If it wasn’t for our Canadian health care I would be broke, I ruptured my liver about 20 years ago. The nurses bill for my surgery alone was ten grand. It cost me nothing not to mention the broken leg broken arm, hand foot fingers and countless stitches. Yes sometimes I had more balls then brains.
Our medical system may not be perfect but I wouldn’t want to live in the states and go bankrupt from a bad snowboarding spill.
Our health system is good, now worksafe bc, well, can you say corrupt.
Our system is not free like some people think, we pay every month but in the long run it’s pretty dam good, so sometimes and only sometimes you have to weight in the emergency room (3 hours was my max for stitches) it’s worth it when it saves me from owing thousands.

Here is the really odd part, it costs the Canadian government less percentage wise than the US government, depite its rip off of its citizens with privatization, which always means, putting a corporate friend middle man between you and your tax dollar boomeranging back into your community, and therefore costs you so much more, but makes their rich friends richer, like vampires. Thats what privatization means. As opposed to simply running the damn thing at the lowest cost, as a direct service to the people who paid for it. Which is the right thing to do. We don't need any sucklings hanging off the purse and demanding more money, now do we?

In anycase, it cost the US more percentage wise, while shorting citizens of what it means to be advanced and civilized, GOOD HEALTH CARE. Health care for the rich only. Wow I love the idea of US freedom. Freedom to ripped off and abused.

Australia has one of the most efficient Public Health Care systems in the entire world. Most in Australia/Many in Australia use a combination of private and public health care/health insurance. If anyone wants to tell me how terrible public healthcare is I shall simply point them to my health and the money I have spent on health. I gaurantee in almost all cases I will be healthier and would have spent less then most.

In my own personal opinion and from
Previous visits as a Canadian in Ontario. We have a wait time of roughly 10 minutes sometimes to a possible 4 hours here, but no more and no less. I live near Toronto so it's usually packed but makes pretty good timing. The doctors and nurses are very informative and do their job well. As you all know our healthcare covers most, if not all of the dangers life throws at you. Even surgeries that are necessary or are for cosmetic are often approved for free. We get many pills and prescriptions without a fee such as birth control etc.., and we actually have a longer lifespan than the typical American.

For you Americans, work for healthcare, you're missing out.
I wouldn't wanna have cancer or some form of diseases in you're Country.
If I broke my leg in Michigan I'd walk it off and wait until I got home to see the doctor.
Healthcare us the best care.

My Canadian Health Care experience over the last 57 years?

Excellent.

The same can be said for my wife, both my sons, my and her parents and the extended families throughout.

Nothing comes to mind which could be regarded as a slam on the system although I do have a problem with a practitioner's readiness to prescribe addictive pills. As far as getting prompt care is concerned, yes, it is sliding a bit, but I allot that to political meddling and a slumping economy.

The Canadian health care system though not perfect is pretty awesome. It is substantially underfunded which only requires the will of the people to change. The Canadian Government has wasted billions and billions of $ on sponsorship and gun registry scandals and security at g8/g20 that would have been more than enough to top up the system for decades.
The break down and sell off to the wealthy has begun in earnest with the public/private partnership. This is the foot in the door. Soon the wealthy will complain about contributing to the public system when they are paying for private and when the rich stop contributing that will be the end. By the way it is the rich who make and amend the laws! The writing is on the wall.....RIP public healthcare in Canada. Hello Blue Cross and crappy U.S. style coverages.
brice

For the most part, our health care system is wonderful. Yes, I often have to wait two hours if I go to emergency, however that is the result of too many people going there for non-emergency issues. And for any type of specialist, there is often a wait. But the care, once you get it is great! I only once ever got mad at a dr here, was in a lot of pain in my jaw and he tried to send me home to go to a dentist, even though i kept telling him it was my sinuses. I normally wouldnt have argued, but the pain was OMGGGGG level. He finally agreed to do a scan, and found that every sinus in my head was impacted, had to spend the night on iv drips. There was also the issue i had for years trying to get a new fertility drug prescribed to me, trying out dr after dr, asking them all for it so i could start a family, and not one dr was willing to try the new drug as it was still an unproven. I finally found a dr that trusted me enough to try it and now i have two kids.
But seriously - our healthcare is not a thing we should complain about. It is "free" in that while most of us help foot the bill, even the poorest person can walk in and get help. my american sister paid thousands of dolars to have her baby state-side, while mine up here was cost free. it almost didnt seem fair.
I will say, there may components lacking in mental health - a few friends with depression or anxiety that i feel dont get the help they need, and a family member with MS that is still patiently waiting for liberation treatment to come to a town near her.
i think canadians just dont know how bad it can be, and dont appreciate how much goes into maintaining it. we need more doctors, we need more nurses, bu until we get them, people need to stay away from the emergency rooms! if a digit isnt about to fall of, or if loads of blood isnt leaking out somewhere, or if your appendix isnt about to burst -you have to ask yourself, is it really an EMERGENCY???

I have three chronic conditions that require six types of meds to keep me healthy. I make under 20k a year so if I was to pay those meds, like those in the US, it was break me finacially which would require me to go on welfare and medicaid, thus adding to the burden, having the province pay for the meds is cheaper than having someone who doesn't work go on welfare.

