Canadians waiting for surgery. On Marketplace Morning Report

[raccoon]

on pbs radio they were talking about that this morning. I just had to respond, so I just went to marketplace.org and sent this email.

"This morning Steve McNally, on Marketplace, told about how many Canadians, though they have "free" health care, have long waits to have surgery done. He told of a Canadian woman who needed hip replacement surgery and went to the US to get it done, paying $28,000 for it, because she was told that she'd have to wait ten months to get it done in Canada.

Canadian health care, first of all, is not free. They pay for it with their taxes.

While there may be some problems with Canada’s national health care system, it should be pointed out that many Americans have no health care at all. They would not have to worry about waiting for surgery if they have no insurance. They wouldn’t have to wait; they simply wouldn’t have the surgery done. Unless they are fortunate enough to be able to pay for it out of pocket—which few people are.

More and more employers do not provide group health insurance for their employees. If an uninsured person is so fortunate as to be able to afford premiums for an individual health plan, the insurance company may refused to insure him/her because of pre-existing conditions, or may provide coverage but attach a rider(s) to the policy which state that the insurance company will not cover this particular condition.

Canada’s national health plan may not be perfect, but it sure beats having no health care coverage at all. Ask any uninsured American."

[trotsky]

1. What's interesting, too...

is that in survey after survey, Canadians prefer their system to a private insurance U.S.-type system.

[ret5hd]

2. last summer my wife and i took a trip to calgary...

we decided to conduct a voluntary, informal poll. we asked every shop-keeper, bartender, waitperson, desk-clerk we came across. Bar none (except one), they all preferred their existing system to the u.s.'s.

The only exception was a bartender in a casino in calgary...and he was a u.s. citizen registered as a republican (we didn't ask his party, he volunteered).

[fasttense]

3. Whoopy ding dong, I had to wait six months for a colonoscomy (spelling?).

I have great health Insurance but facilities in very rural East Tennessee are hard to find, so I have to frequently wait to get seen or get a tests done. (I haven't needed major surgery, so I can't attest to that). It sure beats not having any health insurance and having to pay out thousands of dollars every time I get seen by a doctor. What about the long waits in Emergency Rooms? If health care for every American citizen will result in some waiting, I say big deal, we have to wait already and then we pay through the nose.