On Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 8:02 PM, frank theriault <[email protected]> wrote: > > I think that many even here in Canada are frustrated that they can't > get faster service if they pay for it (like you can in the US). That > would, in the minds of many (including me!) undermine the idea of > universality that's now the bedrock of our system. If one can pay to > get to the front of the line, then someone with less money will have > to wait longer. Some may think this is fair, some (like me) don't. > > That being said, I've never been in the situation of needing surgery > and having to wait. I'm honest enough to admit that my tune might > change some if I could afford hip-replacement surgery but had to wait > months or years to get my surgery. > > cheers, > frank > --
Canada's always had a two-tier health system. The poor get stuck with our mediocre service, the rich go to the US and pay the over-inflated costs down there. The thing that frustrates people is that we can't pay a Canadian for service outside the line, even if we can afford it. The only thing we handle reasonably well is emergency services (and to a lesser extent, medical emergencies which require non-emergency department care). I've got extensive experience with the Canadian Health system due to having two chronically ill close family members (grandfather with post-polio syndrome, who passed away in the late 90's, and my mother has severe Rheumatoid Arthritis and has had 2 hip replacements and various other surgeries). The Canadian system sucks, we just tend to suck less than most of the more socialized systems (mostly because Canada has 11 semi-independent systems, not one National system). Overall the US system delivers better care, but its costing is totally broken, mostly due to problems with the large Insurance Companies and HMO's, which drive up uninsured costs (if the insurance companies in the US payed the same rates as uninsured for care, uninsured costs would plummet. As it is, uninsured payers end up paying for most of the cost of delinquent uninsured patents). Both the US and Canadian systems are broken in different ways. -- M. Adam Maas http://www.mawz.ca Explorations of the City Around Us. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
