Asklemmy

As a Canadian living in the USA… the efficiency of the US healthcare system in comparison to Canada’s is INCREDIBLY overstated. From my experience it has been no more efficient, but a HELL of a lot more expensive and insanely depressing.

Honest answer?

If you’ve lived through Canadian HC for a few decades, you’ll notice a few things:

1. It’s no where near as good as it was in the past.

2. It’s broken now after Covid and the apathetic response to the stress upon the system.

3. The conservative governments (mostly provincial) are purposely not putting monies where needed (eg more staff), and underfunding everything in it so the system breaks. This way, their associates can swoop in and take over with “more efficient” and faster HC services - and they can then begin raking in the enormous profit margins seen in the private US system (many of whom are their ‘associates’).

Canadians in most provinces are currently being slow-walked into private, for profit HC.

If you don’t see this. You’re truly blinded by your comforting illusions of what Canada is now, compared to 20-30 years ago. Shit, even 10.

Two-tiered HC coning right up!

Healthcare is provincial here so it varies. I'm in Ontario, the largest province in Canada. Hospital emergency wait rooms have been fairly short in my limited experience. Accessing a doctor is free but getting a family doctor can be difficult. My daughter was delivered at a hospital in a smaller city of 50k. The staff and amenities were great. They had lactation consultants on staff etc. All free to use.

My biggest concern with the healthcare system in Canada is medical staff burnout. I hope they get the staff get the support they need

I'm an American ex-pat living as a permanent resident in Canada, and nothing irks me more than listening to idiots from back home arguining with my about the efficacy of our healthcare because "they know a guy who has told them horror stories". You don't know shit, and if you really do know someone telling you horror stories about Canadian healthcare, you're most likely speaking to an overprivledged conservative cunt who lives a lavish life on his oil money whilst somehow convincing himself he has it bad purely because Trudeau is in power.

ER wait times? Sure. But no worse than in the States. And unlike there I don't have a fuck ton of medical debt, like 5k ER bills for an ultrasound of all things. Fuck me for having inexplicable pain in my abdomen once that never amounted to anything but debt. My mistake.

My mom was diagnosed with stage 1 cancer this year at her bi-annual check by her doctor. Within 1 month she had a biopsy and surgery to remove the cancerous tumour. She was also put on an experimental treatment to boost her immune system for the couple of weeks she had to wait to get surgery.

She’s now cancer free. Total cost? $0.

I will be very less than nice to anyone who advocates to get rid of our system.

Put it this way. My wife just got a something equivalent to a heart attack. Ambulance got here in 5 minutes. She spent 3 nights in the hospital, got all the tests, one of Canada's best docs in the field... it cost $135 for something to do with the ambulance.

They saved her life, she's seeing a specialist, figured out the meds and prepped if/when it happens again.

Everything was seamless. I don't know how it could have been better.

I've lived in both US and Canada.

In Canada, my mother had cancer stayed in a private room for weeks until she died and we only paid for the phone bill for her room and parking. I didn't get a bill from the hospital at all. No claims on insurance.

I had a baby in 2021 and again my wife had a private room while she recovered from her C section and my infant was in the NICU for a week. No bill from the hospital, no claims on insurance. Just paid for parking.

My wife who is type 1 diabetic had 100% of her needs covered through the ontario healthcare system.

I hear stories that in Ontario you have to wait for non-urgent care due to Premier Doug Ford not paying nurses enough, but I have not seen this personally.

I had work coverage that provided dental, vision, and drug coverage if needed.

In the US, I'm 100% dependent on work provided benefits AND I have to pay $4k a year for those benefits. Wife went for some routine work done and it was covered by work insurance. In ontario it would have been a no cost thing too, no dealing with insurance. We wouldn't have waited in Ontario, we didn't wait here either.

There seem to be waits here for specialists. Haven't had to go to the hospital for anything yet.

