How health care works in Canada

[mudesi]

First, the most glaring weakness. Health care in Canada is not universal in the sense that every region has the exact same system. In Canada, health care is handled by the provinces.

This is why sometimes you will hear about the "horror stories" of Canadian health care. More often than not, those stories come from provinces that have had conservative governments cutting funds over years in the same vein that the Republicans run on "government doesn't work" and then subsequently prove it.

In fact, health care in Alberta is coming dangerously close to the American equivalent, thanks to Alberta being the "Canadian Texas". Lots of conservatives there. :puke:

But in the provinces where the liberals dominate, here is how it works.

Taxes. You pay income taxes. You pay sales taxes. Some things that are harmful to health, such as cigarettes, are taxed more. Note that these taxes go to all levels of government: Federal and provincial, and both levels of government pay into the health care system.

Everyone gets a card. In Ontario, it's called the OHIP card. When you want to see your doctor, when you break your leg and need to go to the emergency room, when you catch the flu you can go to a walk in clinic, or have a doctor make a house call. It doesn't matter how you get your care, you show the card and you get your health care. No worries about bills.

The system itself is not run by any government. Doctors don't call politicians to make their diagnoses. Nurses don't report to politicians. The system is funded by the government. If a particular hospital needs more beds, they are bought and paid for by the government. There is no profit.

Is this system perfect? No. The system does not work when the government does not adequately fund it. This is where conservatives try to pull their dirty tricks: They cut funding to the system, the system starts to fail, and then they blame it on "socialized medicine" and push for privatization. The people don't usually fall for it, but sometimes they do. (Like I said above - Alberta had had a conservative provincial government for God knows how long now).

When you hear about the dreaded wait time horror stories, chances are you're hearing about a system that was severely underfunded by a conservative government that somehow managed to sneak its way into power. (Ontario is a prime example of this. Eight years of conservative cut backs in health and education has devastated the province, and it's only now starting to get slowly back on track thanks to 4 years of a liberal government).

Anyone who is against universal health care ought to think about this analogy: Imagine if the government decided to not fund the roads. Over a few years, the roads deteriorate. Imagine then that the government blamed it on "socialized transportation", and pushed for private companies to own the roads. Imagine that you'd have to pay a private, for profit, "road insurance". Imagine toll booths at every intersection.

I doubt anyone would support the above.

Another ridiculous argument the conservatives make is that people "drown in taxes". A week stay at a typical hospital costs tens of thousands of dollars. By having everyone pay into the system while only a few actually use it at any given time, everyone wins in the end. When eventually you need health care, (and everyone does at some point in their life), you will have paid less over the years than what it would have cost for your week stay.

Not to mention that the last thing you need when you're in distress is to have to worry about how you're going to pay for your health care. Also, people go to the doctor more willingly when they don't have to pay. This prevents even more expensive care in the long run, since doctors can catch things early and cure them.

Also, because the government pays for health care, the government has an incentive to pay for other healthy initiatives. Stop smoking campaigns, fighting childhood obesity, free flu shots, etc. The healthier the population is, the less money the government needs to spend on health care, the lower they can set taxes, and the more easily they can get reelected. It's a win-win for everybody.

[Suich]

1. Thanks!

That's the best explanation I've ever seen!

:)

[bobbolink]

2. Interesting info. I hope Canadians will respond. Did you post it to their forum?

Thanks for starting this discussion.

While waiting for replies, here's a video to pass on to others:

www.grahamazon.com/sp/whatissinglepayer.php

[Maven]

3. This is helpful

especially when talking to doctors who cite the same "horror stories" you mention.

Recommended.

[Clintonista2]

4. I am Canadian, and I would NEVER give up my health care

Exactly right about health-care only working under certain governments. Back during the Mike Harris days in Ontario (Think George Bush, 100X worse), we saw HUGE cuts to health care, with no money, hospitals had to fire hundreds of nurses.

