These patients say they nearly died as they waited to get health care in Canada

A very dear friend from Toronto had a heart attack and required a heart cath. It required ambulance transport to another hospital and scheduling it. Here in NC He would have been in the other hospital and an emergent cath done within an hour. In Toronto they admitted him to the local hospital until his spot opened up and was transferred. He went from health and active to suffering debilitating Congestive Heart Failure and died within 2 years.
 
old medic said:
A very dear friend from Toronto had a heart attack and required a heart cath. It required ambulance transport to another hospital and scheduling it. Here in NC He would have been in the other hospital and an emergent cath done within an hour. In Toronto they admitted him to the local hospital until his spot opened up and was transferred. He went from health and active to suffering debilitating Congestive Heart Failure and died within 2 years.
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same here, but we can wit aything up to 24 hours for the ambulance to arrive. We have regular reports in the media of somepne having a heart attack in the street, and shopkeepers calling for an ambulance, covering the patient up with blankets in the pouring rin and ambulances not turning up for 5 or 6 hours..

I atually witnessed this personally a few years ago... and what was worse where it happened, the hospital was just a mile away
 
Health care is a minefield anywhere for those without significant wealth.

I'm beginning to wonder if playing systems against each other in the court of social media is just providing cover for letting things get worse no matter where you live.
 
dilettante said:
Health care is a minefield anywhere for those without significant wealth.

I'm beginning to wonder if playing systems against each other in the court of social media is just providing cover for letting things get worse no matter where you live.
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Agreed, fortunately I have VA healthcare and without it, I wouldn't be alive now or completely bankrupt.
 
This sounds like third world. How did things deteriorate to this level? You see quite a bit of medical tourism especially close to the Canadian border.
Holly you posted about medical insurance which is not tied to NHS. Can you please give some information about premiums and services? Thank you.

EMS in our town is paid for by $2.75 voluntarily added to a household's water bill. Fire responses average four minutes and ambulance eight minutes servicing two trauma centers within five miles.
 
It's been 15 years since I've been to Canada, and I suppose things may be different, but during the years I visited BC and Alberta to ski or sail, I had never met a Canadian who wasn't proud of their heath care system. I'm sure it can't be 100%, but the stories I heard, every one of them made me envious.

The only criticism I hear about Canadian health care has always been from people who don't want universal health care in America. And the stories they tell sound like something that happens in the US, which they claim, contrary to the results of global studies, has the best health care in the world.

Maybe things have regressed in Canada, and I'd be sorry to know that. But things that break can be fixed, although it requires leadership that acts in the best interest of the citizenry.
 
JustDave said:
It's been 15 years since I've been to Canada, and I suppose things may be different, but during the years I visited BC and Alberta to ski or sail, I had never met a Canadian who wasn't proud of their heath care system. I'm sure it can't be 100%, but the stories I heard, every one of them made me envious.

The only criticism I hear about Canadian health care has always been from people who don't want universal health care in America. And the stories they tell sound like something that happens in the US, which they claim, contrary to the results of global studies, has the best health care in the world.

Maybe things have regressed in Canada, and I'd be sorry to know that. But things that break can be fixed, although it requires leadership that acts in the best interest of the citizenry.
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That's why I addressed this question to Canadiens. I'd like an up to date picture based upon actual experience. If what I'm reading is exaggerated propaganda, then let's find out.

So far all replies are from Americans with some bad stories.
 
Well it is also possible to live high for a while. Spending every penny that comes in, snaking power cords to your neighbors' houses at night, etc. Then as that fails you take out home equity loans, and fall behind maxing out credit cards.

Eventually a day of reckoning comes.
 
dilettante said:
A lot of things will probably get tougher. The UK is currently experiencing a rapid drain of tax base and talent as those who can are fleeing.