I had a totally benign fatty mass attached to the back of my skull right where it meets my neck that was a minor irritation and made me uncomfortable with short haircuts. I mentioned it to a doctor during a checkup and a month later it was removed. I'm sporting a short haircut today. It cost me pennies on my taxes.

It's overburdened. We have a huge labour shortages for nurses and doctors as the boomers retire without enough replacements. Finding a regular family doctor takes a long time. When Covid spikes, the hospital staff are run ragged. But they make a nice living helping people, there are worse fields to work in.

When you need medical attention you get it. If you need surgery today, you get surgery today. If you need surgery or a specialist but there's no rush, you're on a wait list that can be months or even over a year long.

Three weeks ago I had abdominal pain. I went to Emergency and was diagnosed with appendicitis, which had fully ruptured. I was transferred to another hospital in the same city, and had an operation that night. Due to complications I was in hospital for 8 days. The biggest expense during this entire time was the parking fees when my family came to visit. I left with a prescription, and no bill. Yes, some of our wait times are stupid long, but in this case I got what I needed promptly and was not rushed home until I was deemed ready.

My retired mom had cancer a few years back, pretty bad. Surgery, chemo, radiation therapy, hair fell out and wore a wig. The only expense was for parking. Even the wig was provided by a charity adjacent to cancer care. Surgery, one to three weeks in the hospital, treatments spanning over a year, costing a couple hundred dollars in parking fees. No stress about losing her home due to hospital expenses.

I'd take that over what can be had in America any time.

Not perfect, but good. It could be way better if people would stop voting for Con Premiers.

Honestly, not that great. In Ontario, health care has been heavily affected by Doug Ford's Bill 124, which capped nurse's wages at 1% a year for 3 years, causing horribly long wait times and understaffing at hospitals

Still using "at least we're not the USA!" to excuse a dumpster fire of a healthcare system, as we have been for years.

It is important to note that there isn't a "Canadian" healthcare system, per se. It is largely a provincial jurisdiction. So while Manitoba sees outrageous wait times, hallway medicine, nurse shortages, and people dying in ER waiting rooms because they don't have a GP, I can't speak for every province in the country.

Anecdotally, my experience is... OK. I'm lucky to have a family doctor that I've had since childhood. That said, I've moved multiple times since then, and I haven't been able to find a doctor in any of my new communities, so if I ever need to see a GP, its an hour drive back to my hometown.

Where I am the system is a bit overwhelmed but it sure beats having to go into massive debt or having to have healthcare insurance tied to employment.

It's there if I need it, and that's all I need honestly.

It's good but aggressively underfunded.

You know... this one is really complex.

Nobody feels hesitation to seek the help they need based on funds, but now due to access or wait times.

It wasn't always like this, in the 2000s it was marvellous, I remember having a medical scare, showed up at the ER, got triaged right into a doctor because it was time sensitive, saw the doc, got an examination, got cleared, and discharged $0.

Now I feel apprehensive about seeing my local clinic for a sprained ankle.

Now you may wonder why? Is the system failing? Well...yes, and no.

In the last decade or so, we've seen a strong ultra-right push to "prove" the system is broken and we need to copy the way the US has it (so the politicians friends that own pharma services etc... get lucrative deals from the govt) by sabotaging it directly and saying "look, it's broken"

One very clear instance, in my province (AB) during the biggest health emergency we've seen in our life time (COVID) our health minister made it his life's mission to piss off the medical community, under funding programs, firing component leaders in health and replacing them with yes men, and ripping up the doctor/nurse contracts.

What we've seen is docs and nurses leaving on droves as we doubled down on COVID hardship and squeezed the money out of frontline workers instead of going after the real problem which was lazy/corrupt middle management and supply chain problems.

To make things worse, our lab services was a crown-run (means it's a govt funded business, which can think bigger because they don't have to seek profits so hard, just efficient use of government funds) and they cancelled that contract to replace it with a private sector business.

