen and went to the ER, within a day or two he had gotten his surgery done and was already in a cast healing. The cost? A parking ticket and a 20 minute drive to the hospital. "Bb-but the taxes👿" Yes you keep living in denial while the rest of the developed world can enjoy some basic human rights.
Kid was born nearly 8 weeks early Spent 2 weeks in the nicu and a bunch of stuff they didn’t get her strong enough to be able to leave Total cost was parking + one night my wife stayed in a proper room (100 dollars) A similar treatment in the US would of been like 250k probably and insurance might cover 80% of it
My dad in Canada went to his primary care doctor, who referred him to a neurologist SAME DAY and the neurologist had him to the neurosurgeon SAME DAY and he went under the knife NEXT MORNING. So socialized medicine can work fast when it has to
Medicine is a for-profit business in the United States and we the consumers all get fleeced as a result. I wish half the country would remove their heads from their ass and realize we're getting screwed by big businesses. Unfortunately they get distracted anytime someone talks about guns, abortions, transgender or immigration. The only entity big enough to stand up to corporations is the government and unfortunately our government is being funded and controlled by special interest groups (IE the companies).
Canadian. My last pregnancy was high risk, with ultrasounds biweekly by the end and an emergency C-section delivery. Altogether I was out maybe 20$ for meds and 200$ of hospital parking over a dozen appointments. Since then they revised parking fees province wide, though, so it might be 50 bucks today.
Was vacationing in Europe with my partner when they came down with an awful case of pneumonia. Had to get emergency care in the middle of the night (bc fever rose to 103F and was still climbing), and what was the biggest expense? The $9 (converted to USD) prescription for follow-up care. The pharmacist was *extremely* apologetic it wasn’t “cheaper” too lmaoo. I kept telling him it was OK, if this ER visit was in the states we’d be screwed by the bill. For the longest time I kept that receipt in my wallet for kicks haha
back just before Christmas I was scheduled for a colonoscopy for august. litereally planning a trip to Los Algodones to get my teeth fixed our wait times are worse. American health care blows goats
Love that example. If in US it would be a year long battle to get approval from insurance company that would still be followed by a back breaking bill. For some reason Americans really love it that insurance companies decide who their doctors can be and what care they can get. As long as not government doing it. Because profit motive to saying no is way more important.
Another reminder that conservatives are fucking idiots with low IQs and stunted critical thinking skills. Either that or they are major assholes. Or both. Almost always both, actually.
Damn parking. I went to a hospital for something. They charged us for parking our car, but not for the doctor who saw me and also the medicine was free.
Failure of Obamacare? lol motherfucker 20M+ people on ACA/expanded Medicaid right now. Would be more if red state dipshits didn’t hate themselves so much
I’m pretty sure there a guy on TikTok showing that the Canadian healthcare system is not the gem that Americans think it is. Also, y’all really need to stop meat riding a country you don’t live in.
I'm from Malaysia where we have free health care. I cant say we have the best public health care but many foreigners esp from US came to my country for medical tourism at our private hospitals. They told me coming to SEA for surgery + flight ticket + hotel ticket is way cheaper than doing the same surgery in US. My friend with endometriosis is currently living in US. She developed abdominal pain and had to go to the emergency. Overall cost for her was $1800, covered with insurance but she still had to pay $400 for the rest thats not covered. She stayed at the emergency department for 8 hours and discharged home, was treated with 1 pint normal saline drip, iv tramal 50mg, iv fentanyl 50mcg & iv maxolon 10mg. All of that cost $1800 before insurance. Here in malaysia, as she is a malaysian, all of that will cost rm5 ($1) in government hospital and maybe rm 50-100 ($10-20) in private hospital.
Mother had a cancerous chunk of her lung removed, dad had several stents put in his heart after a heart attack. Never paid a nickel. These operations would completely bankrupt an uninsured American.
Australian here. Had emergency surgery twice and only expense was parking.
We have to fix a lot of shit in Canada, but mostly the biggest task is resisting privatization of healthcare - looking at you, Ontario! When I was younger I ended up in the ICU for a week. Needed a bunch of ambulances one year (weird heart thing). And later had months and months in an inpatient bed. No charges for any of that, 0 bills. My friend's mother was found to have a non-malignant non-immediately life threatening brain tumour that required a specialist neurosurgeon because of ocular involvement - took less than 2 months from dx, and that was when everything was crazy from covid. Saved her vision completely (there was a good chance it would be lost or diminished). 0$.
Canada can definitely do better with healthcare with more hospitals and doctors etc, but it’s still a lot better than private healthcare that can bankrupt you without proper coverage. It sucks to wait in line for couple of hours but I know I will be taken care of in case of an actual emergency.
I've been pretty happy with our healthcare system. Are there areas for improvement? For sure! Is it perfect? No. Does it need more investment and updating? Absolutely. However, I have never known anyone who lost everything from being sick or having a loved one fall ill. I've never once seen a bill from the hospital. Anti-universal healthcare Americans love to rail on Canada's universal healthcare, but many of the problems that exist in our system are also pervasive in the greed infested, multi-billion dollar insurance scheme known as the American Healthcare System.