July 17, 2009
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Myths vs. Facts about Canadian Healthcare
I have written about this before (click on Canada in my tags), but it bears repeating, since I hear that Americans are now being treated to TV ads wherein a supposed Canadian urges them not to let the government “get between” them and their doctors. For heaven’s sake, Americans ought to be angry at whoever is spreading these lies.
I live in Ontario and am more than happy to answer any kinds of questions anyone may have about healthcare. Just write me and ask! I reiterate that I myself have been gravely ill during my life, and have been treated and cured by a system that never burdened me with the ruinous (to an individual) costs of such treatment. Instead, those costs were borne by Canadians as a whole, who can easily afford as a group what would be life-destroying to a single person.
The government does not get between me and my excellent doctor. When I go to the hospital, I am never asked about money. Instead, I hand over a health card that proves I am entitled to Canadian healthcare, and the remaining discussions are entirely about what’s wrong with me and how I may best be treated.
What the government does for me is collect taxes from all Canadians, including me, a portion of which goes to pay for all of our collective medical needs. Doctors have only one organization to send their bills to. Certain things aren’t included, notably dental and optical expenses, but many Canadians get some coverage for those through their employers. I’m not looking forward to my next dental appointment, since I know some stuff is going wrong in there — but I can’t imagine what it would feel like to dread my next appointment with the doctor because I might not be able to afford to pay for it.
Decades ago, the citizens of Canada ordered their provincial governments to collect taxes and to pay for healthcare for all Canadians. My own experiences suggest that we have a great system here, even when you consider that wait times in emergency can be longish. The government doesn’t interfere — it serves our best interests, as it was told to do, and it does so in a way that is much cheaper than what the same services cost in the United States, because the government is not allowed to make a fortune from our medical needs. Simple!
Private profit-taking interests are trying and trying to chip away at our system here in Canada and to discredit it so that Americans will not take any steps to end the great money-making venture that is private provision of healthcare in the United States. Don’t listen to them. Ask me and other Canadians for the truth instead! Our way is much cheaper and more humane. I am proud to feel that my taxes help other Canadians to get good healthcare. If you are an American, imagine the peace of mind!
Don’t let private profit-takers get between you and your doctor!
Comments (16)
I hope everyone comes and reads this. Though I’ve noticed people rarely seem to change their mind on things like this. They don’t seem to want to let facts get in the way of their notions.
Thanks for writing this post!!! Tracy recommended it and I will, too. I have been so frustrated by the misinformation out there.
I would bet anything that there are lobbyists that are promoting that kind of drivel so that health care costs can be indescriminately raised and borne by those who have little or no coverage. I am frustrated by all of it. While I am fortunate to have a decent job with decent health coverage, I pay premiums for my family’s coverage. However, they will not cover my children that are over 22 or are not full time students. (I can’t afford to send my children to the university full time, so they are working and attending part time…the choice was made to discontinue the health care so we could meet the cost of education). My son recently had a BAD case of food poisoning and I took him to the ER. I seriously thought he would die before he was seen. I don’t know what you consider a “longish” wait in the ER, but I’ve taken my daughter before and left after waiting 7 hours to be seen (and she never was). Thanks for the information.
@skanickadee -
I wonder if U.S. taxpayer money is being used to create those ads. If that were being done up here, I could imagine getting really, effectively angry at the perpetrators.
People everywhere have the right to make such important decisions after obtaining and considering all the facts. It’s amazing how many people think that “they wouldn’t be allowed to publish/air that” unless it’s true. Laugh!
@tracy -
I understand how people can have some difficulty changing their minds — it’s happened to me, on occasion! I only believe that people should not be lied to about such important matters. It’s one thing to ignore facts, and quite another to be inundated with lies by predatory people.
@Emme402 -
Oh, seven hours is not unheard of around here. It can be a while if you don’t look really ill. However, I find that all changes if you collapse in the ER waiting room! :rolleyes:
@CuriousGeorgina -
It is really sad because people tend to think if it is published it must be the gospel truth.
I’m not sure where the money comes from but I know that the insurance industry is trying their hardest not to lose their very lucrative piece of the pie. The American consumer, unless they educate themselves, will suffer terribly.
I’ve always thought that American senators and congressmen should have to live a year without their government paid for insurance. Let them get a taste of what it is like to live in fear that something might happen. Let them go through a life-threatening illness without the benefit of the best insurance benefits in the country. That won’t happen and their pockets are lined with money from the insurance industry. The whole situation is so awfully wrong.
Thank you oh so much for this piece !!
