American Born and Raised in Canada, Man Examines the "Free" Health Care System

[Omegaman 3.0]

 

[Omegaman 3.0]

19 minutes ago, anynmsfmly said:

And i am commenting so i can refer back to watch later.

I should point out, that this is an old video, so many facts may not be up to date. That said, much of what he brings out will always be true, because there are just in that timeless natures of statistics, human nature, and government inefficiency.

[teddyv]

Have not watched the whole thing (about half), but as a born and raised Canadian, the non-life and limb stuff does simply take longer to deal with. I've done the three hour emergency visit wait (several times - we have kids ). When it comes to life and limb care (or cancer/cardio-pulmonary) it is every bit as fast and effective as the esteemed American healthcare system.

I'm not sure how many clinics are open on weekends in the US. That just seems like something that happens everywhere. Our family doctor is closed on the weekends. 

This past year my wife went for elective back surgery then developed a post-surgery infection in her spine (which of course we did not realize until she was readmitted with incredible pain). We live in a small rural northern town. She was ambulanced to the nearest MRI, 2 hours away, then returned. The MRI revealed the abscess forming, so she was then medevac'd to Vancouver to one of the hospitals specializing in neurological and spinal care. She had surgery almost immediately upon arrival (10PM) by the same surgeon who did the first surgery.  I don't want to know the cost of a three 2-hour ambulance rides, 2 Lear jet flights and about 3 weeks in hospital. We were fully covered under the provincial health care plan, except for a small cost for one ambulance call-out.

It's been a while since I've seen the numbers, but on a per-person basis, we spend about 1/2 the dollars on healthcare than US citizens. Drug costs are cheaper due to bulk purchases. That is something that you guys get screwed over with. 

But less spending comes with trade-offs. I can't walk in tomorrow and get an MRI unless I go to a private clinic (we do have those). If you are injured on the job, then of course it's through workers compensation which is a secondary insurance service which can access treatments in a more timely manner.

What it comes down to: if you've got the money and/or insurance, the US can give you the best service and quickly, although certainly not the cheapest. If you don't have insurance, you are one emergency away from bankruptcy. Having insurance so intimately tied with your employer can also handcuff people into not moving for fear of loss of insurance. In Canada, I can get the same service in any province or territory.

There's a pile more nuance and details to this, so I would always take these types of 'exposes' with a grain of salt. Any program that is edited and wants to push a narrative is obviously going to only reveal that which is beneficial to that narrative. We simply have to trust that our journalist here is being honest. I don't know him at all so I can't really form an opinion in that regard.

[teddyv]

On 11/13/2020 at 7:07 AM, anynmsfmly said:

I'm glad you think my life long illness, Is so much less severe than yours. 

I neither wrote not implied that.