CitizenX Capital Exodus: Mapping Wealth Migration in Real Time

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I took our health care system for granted until this year. Now it is obvious in the perfect nation of the USA things aren't so perfect. Many of us have nurse practitioners taking the place of our doctors. It can take several months to get appointments for a specialist. It is not unusual to wait over 6 hours in our emergency room. God help the person in severe pain because nothing will be done about it.

Our medical care people are so overworked and over-stressed they are quitting. They have demanded higher wages and more help. They can not have both. More wages means hiring fewer people. Those at the top have tried to run the system like a profit-making machine and the psychological impact of that is very destructive. While the population of our city has grown a lot exasperating the problems.
 
I'm sure a universal system like Canada's provides the greatest good for the greatest number of people. The US system is completely crazy and screws so many people. It needs a total overhaul.

However, if I ever get a serious cancer, I'm moving in with my son in NY and getting treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering or Dana Farber. We have the best top-end doctors and innovative treatments, in my opinion.
 
OldFeller said:
That's why I addressed this question to Canadiens. I'd like an up to date picture based upon actual experience. If what I'm reading is exaggerated propaganda, then let's find out.

So far all replies are from Americans with some bad stories.
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Ask how many Canadians would like to trade their system for ours. Then ask how many Americans would like to trade our sysytem for theirs.

I'll start off. As an American I would trade with the Canadians in a heartbeat.
 
SO had major spinal surgery October 2023. He had some discomfort he blames on having done heavy lifting. I called our family doctor, our PA to be precise, Tuesday. His MRI is scheduled for tomorrow morning and his appointment with the surgeon on February 5 as SO has a full calendar. Out of pocket cost - zero.
 
As my screen name makes clear, I live in Toronto. I spent ten years from 1977 to 1987 working for the largest municipal Ambulance service in Canada, Metropolitan Toronto Ambulance. I am now 78, and my Wife is 81. Together we are cared for by a total of 8 Medical Doctors, covering cardiac, respirology, internal medicine, endocrinology, audiology, geriatrics, and mental health. ALL of those Doctors are available to us at no cost at the point of service. If I want to see my Doctor, I call their secretary, and make an appointment, usually within a 5 day time period.

In the past I had a fall that resulted in me breaking my left ankle in 3 places. That resulted in my being in hospital for a total of 11 weeks, because it was found that I had severely low hemoglobin. I needed blood transfusions, which in Canada cost nothing. IN fact in Canada it is illegal to sell blood or plasma, or body tissue. The Canada Blood Services Agency collects and distributes blood across the country for free. My cost for 11 weeks in hospital ? Zero, Nada, Zilch.

Doctors in Canada don't have to act as bill collectors for medical insurance companies, so they can focus on actually practicing medicine. Canadian Doctors are paid by the Provincial Ministry of Health, based on a fee schedule agreed upon between the Provincial Medical Association, and the Province. The individual M.D. bills for all the services he has performed in a month by electronic means to the Province. The Province checks the billing and then pays the M.D. by electronic means, in 60 days.

When I visit the Doctor, or a hospital clinic, my Ontario OHIP card is scanned in the computer to be sure I am me. No money changes hands. I can see any Doctor, at any time .

To answer the OP's question directly...Yes we Canadians have a great medical care system. Is it perfect? No it is not, BUT I strongly suggest that the vast majority of Canadians would NOT trade it for the US system. Too many of us have seen or read about the crazy costs that Americans pay for their medical care.

I am prepared to answer direct questions from SF members about health care in Canada. JIM.
 
jimintoronto said:
As my screen name makes clear, I live in Toronto. I spent ten years from 1977 to 1987 working for the largest municipal Ambulance service in Canada, Metropolitan Toronto Ambulance. I am now 78, and my Wife is 81. Together we are cared for by a total of 8 Medical Doctors, covering cardiac, respirology, internal medicine, endocrinology, audiology, geriatrics, and mental health. ALL of those Doctors are available to us at no cost at the point of service. If I want to see my Doctor, I call their secretary, and make an appointment, usually within a 5 day time period.