I’ve seen both sides of this, going to medical care facilities in the EU, china, switzerland, the USA, and some other places. I think perhaps one of the differences here is not just the effectiveness of gov’t healthcare, but also the strong american belief that Gov’t should (and can) not be trusted with any more power than is absolutely necessary. I think that this is one of the vast cultural gulfs between canada (peacefully granted independence in the 20th century, and still honors the royal family on its currency), and the USA (2 major wars against former colonial master, the UK, both to assert independence). I think that beyond the question of can our gov’t do this (and i’ve seen documentaries showing both sides of the issue – here’s an ANTI-socialized healthcare video – http://www.youtube.com/user/stevencrowder –
I am left with deep questions, after seeing the beauracracy of other major gov’t social service programs here in the US – Foodstamps, housing assistance, emergency relief, medicare, etc. Yes, we actually already can get all of these things for free if we are needy – I went to the hospital for free several times while i was in college, because the government already pays for the healthcare of anyone who makes less than a certain amount of money (aka the unemployed, college students, and the under-employed). Some of these programs are very easy. But some of them, are downright awful, and I am not sure our care would improve with gov’t beauracracy.
Finally, I want to point out that the question is not about helping the poor in our country – they already can get free healthcare (as I have). It affects the middle class – who have had their medical costs skyrocket under increasingly stringent gov’t regulation of medical care and facilities, as well as increasing regulation of entry into the marketplace of those products. Wal-mart has done more to help the middle class drug buyer in our country w./ 4 dollar prescriptions than any gov’t agency has done, by far.
So, in the USA, the question is not about “will we have healthcare” so much as “will the gov’t take control of our healthcare, and destroy millions of jobs by eliminating an entire industry, and drastically affect the ability of companies in the US to research medical advancements and sell them?”
I am uninsured. If I develop a serious disease, it will be something I can’t afford.
All over America, those who don’t have the money to survive cancer and other disorders have to impoverish their families, beg for money wherever they can get it, and try to muddle through.
Even those who are insured may not get tested when they first spot symptoms, because they live in fear of their premiums going up… until not being able to afford being sick would be the least of their problems; they can’t even afford to be prepared.
Whether Obama’s plan in particular is a god one or not, I can’t say. But America’s health care system sucks. And that is a simple fact.
*good* one… it won’t let me edit the comment. -_-
i hear that in canada, when there is malpractice, you can’t get justice because the docs are employed by the gov…i shudder at thtat thought.
@a12906 -
Doctors are not employees of the government in Canada. As this reference explains, “In 1968, the Medical Care Act was passed providing universal health insurance to all Canadians. It was not socialized medicine; doctors were not paid salaries. Instead doctors work on a fee for service basis, billing not the patient but a third party – the Canadian government. As scholar David Naylor states, it was ‘private practice and public payment.’ Canadian physicians have lobbied effectively to secure their position as private practitioners and not salaried employees of the government.”
Malpractice is a complex issue no matter what system doctors work under, of course. Doctors need some protection from malpractice, simply because otherwise no doctor would want to make any patient-care decisions ever. Doctors are human beings. However, patients and their families equally do need redress in cases of medical incompetence, no question. In Canada, it’s hard to judge how effective malpractice procedures are overall, since they are different in every province. However, in general, committees of doctors themselves oversee complaints. It is certainly possible to obtain justice in Ontario, as I have heard of satisfactory settlements in the past. We are not as litigious as Americans, as I understand it. I am not sure there is any system that can satisfy everyone in this area.
@JadedJanissary -
Canada is still a member of the Commonwealth – we still have a Governor General as well as a prime minister.
I know that Americans worry (as do many Canadians) about how “big” government should be. I have seen errors in both directions. As for bureaucracy, though, our system results in much less of it for patients and their doctors. Patients don’t have much paperwork at all, and doctors have only one place to send their bills, rather than many places and many different sets of rules to sort through. It is private healthcare that creates a glut of paperwork.
I think of the good of the many — loss of jobs in an industry that exploits people during the worst moments of their lives can be offset to a certain extent by jobs the become available in government for the administration of a system that benefits everyone (as you point out, the working and middle classes perhaps most especially). If everyone stopped smoking tomorrow, there’d be an awful loss of jobs in parts of the world where tobacco is grown and processed. But does that mean we should try to make sure nobody ever stops smoking? Of course not.
Thanks for this post. My husband and I were discussing this subject this morning. We have inhumanely long ER waits as a matter of course, and that is with or without insurance. There are only a few things that will get you past the long wait (not breathing, heart attack, etc. Bleeding profusely isn’t enough.) We currently do not have health insurance at all, since I was laid off from my full time job last year, and couldn’t afford the self-pay of over $1000 per month. I have some issues for which I can not afford to go see a doctor. A major issue would be devastating. And it is this way with many, many Americans. Our government wastes so much money on things ranging from the ridiculous to the overpaying of civil “servants” salaries, and no one wants to pay more taxes. It has become a very complex problem. It’s a problem with capitalism, in my opinion.
Further comments on this post can be found here, where it is cross-posted.