I need your help. I need to write a research paper comparing the Candian , UK and US healthcare systems. For instance, how is insurance funded? Is there any private insurance? How long is the wait to see a specialist or get a procedure? IS there any one who is not covered? What do you think of the quality of care that is provided? What improvments are needed? Are prescripition drugs covered? How commonly are tests such as MRi, CT, Nuc med scans ordered? What are the advantages/disadvatages of your healthcare system vs the USA
It seems so simple and yet we are battling to get good healthcare both in the Us and Canada. There has to be a better way to offer healthcare to people in a timely fashion and if you and i can see it why can't our governments. There idea of making it better is to cut beds and delete nursing positions replacing them with over paid paper pushers.
I've lived and worked in both Canada and the US. As a patient, I prefer the Canadian system hands down for a variety of reasons. This has been covered on this bb many times so I suggest you do a search. Just type in universal health care and you'll get a zillion threads.
You prefer to wait upwards of a year to get the treatment you give half your paycheque to receive. We pay so much in taxes and we receive squat in return. If I am sick and need some type of surgery I should have the option to at least be able to go and pay for it out of pocket if I so desire and if I want to go the govenrment route it's availble as well. It's my money I have earned it and I should have more of a say as to where it's spent.
The Canadian people need to realize that with a properly run two tier system wait times will decrease across the board.
You prefer to wait upwards of a year to get the treatment you give half your paycheque to receive. We pay so much in taxes and we receive squat in return. If I am sick and need some type of surgery I should have the option to at least be able to go and pay for it out of pocket if I so desire and if I want to go the govenrment route it's availble as well. It's my money I have earned it and I should have more of a say as to where it's spent.
The Canadian people need to realize that with a properly run two tier system wait times will decrease across the board.
The problem here is you think Americans don't pay as much and get good coverage. I live in California and after my medical insurance and taxes I take home the same percentage of my wages as I did when I lived in Ontario. Despite that, if I get really sick I could lose EVERYTHING because my insurance pays 80% of this and 20% of that.... Do you want to lose your home to pay for your healthcare? I don't. One of the leading causes of bankruptcy in this country is healthcare costs. I can't speak for Manitoba, but my experiences as a patient in BC and Ontario are 100 times better than my experiences as a patient in Washington when my family was uninsured. My dad waited a couple months to get his knee replacement. It was a pain in the butt, yet not enough to make him cash in his RRSPs and drive to Seattle.
If you want to pay out of pocket for surgery, you can. You just need to catch a flight across the border. This happens for Americans too. I was in LAX catching a flight home and talked to a man who paid and came from Seattle so that he could have the type of hip surgery he wanted (his insurance wouldn't pay for it because they said he could have another kind). If you have 20K in the bank you can do it too. And this was someone who HAD insurance!!! Trust me, wait times here increase significantly if you consider the number of people who either can't access treatment or delay accessing it for financial reasons. The Canadian system has a lot of problems, but insurance companies and lawyers run things down here and that isn't worth the tradeoff IMO. I think a lot of Canadians would have a different view of things if they actually lived here and had to seek treatment. A two tiered system doesn't decrease wait times. Doctor and nurse shortages aren't solved simply by building a new hospital and it's staff shortages that cause waitlists.
One of the most honest books I've read on the topic is called "universal health care: What Americans can learn from the Canadian experience".
These books by Canadian health critic, Dr. Michael Rachlis would be a very useful resource:
Strong Medicine: How to Save Canada's Health Care System and
Second opinion : what's wrong with Canada's health-care system and how to fix it
I am sure they would be avaliable in most local Canadian libraries, or Alibris (http://www.alibris.com) has used copies available for a couple of bucks.
And, Undecided, the tone of your post COULD be interpreted as expecting the posters here to do your homework for you. I know that's not the case, but that's why markjrn responded so negatively to it. Sorry, we're usually more helpful than that! :)
I think you may have misunderstood my statements, I don't think that the American system is better than the Canadian. If I really had to choose I would rather be in the Canadian system. What I am saying is that the Canadian system needs to make some major changes in order to improve things.
No, I would never base a research paper just on replies I received on a message board. Sorry if that was the way it was intrepreted. I have done hours and hours of research on the subject. Alot of the information I have come across is biased one way or another or may be outdated. I just was interested in hearing some first hand experiences.
Obviously, there are many pros and cons to both systems. Although I have excellent coverage myself, I think the US healthcare system is heavily flawed. It is scary to think that if you lose your job, you lose your coverage. The only way to qualify for government aid is to be over 65 or very, very poor. If you are middle class and cannot get insurance through work- you are screwed. I pay $200 a month for health and dental benefits through my husband's work. We also pay a ton of money through taxes to fund Medicare and Medicaid. IF we had to buy private insurance on our own, I think it would costs us $700-$1000 month for family coverage. That would not include drug coverage. Now you can see why so many American's simply cannot afford health insurance.
