I'm interested in hearing from Canadians and people who have lived
there. What do you like about your health care system? What do you not
like? What works and doesn't work? Anybody who has lived in any other
country is welcome to tell about theirs also. I'm just looking to learn
here.

Hello GaMail, Myself I think we still have pretty good health care
system here in Canada but we're losing a lot of doctors and nurses.
They're moving to the States for more money. I can't really blame them
in a way. It's not getting any cheaper to live here nowdays.

hey grey just wondering from what i hear i hear it takes like say you
get an mri done its quiet the waiting list? just in you rgeneral
opinion how well do you think it is working

Anything that isn't immediate life threatening you get on a waiting
list. Depending on test / procedure the wait can be from 3 - 18 months.
This is why there are private clinics opening where you pay for services
but get them done much quicker.

Ah, Socialism. Don't you love it? More services! We need more
services! We will take care of you. A chicken in every pot!

Yet even with it's current faults it still beats the no insurance / no
cash = no treatment system.

Correction: persons in need of care cannot be turned away. Unfortunately
the taxpayers are forced to foot the bill for the litigating nature of
our country. Oops, the doctor misdiagnosed my hangnail! I'll sue!

Privat hospitals do not have to provide service without insurance or
cash Zap. And around here if you go to the hospital, county, the doctors
suck, while in the case of a broken arm the send you to a bone and joint
doctor and then your screwed again. Insurance or cash..

"Correction: persons in need of care cannot be turned away.
Unfortunately
the taxpayers are forced to foot the bill for the litigating nature of
our country. Oops, the doctor misdiagnosed my hangnail! I'll sue! "


Sorry Zap but it is very much a pay now or dont get healthy government
here. Yes we have "free Clinics" but they are severely understaffed and
they can only do general medicine, they can not do surgeries are set
bones or anything other than diagnose you and prescribe meds. And if
youh ave no money or i
nsurance for the meds then your **** outtta luck as well.

the one loophole to this is most states DO have a no insurance or
capability of paying needed program for mental health. Most states
require that if you need hospitalization for mental health issues (lets
say your suicidal) the hospital is required to accept you and provide
you with the same care that a paying patient gets.
.

I'm glad this was brought up. I really believe that socialized health
care squashes incentive and motivation. To live with an almost free,
take-a number system is just OK. Doctors, etc. that all get paid the
same just begs for defection to a free enterprise system. Citizens that
are taxed to the bone to get health care cheaply aren't much better off.
Believe me, we pay through the nose for operations, etc. But we have
the greatest medical facilities in the WORLD. That's why people from
all over the world come here for treatment. Financial aid, charity, etc
are available for those who can't afford it. Doctors aren't going to
perform heart, liver transplants for nuttin.

American Insurance vs socialized medicine?

Insurance, in my opinion, has become the evil of health care. Many
people have a basic misconception when it comes to doctors and salary in
a free enterprise system.

Yes, there are many doctors who are swimming in green. However, the
insurance system has been the cause of rising health care costs overall.
The system itself has caused doctors to raise the cost of care. The
family doc, is quickly becoming a thing of the past, because in order to
take certain insurance patients, they must make deals with the insurance
company. So If a doc is close to big business, or big factories, they
will likely NEED to accept their insurance plans in order to stay in
business. However, in so doing, they are forced to fulfill the
requirements of the plan.

Some of these requirements expect doctors to accept X number of new
patients from their ins plan per year. Then, they expect certain
routine visits to be paid at a cost THEY deem reasonable. They also
expect certain follow up visits and can even dictate when they believe
an unpaid follow up is necessary. They also require that the insured see
a general practitioner for referrals, for which the doc is paid only a
minimal fee.

All of these patients must somehow fit into a doctors schedule. Think
about that. A doctor running their own business can take new patients
any time or not. Having the inability to close their doors to new
patients, limits the time they have to spend on any patient. Now the
doctors, require more help, even hiring RN's for the office and people
to run triage. They spend more on machines and updating their
technology in order to keep pace - and then - you guessed it the cost of
service mush rise.

I personally know 5 general practitioners who will be closing their
business within the next 3 to 5 years. All will be following another
career path within the medical field. Paths that will more clearly
allow them to make more money.

In the mean time, we are loosing the family doc, and those who do not
have insurance are forced to use emergency rooms for fevers and more
minor issues. And yes, that cost must be absorbed somewhere - where?
By those who pay, those with insurance, so what happens, insurance rates
go up.

I have interviewed for 4 jobs in the last 4 months, that do not and will
not offer insurance benefits, I think this will become more prevailent
as small businesses can not afford the premiums of insurance.

IT NEEDS TO CHANGE!

the usa has some of the WORST health care coverage for its people in the
world! germany is number 1 in health care for its people.

Really. Where us the data on that one Mr. happy?

Excuse me, 4fun, I don't know when you have been in Germany, but the
health care system has gone to the dogs.

What do you mean by coverage? Insurance or availability of coverage?

Hi Andrea! It grates on me when people post a blurb with no substance
and don't have facts to back it, just what they feel. Yes, it is true
that our healthcare system sucks but it is due in no small part to the
litigating mentality of people followed by an over-abundance of lawyers.
People aren't impressed with the "attorney" title here anymore. They
might as well be called snake oil salesmen. Same amount of respect for
basically the same title.

Yeah, insurance companies run the show in the US and goverments run the
show iN socialized medicine countries. Which is worse? The government,
I say. To all of you who live in such systems, I ask you, since you
have to sell your soul to the devil anyway, and have twins co-joined at
the head with little chance at survival, where would you come? Munich,
Mexico City, Paris or the Texas Medical Center?

Steve, I was talking about the German system, I don't know about yours
in the US

I know Andrea, I was ad-libbing to 4fun's comment.

Sushi, I think that's a bit harsh. If you look at the WHO statistics you
will find that our system does fall behind Germany and that France (God
help us all) is number one. We get the lowest bang for the buck out of
all wealthy countries as the WHO classifies them. That being said, we do
have some of the finest medical facilities in the world, including the
Mayo Clinic/Campus which is a short drive from here, but we don't have a
lock on that either. Get rid of the frvolous lawsuits and it would be a
start to fixing the system.