this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023
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Hello, Canadians of Lemmy! Down in the USA there is a lot of conflicting information regarding the efficacy of y'alls healthcare systems. Without revealing my personal bias, I was hoping for some anecdotes or summaries from those whom actually live there.

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[โ€“] CoderKat@lemm.ee 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Finding a GP is the worst part of it. My experience with emergencies and a hearing loss has been fantastic. I felt my wait time for emergencies has been reasonable for the symptoms I was having. I had appendicitis as a kid and the health care was as top notch as can be for what's quite a miserable experience for a kid.

I have a cochlear implant and my experience in getting audiologist appointments has been again perfectly reasonable. Most appointments are just routine and could wait a few months. Once I had broken equipment and was able to get a same day appointment. The province paid for everything while I was a kid (countless tests and multiple hearing aids), paid for the cochlear implant surgery, and covered most of the costs of the processor (not really sure why that part isn't 100%).

The best part is not a single one of these has cost any money besides time off work and transportation. I've seen what some Americans pay. I probably would have been at least 50k in debt if I were an uninsured American.

The GP thing, though... it took me 6 months when I moved to Ontario just to get through waitlists, after taking time to sign up for every clinic waitlist I could. My then-partner later tried out the government run program for finding a GP and was not exactly amused by the fact that it never found a doctor even 3 years later when she gave up on it. She just used walk in clinics and referrals from those.