By now, Americans are familiar with the stories of Canadians who would have died because of their government's health care rationing had they not been able to get care in the United States. Perhaps just as troubling, however, are the less dramatic but much more common instances of minor indignities, inequities and inconveniences imposed by the Canadian health care system.
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Monday, September 14, 2009
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3 comments:
Don't fool yourself lady, long waits are commonplace in the States too. I needed endoscopic sinus surgery and had to wait 1.5 months to see the specialist and then 2 more months for the surgery. Then, even though I had "good" health insurance, I paid $900 for the surgery, about two weeks pay for a carpenter like myself. I typically wait 2 weeks for a doctor's appointment, and as soon as the doctor gets in the room, I feel like she wants me out of there as fast as possible. Sure the Canadian system has problems. No system is perfect, but I would argue that a system that lets 15000 people die each year because they can't afford preventative or routine care is immoral. But what would you know about that, living in Canada as you do.
Every American has access to routine and acute health care through Medicaid. This is a program for the poor, so those with decent incomes and some assets may find death preferable to "spending down" to eligibility levels, but that is their choice.
There is a genuine issue with people with chronic bad health and pre-existing conditions. Currently, that is handled in states with either high risk pools or an "insurer of last resort," like Michigan's Blue Cross.
In general, in health care as in other things, the U.S. system does require people to take responsibility for themselves - it's a do-it-yourself society (although some would prefer a nanny state relieve us of that responsibility). But we do NOT step over the ailing bodies in the streets of those who could be cured if only they could afford the care.
PS. Several hundred thousand Canadian citizens are unable to obtain in a place in a primary care practice, because government rationing and cost controls have the effect of creating a doctor shortage. For those individuals the only (highly unsatisfactory) alternative is walk-in clinics. As the Canadian supreme court said about the system in Quebec, "access to a waiting list is not access to health care."
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