in other words you don't give a flying F about your neighbour who lost his job and will be BROKE if he gets cancer or just die without treatment very nice my American friend very nice one day it will be YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!
My doctor is very competent and has not left Canada for the US for higher wages. Higher wages are certainly available in the US, but high wages isn't everything a doctor looks for...so that argument is defeated. And the fact about sick people just being left to die because of waiting lists is just plain wrong. Waiting lists are prioritized on the basis of urgency, not the amount of money you have. So if someone is going to die in 7 days vs. you going to die in 6 months, then yes, you will have to wait for the more urgent patient to have his surgery first.
Great point. A lot of the time this argument blends those two questions together (myself included). 1. Satisfied with Canadian healthcare system? No. 2. Trade it for the US system? Fuck No.
<i>I've always thought a good poll for Canadians would be: 1. Are you satisfied with your healthcare system? 2. Would you trade it for what they have in the US?</i> I wonder what would happen if we had the same poll in the US. I assume 80% would say they are satisfied and 20% (the people who currently do not have health insurance) would say they are unsatisfied. Does that mean things are fine? I don't think so. Furthermore, the people comprising the 80% number could easily be without health insurance tomorrow (or whenever COBRA runs out) if they are laid off and would presumably all of a sudden not be all that happy with our system.
I absolutely care, I live in a state that insures virtually everyone. To suggest that people are dieing on the streets of cancer is ridiculous.
I have this same discussion frequently with friends. The debate really isn't about whether to 'socialize' or not, ...the US Health Care System is already 1/2 socialized. According to Wikipedia(Does that sound like Michael Scott?) "...government spending accounted for 45.1% of total health spending in the U.S. in 2005." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_health_care http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/46/2/38980580.pdf With Taxpayers already assuming 1/2 of the nations health care cost, the more appropriate question is, "Where do we go from here?" Should the US Government go "All-in" and assume full control and responsibility for the health care of its citizens? Given the Government's performance thus far, I believe the short answer is "No". As we heard routinely during the election, the US is the only industrialized nation that doesn't have universal health care. True. Yet, with the exception of 1 nation, the US spends a bigger portion of its GDP on health care than all other United Nation members. And with this massive outlay of funds, the US Government has only managed to directly cover 27.8% of its citizens. Not exactly the kind of performance that merits a raise ...especially with more taxpayer money. "But we can 'Change' it", "We'll cut out pork barrel spending", "No more lobbyist", ...and on ad infinitum. These are nice mantras, and are great fun to volley around during campaigns, but the reality is an entrenched Washington pool of career crooks. Washington money managers make Madoff's antics look like child's play. I believe the best thing would be for the Government to slowly exit(over a number of years) the healthcare business. But it would probably be easier to create aerial swine...
He might be competent is he a general practioner? General practioners don't make much, I was more talking about specialties ie cardiac and neuro surgons etc. The US is second to none in diagnostics of major ailments. Have you heard of anybody in Canada dieing waiting in line for a procedure? I have my wifes grandfather, could not get a simple angioplasty.
London and Ottawa has the lowest ratio of patients per doctor in Canada, for people don't know, these two place are most white population, in the contrast, if you live in Scarborough(immigration pop.), Jane and Finch (chronicle poor) of Toronto, hospitals are the worst in Canada, but severing the most patients per general population. Canadian System is not perfect. Keep exercising and healthy diets are best prevention of most illness, Hospitals are the dirtiest place on this planet, So stay away from it.
Yes the Dr. I was referring to was a general practitioner but the same goes for specialists as well. The higher wages are certainly an incentive to practice in the USA over Canada, but that is the only benefit. Some people will be motivated by the money to move south, others won't. It doesn't mean all competent Dr.'s from Canada move to the USA. And no, I don't know anyone dieing waiting in line for a procedure. That doesn't mean it isn't happening this very moment, I was only trying to get the point across that people aren't dropping like flies because of slowness as some of the other posts suggested. I'm sorry to hear about your wife's grandfather, but why didn't he travel to the USA to get treatment if the wait was too great in Canada? My guess is because it is too expensive, which is the very same problem many Americans face in the exact same situation.
Agreed, the Canadian system is far from perfect. However I believe it is better than the alternatives out there.