What do you think of Your Health Care System?

[RC]

I am looking to collect information on how Canadians feel about their Health Care System. feelings, comments, experiences.
If you have had any experience with our health care system, how did that turn out?
I am looking for input from any Canadians, their friends, neighbors, relatives, living in Canada. And Canadians living anywhere. So spread this around please.
The idea being a reference for real responses from actual people, not filtered through some news or professional blog.

I already know some about your health care system and how it compares to ours, as I was dating a woman living in Winnipeg for a couple of years.


I have setup a web site to post the responses to.
At the moment this is brand new, so there is not much there.


To see posted Responses: http://www.timws.com/canada/canadahealthcare.html
To submit Responses: http://www.timws.com/canada/feedback_form.html or E-mail [e-mail]

I would like First Names, Last initial (last name optional), City and Province

If the above URL's are too long to remember, I have a link at the top of my home page. http://www.timws.com

timws means This Is My Web Site, It took me almost 2 months to come up with something I could live with that wasn't already taken. This web site was my Christmas present this past year.

If you have any suggestions or problems, PM me.

Thank you

[polly7]

1. Just from personal experience...

There are definitely areas we need improvement on, especially in more rural areas, but I wouldn't trade it for any other system. I have worked as a Special-Care Aide, Paramedic Basic and have a very large family and group of friends - but my experience comes mostly from the rural areas I've worked in. None of my family has ever had to wait for emergency diagnostics or treatment. I have had elder uncles and aunts wait reasonable lengths of time (in comparison to yours assuming you're in the U.S.) for what we call elective surgery - joint replacement, etc, but most of us agree the trade off to waiting in line is better than having to pay large sums of money besides what we already pay in taxes or through insurance thru work to get it elsewhere. If immediate needs can't be met in my area, my province will pay for it to be covered anywere in the world that it can ...... so far, not one of us has left the country for anything but dental and eyeglasses (which are not covered in the basic plan)..... but should be, especially dental. I can email you a recent case of my brand new nephew's rare, innovative surgery involving extremely complex heart surgery at two weeks old, cases of the elderly we've taken to the city for tests, treatment and brought back within days ....... not names of those of course because of confidentiality but I will forward what I can from my own and family experience if that will help.

[RC]

2. Yes thank you.

Unless you object, I am going to post your response above this evening, with some minor editing.
The day job calls.

RC

[polly7]

6. Sorry for the late reply....

Definitely if there's anything there, please go ahead and use it. I had a brother in law paralyzed in BC skiing a week ago and we've been busy also running his Dad back and forth for tests so not around much. I will email my niece re the treatment her infant son had in Edmonton and recovery in Saskatoon - they all call him their miracle baby. Will stress once again though, none of the surgery or upcoming rehab will be charged extra for my bil, my father in law's testing (his gas will be reimbursed when he does his taxes this year) and my little nephew's family, who incurred what I imagine would cost 100's of thousands of dollars of treatment received not one bill. They too will be reimbursed for out of hospital meds (which are also not covered here, but should be. Not asking for much, heh?:) Will get back to you,if I'm not too late on the particulars of our 'miracle baby's' surgery and treatment ....... basically they abandoned one side of his heart and rerouted everything ....... he looks and is doing amazingly well.

Here is my niece's email back to me:

"Jace had Hypoplastic left heart syndrome and the Norwood Procedure, the Glenn Procedure and theFontaine Procedure. This is the three step Procedure that is done for these little ones. And the surgeon and team, and everyone that has been associated with anything to do with Jace have been amazing they are truly miracle workers. We have absolutely nothing bad to say about one person that was involved."

They were going to operate in-utero but discovered his heart was much worse than they thought, so after birth, let him get a bit stronger in Saskatoon before sending him to the top pediatric cardiologist in Edmonton. A real little trooper and now tough as nails, he's catching right up and doing so, so well.

[sixstrings75]

3. ...

Here you go...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5736222

[glarius]

4. Speaking of our taxes being highter than U.S.A....They pay hundreds of dollars a month in fees

for their health care which we DON'T. Who is farther ahead financially, in the long run?
Also....the phony ad of Shona Holmes was shown to the American public. This ad, where Shona says she would have died in Canada with a brain cancer because the government wouldn't allow her timely treatment is a bald-faced lie. In the first place she didn't have a brain tumor!. What she had (and the reason why she was given a few months to wait in Canada) was a condition called Rathke's Cleft Cyst, on her pituitary gland. "Rathke's Cleft Cysts are not true tumors or neoplasms; instead they are benign cysts." The medical community in Ontario, where she lives, knew this and scheduled other, urgent cases ahead of her for surgery....which is quite reasonable. She immediately went south to the Mayo clinic and had the operation and then did the phony ad for the anti-universal health people in the U.S.A saying she couldn't get care in Canada because her Canadian government doesn't care about it's citizens.
Not only was this TV ad played all over the U.S.A., but she has been interviewed on Fox TV and other places, spewing her lies. I have also read that she is allied with some group in Ontario that wants to get private health insurance going here.
I believe that many of your citizens, who are not as politically aware as those here on DU, have connected in their minds, this supposed terrible treatment of Canadians with the health plan Pres. Obama is championing and that is why approval of his plan is falling in the polls. The American public is probably being scared off. They don't want to suffer the fate of those poor Canadians!
Good luck to you in America. You deserve universal care like the rest of the civilized countries in the world!

[Spazito]

5. An added irony to the Shona sham...

She then proceeded to take her demand for the re-payment of her expenses by the government of Ontario to the Supreme Court of Canada. She and her rabid right wing supporters want PRIVATIZED health care but want their right to PRIVATIZED health care provided by PRIVATE for profit institutions to be paid for using PUBLIC tax dollars. The heighth of hypocrisy!

[Bragi]

7. We are about 10-1 in favour of our system compared to US system

Harris/Decima Poll Finds 10-1 Majority in Comparing Views on Canadian and American Health Care Systems

A recent Harris/Decima poll in Canada found there was a 10-to-1 majority of Canadians that believed their health care system was "superior" to the U.S. system.

Additionally, according to the poll, a 70 percent majority of Canadians thought their system was "performing well"; and that a majority favored an expansion of public sector health care.
In the poll, most people (55 percent) favored an expansion of the public…

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P1-169248304.html

This is why even far-right conservatives here who prefer US-style health care (like our PM) just shut up about it.

[DRex]

8. I have peace of mind...

it's priceless.

The actual price of it (my taxes) are negligible. Have also lived in the UK under NHS, and although people always complain about their healthcare, no one wants to trade it. In both Canada and the UK, I had an ease of access to care that was never in question. I couldn't love my country if it was otherwise, it is immoral to deny anyone care at any time in any country.

[polly7]

9. You are so right.

Having peace of mind is invaluable when it comes to getting sick or injury. Illnes can be stopped in its tracks if dx'd early enough and people aren't afraid to go in when first feeling badly, rehab and follow-ups aren't skipped because of any extra cost. Contagious disease is more often controlled, and on and on. We have real problems at the moment with keeping enough rural doctors, but then we always have .... it's just gotten worse lately as they've gotten older or decided they miss doing more complicated surgeries they trained so long for. We'll fix that though:). Somehow.

[RC]

10. I'm still looking for Comments and experiences.

To see posted Responses: http://www.timws.com/canada/canadahealthcare.html
To submit Responses: http://www.timws.com/canada/feedback_form.html or E-mail [e-mail]

Thank you.