Canadian VS. American Health Plan

[askater11]

Which is better?

I've heard stories about each system. Living in the U.S. and being part of the health system I see how our system runs. I'm limited in my knowledge of the Canadian Health Care system.

I had a patient's family member that moved to Windsor...he said, "Canadian's have the best health care system. It's not a thing like american's system." All I asked him was how the wait for routine testing was. He said there's no wait.

But my cousin's and some aunt's live there and tell me different stories.

Also I work with a lot of Canadian nurses. Is it true when you graduate you're limited where you can work. She said, "I'm working here because there's better opportunities in Canada I'd have to work in a nursing home" I forget how long she said she'd have to.

[angelbear]

I have a question but please be patient with me as my pain med may have kicked in but I am still going to try to make sense of this question. I have a handicapped child and I myself am chronically ill. How are these things handled by the canadian medical system. Here in the good old USA we have spent the better part of our married life trying to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table and medical bill collector's off our backs. We have filed bankruptsy, had our wages garnished and are currently paying hefty payments to a credit card which contains only medical bills. We have never ever been in debt for anything other than med bills and car payment. It has been a toss up before I became a nurse we were poor enough to qualify for SSI and crippled childrens but then we had no money. Now I am a nurse and my faithful husband works just as he has always done we therefore no longer qualify for any help so it stands to reason that we also still have no money. Go figure darned if ya do and darned if ya dont. Seriously I really do want to know how chronic illness is handled in Canada. Thanks in advance.

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

Angelbear, if you remember from our PMs, I too have a handicapped child. When he was a kid all services were covered by the province under Children's Special Services. Now that he's a grown up he's still covered (actually better covered) under Adult Services. The only out-of-pocket expenses we have are for prescription drugs out-of-hospital, parking, and meals. There may be some co-pay for add-ons to wheelchairs and such.

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

Perhaps Nova Scotia is not as well funded as other provinces. My mother was chronically ill for 6 years and we were pleasantly surprised when she was able to get an appointment with any specialist in less than 2 months- average wait was about 4 months. I also have an uncle that died on the waiting list for a quadruple CABG, after 4 months he died 3 days before being admitted. The wait for joint replacement surgery is over a year, and by the time our elderly get in they have become so debilitated that they don't fully recover.

Working as a nurse I was in pediatrics which is better funded than adult services- just because the public doesn't tolerate poor facilities for their kids. But we cleaned and reused single use items until they were falling apart. We wouldn't have had enough moniters if we could have tripled the amount, so we'd wheel them from bed to bed and do spot checks. In contrast the unit I worked on in the USA had telemetry and central monitoring, supplies used once and tossed. (I nearly went through the garbage to send them to my buddies back home!) Their playroom was bigger than my old unit, and they weren't under pressure to minimize supplies- if the kids needed it they got it (loved that).

Having your health care covered is wonderful, but in my experience Americans get seen and treated before my family in Canada could get word of their first appointment.

And remember the Nova Scotia nurses strike about 1 1/2 years ago? The government cut nursing wages, and then passed a law making it illegal for nurses to strike. It's hard to make progress when your employer is able to change the law to suit them.

[Ada]

In Finland we have a system which is very much like the Canadian one. The public health care is 11 euros (approx. the same in dollars) a year where you can visit as many times as you need to and that covers everything. Hospital stays are 26 euros a night.

The down sides are long waiting lists and long waiting times (in the ER for example).

However if you wish you can see a doctor on a private practice and pay part of it of your own pocket and get government reimbursement later. (I went to see a private practisioner and the bill was 44 € and I was reimbursed 11 €). There are also insurance policies which pay for all of your private practice costs. Which means that if you're sick of waiting you can get treated privately.

Down sides of this option: the costs

I know I'm a student and I wouldn't be able to go to doctor without this public health care system.