corona
Active member
13888578:erikK said:The wait list times for say, a knee surgery, are like 4 years long. And the quality of treatment is also much higher in the States.
Even for minor things here the care is hopeless. A couple years back I sustained a pretty serious eye injury at work and had to get driven to I think 4 or 5 different hospitals before we found one where I could be seen within 3 hours. Too many people go in to the doctor because they have a minor cough or sore throat. This was within the major metropolitan area of Vancouver. Almost ended up driving down to Bellingham that day for my eye. It's an embarrassment to the First World.
Sucks you had a shitty experience. All my experiences in the hospital system have been fine and I don't know of a single person who's had to go to the States for medical treatment barring those one-off orphan disease treatments you hear about on the news. Also some dental surgeries, but that's unrelated.
I completely agree too many people go to the hospital for non-emergency situations when they should just stay at home. That needs to be worked on and it does seriously clog up the system.
What's your source that the quality of the treatment is any higher in the States? The quality of the services (ie food, wait times, etc), sure. But the actual medical treatments? I'd like some source for that.
As for wait times, who do you know who's waited 4 years for knee surgery? I flat out don't believe that. Average wait time for general surgery is 12 weeks, or if that falls under orthopedic surgery average wait time is 38 weeks. I had an orthopedic surgery and waited a week. Procedure would have cost me 50+ grand in the States. Also now I'm looking at various wait times in different countries and the US really isn't that great. About the same as most European countries with public healthcare.
Yes, Canadian health care needs huge improvements and is seriously lacking in many areas. No, it's not nearly as bad as you make it out to be. Unless you can afford (and qualify for) the best insurance or can afford expensive procedures then the Canadian system is better than a private model.