Canadian Health Care
A friend sent me the following link Ten Myths about Canadian Health Care: Busted
As an American citizen and a landed immigrant of Canada, I can attest to the accuracy of the experience of this other American citizen and landed immigrant of Canada.
- Canada’s health care system is “socialized medicine.”
False - Doctors are hurt financially by single-payer health care.
True and False - Wait times in Canada are horrendous.
True and False again - You have to wait forever to get a family doctor.
False - You don’t get to choose your own doctor.
Scurrilously False - Canada’s care plan only covers the basics. You’re still on your own for any extras, including prescription drugs. And you still have to pay for it.
True — but not as big an issue as you might think - Canadian drugs are not the same.
More preposterious bogosity - Publicly-funded programs will inevitably lead to rationed health care, particularly for the elderly.
False. And bogglingly so - People won’t be responsible for their own health if they’re not being forced to pay for the consequences.
False - This all sounds great — but the taxes to cover it are just unaffordable. And besides, isn’t the system in bad financial shape?
False.
The article explains each conclusion in-depth. Clearly and nicely done.
Americans who have not lived under another health care system have a hard time understanding the real differences. I mean, really lived under another health care system: taxes, doctors, the whole nine yards. For the past six years, I have lived under the Canadian system; before that, I lived over fifty years under the American system, the last ten of which were hell.
During my first year in Canada, I had private insurance. That insurance was far cheaper here than in the states….and covered far more. NO DEDUCTIBLES!
Occasionally I have to go to the Fountain Valley Dental Care clinic. I have no dental coverage. Filling: $75, includes x-rays. Extraction: $75.
Some Canadians take dental insurance…or employers supply it. I find the prices so cheap that dental insurance seems ridiculous…especially after going to American dentists.
Prescription drugs? Very inexpensive, especially after you are 65! My aged mother lives in the states. She has to spend hours figuring out if a particular drug is covered under her plan. Then she pays a fortune anyway.
Optometrists? After sixty-five, examinations and prescriptions are free. Was I pleasantly surprised!
Bottom line? I could never retire if I had stayed in the states. During the last twenty years, I was self-employed. Health care costs just kept on rising.