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Originally Posted by 12clicks
I'd say the Canadian government did a fantastic job lowering the expectations of it's citizens.
When you start excusing wait times because it's "non-life threatening" you're getting something significantly less than US medical care.
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Every medical facility does triage and prioritizes patients, even in the good ol USA. Worst cases get seen first no matter how much cash you have in hand.
Here if it's serious you get seen, in my experience. If it's not that serious and you can wait, you *may* have to wait a while before being seen. In the ER it could be a few hours (some ER's are worse than others of course). If it's your family doctor referring you to a specialist you get an appointment booked for you and when that appointment day arrives you go see that specialist. If things worsen for you in the meantime then your priority changes.
The difference here is that everyone gets treated, the level of quality in health care is just as high here or higher as it is anywhere else including the US and everyone gets that level of care regardless of how much they can afford to pay.
AND we always have the option to head south and pay for treatment when needed.
Did you know Canadians under our system have a higher life expectancy and lower infant mortality rate than the US? Among G8 nations as I said earlier we are second only to Australia, the US being last in the 8th spot. Among all nations the US is a pretty dismal 37th place, not that great for a nation that currently already spends the most money on health care than any other.
I'm not saying the US needs the same system as we have, as that would be extremely naive, but to deny that your system doesn't need some retooling is to be in denial. Where I do become a bit naive is in my hoping against hope that that retooling doesn't come at the price of negatively affecting people like yourself who ARE happy with the quality of care they and their families now have.
The US is a great country and has certainly made the biggest impression on the globe in modern history. It really should have a truly great health care system that looks after ALL of it's citizens. It should certainly be in the top 5 of all health care systems in the world, but it isn't.