Since this wait times for lab services have multiplied 10x, costs to consumers became a thing (it was free before) and all that government funding has disappeared.

So lose, lose, lose for the People.

So it's gotten worse, because the people in charge at the government are gifting, and killing it on purpose.

Would I trade it for your system? Not in a heartbeat, never, we just need to solve our fucked up politics and get people who care in power.

I had some abdominal issues that caused me to be buckled over in severe pain most of the day. I was unable to eat anything for days at a time. I was constantly feeling faint and nauseous and vomiting frequently. I did a video appointment with my doctor and he referred me to get an abdominal ultrasound.

It took about a week for the office to call me to schedule the tests. They told me the next available appointment they had was 8 months out.

I wound up getting better on my own after about 6 weeks of hell. I never did find out what was wrong.

BTW I’m not in Canada I’m in the good old US of A where we “Don’t experience delays” and have “Top-Notch Healthcare” thanks to out non socialized systems. I even had good insurance.

The healthcare system in the US is in shambles. It is extremely inefficient and absolutely resistant to any kind of change, because as bad as things are right now, change introduces risk that might make it worse. No matter how slim the chance or how much the benefits outweigh the risks, nobody wants to accept meaningful changes.

In BC the wait times are longer. But this is a symptom of the underfunding from federal and provincial governments. COVID was tough on the health care systems and they did a lot with what they had. Now should be the time to invest in the system and get it healthy again, but apparently more pipelines are the priority...

But overall I am satisfied for our system. It does not cost taxpayers an arm and a leg to fund it, and an emergency won't bankrupt someone. If you can get extended coverage such as with an employer then you pay minimal amounts for dental, medications, and paramedical services like physio or massage. From what I hear of the American system, I am shocked that there isn't some type of bare bones coverage for everyone. Sounds like a third world country from up here...

ITT:

People born in Canada: Not great / has problems

US expats living in Canada: It’s mother’s milk

I have no experience with healthcare outside of Canada but as a kid I was always taken for routine checkups. As a young adult I don't do regular checkups but that's mostly because I'm lazy and finding a doctor who will agree to give you regular checkups can be difficult.

I did have an experience where my vision became blurred and I passed out. Someone called an ambulance for me and I was seen by a doctor as soon as I got to the hospital.

They did some basic tests and decided whatever it was it wasn't immediately killing me so they referred me to a neurologist. Their office setup some appointments for me over the next week and I had all kinds of tests run. Then I was sent to a heart specialist who scheduled me for a bunch of tests the next week. At the end of it all both specialist decided I was perfectly healthy and I passed out because of an anxiety attack. They recommended I be less stressed. Thanks!

Between the hospital visit, the tests by the neurologist, and the tests by the cardiologist, I paid $45 for the ambulance and got my clean bill of health in about 2 weeks.

Not sure about Canada's HC system, but I do know lots of older Americans who love to complain and gripe about socialism and socialized medicine. All while being on Medicare and loving it.

The man who spread that misinformation actually admitted his guilt. I recommend you read this article:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/08/06/health-insurance-canada-lie/

Both good and severely lacking in areas.

The main issues are in access to care in a timely manner for issues that aren't urgent. It can take longer than you want to get treatment on issues that affect quality of life, but not actually life threatening if they aren't treated, whether it be getting into a specialist, getting tests like MRIs or surgery. We also have a significant shortage of family doctors in many places. The aging population and poor affordability of the country are significantly stressing the system though with little relief in sight.

But, if you are sick and need care, you will generally get it when you need it and it isn't going to cost you much as most things are covered by the province's medical services plan (medications, dental, vision, etc. will cost you unfortunately). Personally I've not had many issues when I've needed care. I see a specialist for a condition and other than waiting to get an initial appointment I haven't had to wait an unreasonable amount of time for tests or anything I've had done.