In the past I had a fall that resulted in me breaking my left ankle in 3 places. That resulted in my being in hospital for a total of 11 weeks, because it was found that I had severely low hemoglobin. I needed blood transfusions, which in Canada cost nothing. IN fact in Canada it is illegal to sell blood or plasma, or body tissue. The Canada Blood Services Agency collects and distributes blood across the country for free. My cost for 11 weeks in hospital ? Zero, Nada, Zilch.

Doctors in Canada don't have to act as bill collectors for medical insurance companies, so they can focus on actually practicing medicine. Canadian Doctors are paid by the Provincial Ministry of Health, based on a fee schedule agreed upon between the Provincial Medical Association, and the Province. The individual M.D. bills for all the services he has performed in a month by electronic means to the Province. The Province checks the billing and then pays the M.D. by electronic means, in 60 days.

When I visit the Doctor, or a hospital clinic, my Ontario OHIP card is scanned in the computer to be sure I am me. No money changes hands. I can see any Doctor, at any time .

To answer the OP's question directly...Yes we Canadians have a great medical care system. Is it perfect? No it is not, BUT I strongly suggest that the vast majority of Canadians would NOT trade it for the US system. Too many of us have seen or read about the crazy costs that Americans pay for their medical care.

I am prepared to answer direct questions from SF members about health care in Canada. JIM.
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Thanks for the reply. A woman in another forum and who lives in Canada posted that article I linked in the OP. She was ranting that Canada's Healthcare wasn't what people think it is. She doesn't talk specifically about any problems but in general condemns the whole thing. So I thought this forum would be a reality check against her negative claims and supporting article.
 
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OldFeller said:
Thanks for the reply. A woman in another forum posted that article I linked in the OP. She was ranting that Canada's Healthcare wasn't what people think it is. She doesn't talk specifically about any problems but in general condemns the whole thing. So I thought this forum would be a reality check against her negative claims and supporting article.
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The woman was making a complaint about the treatment she got in 2017, eight years ago. We are a nation of over 40 million people. Of course not everyone is going to be satisfied with their own specific outcome. The most important point that I will make to Americans about our health care system is that everyone is included. In simple terms, if you are a Canadian citizen OR a legal Permanent Resident of Canada YOU ARE COVERED.

Health care in Canada is NOT linked to your employment, so if you lose your job, your health care is still in effect. If you move from one Province to another, your health care follows you. If you are covered in Alberta, and you are injured in a car accident in Ontario, you are covered by your Alberta Health coverage.

Canada has a national retail price control plan for prescription medicines. This means that medicines at retail pharmacies are 50 to 70 percent cheaper in Canada than in the USA.

So how is the health care program paid for? WE ALL PAY through our Income and sales taxes. The tax rate in Canada is about 5 percent higher, than for the same yearly income, in the States would be. As a Canadian senior in Ontario, we pay a flat $4 fee for having a prescription filled. Every time someone in Ontario buys a lottery ticket, or plays at a Provincial casino, a part of each dollar goes to fund our medical care system. In Ontario the 2 largest budget lines are health care and public education. JIM.
 

New study finds 45,000 deaths annually linked to lack of health coverage​

Nearly 45,000 annual deaths are associated with lack of health insurance, according to a new study published online today by the American Journal of Public Health. That figure is about two and a half times higher than an estimate from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2002.

The study, conducted at Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance, found that uninsured, working-age Americans have a 40 percent higher risk of death than their privately insured counterparts, up from a 25 percent excess death rate found in 1993.

“The uninsured have a higher risk of death when compared to the privately insured, even after taking into account socioeconomics, health behaviors, and baseline health,” said lead author Andrew Wilper, M.D., who currently teaches at the University of Washington School of Medicine. “We doctors have many new ways to prevent deaths from hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease — but only if patients can get into our offices and afford their medications.”
New study finds 45,000 deaths annually linked to lack of health coverage — Harvard Gazette
 
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