Spectator Magazine had some interesting data about the cost of Canada's single payer system:
"For the average Canadian family, between 1997 and 2017, the cost of public health care insurance increased 3.2 times as fast as the cost of food, 2.7 times as fast as the cost of clothing, 1.9 times as fast as the cost of shelter, and 1.8 times faster than average income."
"In 2016/17, an estimated 23.5% of tax revenues (income) was spent on health care."
and what do you get for all those taxes:
"The Commonwealth Fund ranked the quality of Canada’s system right down. . . noting large percentages of seriously ill Canadians waiting months to see specialists. It even conceded that Canada scored worse in this regard than the United States."
I was speaking to a friend of mine several years ago who lives outside of Toronto and he mentioned he had to visit the Dr’s office tomorrow and made it sound much more dramatic than say you or I. We all hate waiting and when mentioning an appointment have “that” tone in our voice. Well I inquired about it. He said that he would end up spending most of the day at the Dr’s office bc of the set up of Canada’s health care system. He said average wait for a visit is 4-6 hours of waiting to completion. He went on to tell me a bit more about it and it really started to hit me.....they do not have Dr’s offices it seems, they are all ER’s. That’s the kinda wait times you see in triage at my closest hospital. It is a Trauma I center so its not a small place but still....I’m not trying to cold hearted, but I work 3 jobs as a medic for my family, not because universal healthcare can go up 20-180% each year with only one provider available. I would have respected Obama a bit more if he had the nuts to have admitted his shitty system was destroying the middle class and needed to be overhauled or better yet, dissolved. Let insurance companies complete nationally vs state to state. I’m tired of hearing the recycled reason of price hiking is due to rates being under where should be. Who’s fucking fault is that? No mine? No matter though, because as Americans if its the private sector that fucks up, as in insurance period, cough...homeowners.....they should eat the red, not us. In NC HO insurance has gone up average 20% the past several consecutive years, with the companies asking for 25% raises. Reasoning being hurricanes have tore the outer banks a new one. Well, I do not live there, own property their, nor did I underquote premiums as they did. It’s win win for those assholes. They simply hedge on not have any major natural disasters for 1.5 to 2 decades giving premium quotes too low, then when they catch the ole 1,2 from Mother Nature, they simply say those premiums were calculated too low and now we need to raise our costs 20% for 3-5 years straight now. It’s a fucking hedge fund that doesn’t lose, they literally have a safety net. A perfect business, one that simply loses the hedge they made can turn around to raise their services cost bc you have to have it.
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It sounds like your friend doesn't have a family doctor and uses a clinic. I live in the same province and never have more than a 5 minute wait at my doctor's office.
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Very well could be, he could use something more like a FastMed or Urgent Care which are clinics we have down here vs ER or Family Dr. Even here though, depending on what practice you go to you will see all grades of diff wait times. I finally switched from my last one because making an appointment is pointless when it takes an hour to call you back. The new practice I’m at, I may sit 5-10 in the lobby and then 5 in the room before the Dr. or PA sees me.
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For sure, mine can take an hour to call you back. If it is urgent you go to Emergency. The clinics are for walk-ins as far as I know, not sure if they take appointments, and for the same kind of things you might see your doctor for. We also have a free health line where you can call and talk to a nurse. When it's all paid by the provincial insurance, you choose whatever one works.
I think the biggest reason our costs have been moving higher is because the baby boomers have hit retirement age, but we are pretty unaware of costs since we never see a bill. An older population just uses the doctor more.
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I appreciate the explanation and differences of how they are in Canada. Our plan is destroying people because each year premiums have risen through providers by upwards of a 180%, so if you do not qualify for a substady you are getting hammered, which is most persons who do not have insurance through work. Also, bc this is killing the companies providing insurance in the states, most have pulled anchor because they are hemmoringing money. That leaves usually one provider that can be utilized. And if you do not sign up for health care your are penalized. So you are raped in alot of places if you get insurance as a healthy person or you do not get it. just a cluster F. lol
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I hope it gets sorted out. At some point, countries figure out that a healthy population is more productive. I used to travel in the U.S. often and wherever I went, I was asked about Canadian healthcare, and I can only speak for Ontario and OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan) since healthcare is under each province's jurisdiction. It's not perfect but overall we like it and the provinces do actively work on solving the problems. One of the challenges we face are American medical companies, wanting to enter our market, actively undermining our system.
The biggest misconceptions are that it's entirely owned by the public, that it is free to everyone (such as visitors), and that we don't have extra health insurance. None are true. To receive the free services, I need my magic OHIP card. Doctors' office, clinics, etc, are privately owned, and extra health insurance is often a company benefit. For instance, it might pay to upgrade you to a semi-private or private hospital room vs a ward. Now a ward at my hospital is 4 beds to a room so I don't think of that as torture.
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I find it interesting the parts of healthcare not protected/subsidized by govt are getting more efficient and charging clients less e.g. Lasik and Cosmetic.
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Yeah, because that makes sense. I can understand LASIK if you have terrible eyesight as a whole, not just having to use glasses to read or something. Cosmetic should only be covered for anyone who was victim to a horrific incident/medical issue, not elective cosmetic.
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