Leaps and bounds better than the US system (then again, anything is) but I've had a number of chronic issues that Canadian doctors couldn't resolve in a year, went back to Mexico and it was fixed in days.

It’s definitely underfunded as others have said, but I will also add this - I had the opportunity on Saturday this past weekend to spend some time in the local emergency room due to a sports related injury. I got X-rays and a CT scan done and saw a Dr. And the cost to me personally was about 6 hours. The waiting was a bit long but I brought a book and some snacks, and everyone was super nice.

I've lived in 4 provinces and one territory. There is a wide gamut of health care since provinces have much more say than the federal government. Alberta has been sone of the most efficient and quickest health care out of the places I've lived. Manitoba's pretty lackluster mostly in time it takes to get anything done, fairly inefficient.

Overall I think we have a pretty solid system. My first child was born via an emergency c section, the most I paid was I think $15 for the parking I believe plus another 100 ish bucks because we wanted a private room. My second was a planned c section due to pregnancy difficulties so again those pesky parking fees jumped up our cost there but didn't pay for the private room this time . Still got a private room but didn't pay anything for it.

I've been in for everything from x rays to surgery to stitches, and I love being able to walk out of the hospital with nothing more than a wave.

Is it perfect? Hell no, there's still a lot of room to improve. But hey isn't that true of everything?

It's declined a lot, in the 90s it was considered some of the best in the world, it's far off from that now, so you'll hear a lot of complaining in canadian only spaces, but you'll find very very few canadians would take the American system over ours. Anything american media says about canadian Healthcare being bad is almost always untrue.

There is some political drama playing out. The pandemic obviously stressed the system, the (liberal) federal government (who primarily funds healthcare) wanted to give the (largely conservative) provincial governments money for Healthcare, but the provinces have been dragging their feet accepting money that can be only spent on Healthcare. Here in Ontario our premier is making obvious moves to make our Healthcare more private (while largely denying it), something largely unpopular but could be very profitable to particular people.

In my personal experience I have no complaints. I needed a urologist for some non urgent issues and that took 4months. But as a kid I hit my head and (it turns out coincidentally) started getting really severe headaches a few weeks later, I got seen by a neurologist within a day or saying I had a problem. In 2020 I broke my leg and was in and out of the hospital in less than an hour despite covid, had several follow uos without waits either.

If I am in great pain or have been injured I just head to the emergency room. My only concern is how long I will have to wait to be seen which is based on urgency of the symptoms.

If you have a less severe or chronic problem it can take a few months to see various specialists or get non critical surgery. However again time is the only concern.

The only financial concerns come from over the counter medication for which there are programs for low income and extended coverage that is commonly covered by employers. Also most of these medications are cheaper in Canada vs the US as the provinces negotiate the costs. For an example an epi pen purchased without coverage of any kind is 6x cheaper in Canada than the US.

It is slow at times but I never have a financial concern during an emergency or that I need to go to a specific in network hospital like in the US.

One thing to bear in mind is that while federal funding is involved, every province manages its own healthcare system. As such, you can expect some variation depending on where you live.

I live in Ontario, as do most of my family members. My experience is that hospital care here has been top notch. I have never had a situation in which I felt myself or a family member was not getting everything they needed during a medical crisis.

It is more in everyday care situations where the system has some issues. The pandemic had a knack for revealing healthcare problems with laser focus wherever you were in the world. Here, it was in nursing homes where we saw super-spreading events. My mom's building alone saw 9 deaths in a single month. It's not really surprising. Our current conservative premier took it upon himself to find "efficiencies" in long-term care at the beginning of his term.

Where I live, there has also been a chronic family physician shortage. I know people who have been on the waiting list for over 5 years at this point. They can always go into walk-in clinic or the hospital out-patient centre, but still... I think there is a problem with medium-sized cities in Ontario that they are a bit too large to qualify as under-serviced communities and get more help from the province? They figure that since the city has a couple of major hospitals, it can't be under-serviced.