My only complaint with healthcare is waiting times, from a simle visit to the doctor to an ER emerg, I had to wait 4 hours in pain from gastroenteritis to wait for the only doctor on staff to see me....I cursed healthcare then I'll be honest but realizing that I would have foot the bill for the demerol and room fees had I been an American, makes me happy to be where I am.

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The Canadian system is a model that the Untied states of Embarrassment should strive to attain. I would rather accept the end than enter a American hospital for treatment. We have the best trained doctors/nurses, the equipment they use is state of the art. I have seen the dilapidated state of the American Slum hospitals and think that a person would end up much worse just for being admitted to them. As a Canadian, I am proud of our system and support it. And I must say that we are loosing the good neighbor feeling that we used to have towards the dirty 'cans.

Originally posted by Paul47

Our system is not free like some people think, we pay every month but in the long run it’s pretty dam good, so sometimes and only sometimes you have to weight in the emergency room (3 hours was my max for stitches) it’s worth it when it saves me from owing thousands.

I used to live in BC, so I remember having to pay, unless your yearly income is too low, then they pay part or all of it. I haven't been there for about 5 years, I think I paid around $60 a month (?).

Saskatchewan basic healthcare is free, and we have the option for Blue Cross if we want prescription coverage, and/or dental, vision care, prosthetics, ambulance, etc.

Saskatchewan has less than 1 million people, so there is very little wait time unless you're in Saskatoon or Regina (larger cities). In the smaller towns, there isn't enough population to have a wait time, and it's easy to find a doctor if there isn't hardly any people. The biggest problem with the small towns is that if you need special care or special tests - heart, dialysis, mammograms, etc, then you have to go to one of the city hospitals, usually a couple of hours away, minimum.

I'm not sure which other provinces are free, I think Alberta is also.

Originally posted by incrediblelousminds
I just read a post from someone making that same tired claim about how dysfunctional the Canadian Health Care system is, how everyone is rationed care, and how you ALL have to fly down to the states to receive quality care. While this claim isnt as common today as it was a year ago during the heath care debates in the US, it is still a meme oft-perpetuated by the Right, often with 'studies' presented by think tanks like 'the Fraser Institute'.

So, I' like some Canadians opinions on this. Tell us about your experiences with Health Care in Canada, and how much legitimacy you think these claims hold.

In our system, if you need immediate care you will get it, but if your need is of a non-emergency basis - get in line. Simple as that.

Our emergency wards are overloaded due to people treating them like a free clinic, but I did read a study that if we started charging as little as $10.00 for an emerg visit, it would cut down on over 50% of the visit.

I'll tell you what is wrong with the Canadian health care...it's all going private! ^^

On another note, I really want you guys to read this even if I am a bit late in the topic...
I think a socialist medicare system might be expensive but of course it's worth it in the end and I've read most of what you guys say and I wouldn't give away our system for anything in the world.
A lot of Americans are too much affected by anti-communism propaganda to accept that it is a better way.

But all of this makes me think...the most stupid thing we do concerning free health care is ;
Not working on not getting sick in the first place.

I'm not saying nothing is done to make Canadians healthier but I mean, GMO's?
Still relying on oil thaaaaat much?
Taking off phys. ed. in most school programs?
Bring in extra taxes on what is considered unhealthy, go ahead!!
Anything we could do to be healthier would lower the cost of out health care

I may be a bit anti-globalism with what I'm about to say but,
Canada has everything man need, or almost.
Canada isn't going to win the global race, hell no.
Canada will only get rapped in the end, all resources taken by wealthy NON-Canadians, gone will be our land of nature and freedom.

We should innovate, get out of the race, go in our own direction and make Canada Canadian!
Not Americanized, globalized and in debt, forget that crap.
I don't want a corporate Canada where money is worth more then human values.

We have what it takes and we don't want no one to take it from us.

Originally posted by SpeachM1litant
Australia has one of the most efficient Public Health Care systems in the entire world. Most in Australia/Many in Australia use a combination of private and public health care/health insurance. If anyone wants to tell me how terrible public healthcare is I shall simply point them to my health and the money I have spent on health. I gaurantee in almost all cases I will be healthier and would have spent less then most.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner!

I cannot speak to how Americans feel about their system because I don't live there, but Canadians are so freaking stubborn that it borders on insanity. Canadians (for the most part) outright refuse to look at other options for health care for fear that it might "americanize" our glorious health care system. The Canadian system will eventually go broke, there is no avoiding it. In most provinces, health care is already consuming 50 percent of their provincial budget, and that is an unsustainable number. There is nothing wrong with SOME private care, non-essential procedures like hips, knees, joints and other procedures like MRI's could easily be handled by a private system. The public system could even pay a portion of this cost, while private insurers could be used for the remainder. Make no mistake, continuing on this course of 100% public while looking at no other options WILL eventually destitute the health system in Canada. Looking at the worlds best health systems, the vast majority of them are a compromised mix between private and public health care. That is the direction that both the United States and Canada should pursue.