Pam- what you said is true- Many people go bankrupt due to a catasrophic injury or disease. People also die because they cannot afford an expensive ioperation or treatment. Most of the money in our healthcare system goes to treat a minority of people with serious healthcare conditions who have uncertain outcomes at best
I could go on and on but I will get off my soapbox. I am a student in the healthcare arena ( nuclear medicine) and my past experience includes insurance and medical malpractice so I have seen the worst of the system.
Thank you to all who took the time to reply. I will be certain to look up the articles/links you suggested.
No, I would never base a research paper just on replies I received on a message board. Sorry if that was the way it was intrepreted. I have done hours and hours of research on the subject. Alot of the information I have come across is biased one way or another or may be outdated. I just was interested in hearing some first hand experiences.
Obviously, there are many pros and cons to both systems. Although I have excellent coverage myself, I think the US healthcare system is heavily flawed. It is scary to think that if you lose your job, you lose your coverage. The only way to qualify for government aid is to be over 65 or very, very poor. If you are middle class and cannot get insurance through work- you are screwed. I pay $200 a month for health and dental benefits through my husband's work. We also pay a ton of money through taxes to fund Medicare and Medicaid. IF we had to buy private insurance on our own, I think it would costs us $700-$1000 month for family coverage. That would not include drug coverage. Now you can see why so many American's simply cannot afford health insurance.
Pam- what you said is true- Many people go bankrupt due to a catasrophic injury or disease. People also die because they cannot afford an expensive ioperation or treatment. Most of the money in our healthcare system goes to treat a minority of people with serious healthcare conditions who have uncertain outcomes at best
I could go on and on but I will get off my soapbox. I am a student in the healthcare arena ( nuclear medicine) and my past experience includes insurance and medical malpractice so I have seen the worst of the system.
Thank you to all who took the time to reply. I will be certain to look up the articles/links you suggested.
Monica
First of all, you don't pay ' a ton of money' to finance Medicare and Medicaid. Both are funded thru the general revenue received from personal and business taxes. Second, the bulk of money, spent in health care goes to treat those with more complex cases, whose outcomes are not that uncertain, if the health care system were aimed a prevention. I suggest you do some more research into the economics of our healthcare system.
I think you may have misunderstood my statements, I don't think that the American system is better than the Canadian. If I really had to choose I would rather be in the Canadian system. What I am saying is that the Canadian system needs to make some major changes in order to improve things.
I DEFINITELY agree with you on that one. Unfortunately the Romanow report recommendations seem to have been mostly ignored by the provincial government. I just find a lot of Canadians think a twotiered system is the cure all. The UK has a two tiered system and they haven't eliminated waitlists either. Unfortunately thanks to NAFTA, once we privatize we are heading straight for the American system.
I DEFINITELY agree with you on that one. Unfortunately the Romanow report recommendations seem to have been mostly ignored by the provincial government. I just find a lot of Canadians think a twotiered system is the cure all. The UK has a two tiered system and they haven't eliminated waitlists either. Unfortunately thanks to NAFTA, once we privatize we are heading straight for the American system.
A properly run two tier system can work and very efficiently, the problem is we have to many adminstrators that don't listen to the front line people and that is a main reason why our system is failing. The people in charge are to busy looking at the dollars instead of finding a happy medium in between pt care and cost. Our governments have put pt care and safety on the back burner.
Although I have excellent coverage myself, I think the US healthcare system is heavily flawed. It is scary to think that if you lose your job, you lose your coverage. The only way to qualify for government aid is to be over 65 or very, very poor.
Actually, in many US states, being "very, very poor" is no longer enough -- in my state (as in many others), the state finances are in such dire shape that there have been severe cutbacks in Medicaid (suppposedly, the publicly funded healthcare for the "poor") -- to the extent that, basically, the only people that qualify for Medicaid are young children, the elderly, and the disabled. It is virtually impossible for non-disabled adults to qualify, regardless of how poor they are, or how severe their healthcare needs may be ...
(Oh, but we can still afford plenty of corporate welfare ...)
PamelaJean
44 Posts
It seems so simple and yet we are battling to get good healthcare both in the Us and Canada. There has to be a better way to offer healthcare to people in a timely fashion and if you and i can see it why can't our governments. There idea of making it better is to cut beds and delete nursing positions replacing them with over paid paper pushers.