Canada

1 readers

1 users here now

The country of Canada

founded 1 year ago

Dumb question regarding single payer health in the USA (kbin.social)

submitted 7 months ago by Maeve@kbin.social to c/Canada@kbin.social

11 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I apologize if this is offensive, but I really need to understand:

An instructor of a course I'm taking claims that several years ago, a 70 year old Canadian friend of the family was denied a stent, due to age. This sounds sus af to me, so I'm wondering if there is any province that would deny this procedure to someone based solely on their age?

Tyia.

top 11 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] owenfromcanada@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

I'm a dual citizen, currently living in the States. I can say with certainty that there is some lingering fear mongering around single-payer healthcare. Lots of Americans have this idea that healthcare in other countries is terrible. I've had people flat-out refuse to believe that hospital wait times for deadly emergencies don't regularly exceed 6 hours in Canada.

I'm guessing that the people profiting from the current system in the US have done their best to convince everyone that it's the best way.

[–] lettruthout@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The question is unclear... The friend was in the USA at the time? Is it not understood that the USA has no single payer (aka universal) healthcare?

[–] Maeve@kbin.social 1 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I failed in the title! My apologies. I said in a class that single-payer care seemed it would be more accessible to more citizens, after introducing an article claiming (probably correctly, or close to correctly) that 40% of Americans forego necessary medical care because we can't afford it, yet the US spends more on health care, per capita, than any other developed nation. She then told the related tale.

[–] FMT99@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I don't know about Canada specifically, but doctors do routinely weigh operations against the possible impact on quality of life. For example anesthetic can be a significant risk for elderly patients and the cure may end up being worse than three disease. How and if this happened in this case I can't say but it's one possible explanation.

[–] Maeve@kbin.social 1 points 7 months ago

Thank you

[–] NateNate60@lemmy.world 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

What is the question?

[–] Maeve@kbin.social 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

so I'm wondering if there is any province that would deny this procedure to someone based solely on their age?

[–] NotSteve_@lemmy.ca 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I've never heard of a procedure being denied here due to age or anything else like that

[–] Maeve@kbin.social 1 points 7 months ago

Yes, I think she's just anti single-prayer. She also read us the Hippocratic oath and emphasized the part about not euthanizing anyone or assisting in abortion, while completely not saying anything about the diet mention.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

So as an American I’ve heard stories of such things happening here as well. Doctors weigh a lot and money is usually the last concern when it comes to potentially lifesaving procedures. Old age makes surgery risky and decreases how good good outcomes can get.

In general governments are more willing to pay to keep people alive than for profit corporations. And if insurance says no few Americans can afford to override it

[–] Maeve@kbin.social 1 points 7 months ago

I'm American, so is she. She's so far proven not to be very honest.