I always laugh when people say "Canadians complain about long waits", etc. Of course we complain! That doesn't mean we want to get rid of our system! Just because I complain about the many potholes in roads downtown, doesn't mean I think we should get rid of roads.

[MisterHowdy]

5. good post

I am Canadian, and I love our system.
It's not perfect, but its free.

Me and my family have always have good, fast medical care when we needed it.

I think its important to post this now,
to contrast HRC's "plan",
her plan to essentially keep things the way they are.

n/t

[superkia]

6. Does anyone have a plan like this I could vote for or...

are they all pretty much the same?

[JTFrog]

7. Dennis Kucinich.

HR 676.

[mudesi]

13. Yes!

It's too bad people don't want to vote for him because the media tells them what to do.

[NanceGreggs]

8. American here ...

... but resident in Canada, which means access to the Ontario healthcare system (thank God!).

Earlier this year, I had what I term a 'medical misadventure' - a very serious allergic reaction to several prescription antibiotics. This caused a complete trauma to my body, and I required many tests, hospital visits, visits to specialists, and home nursing care.

I paid for none of it.

Let me just point out one comparison with what would have happened had I been living in the States. My BIL required two weeks of home nurse visits post-surgery a year ago. The bill was $6,700. I had SIX weeks of home nurse visits, which cost me zero.

On that aspect alone, I would have been looking at a bill for over $20,000 - and that's NOT counting all of the OTHER medical treatment and tests I had over a four-month period.

With the loss of my income for four months, had I been responsible for my medical bills as well, we would have found ourselves in a financial hole that would have bankrupted us.

I am a court reporter, and have been on countless cases involving insurance companies denying claims of people who have disability insurance - so I KNOW their tactics. Had this happened in the States, and HAD I been insured, the first words out of their mouths would have been "pre-existing condition", because I was allergic to four different antibiotics I had been prescribed. Thing is, I had taken the SAME antibiotics before, with no ill effect (as the doctors told me, these allergies can develop as we get older).

The only way I would have KNOWN I was allergic to these drugs was if I had been tested for allergies to these drugs on an ongoing basis for the twenty years since I had last taken one. Can you imagine ANY insurance company agreeing to pay for such testing, over and over, on the 'off' chance I might have developed an allergy?

The Canadian healthcare system is GREAT, and that's mainly because the God-damned insurance companies AREN'T involved.

Any healthcare plan proposed by any of the candidates that still includes INSURANCE COMPANIES is just more of the same crapola that's been going on in the States for too long.

[enigmatic]

18. me too

And I had to move to Canada to have health care for the first time in my life, which has been a lifesaver.

[hfojvt]

19. I am not convinced that the majority of Americans

are ready to ditch their insurance companies. Kucinich would get bludgeoned to death with the S-word (socialism! socialism! socialism!) So far Rudy has gotten a free pass from the media every time he gives a speech saying 'we don't want a health care system like France' (even though France has one of the best systems and at the lowest cost too)
http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh080607.shtml

"Then too, there was “socialized medicine.” Candidates blathered on about the horrors of European-style health coverage. As usual, Giuliani bull-roared the most. (“I know the Democrats get upset when you say this, but they are taking us toward socialized medicine. If we want to have the kinds of results they have in England or France or Canada or Cuba, then we should go in that direction. But that would be a terrible thing to do.”) Will any news orgs present the simple, elementary facts about the actual “kind of results” produced by these low-cost, single-payer systems? The cow will have to jump the moon—and Neptune too—before you see such a thing happen. (More on this topic below.)"

Because of our culture of misinformation, we will need to be brought to a single payer system slowly - via the Edwards plan, which allows people to opt into medicare/medicaid. I still think they will reject radical changes.

[kdmorris]

9. Thank you for posting this.

Definitely gives us some "ammunition" when talking to people who say "But Canadians have to wait for a year for a heart surgeon!!" (which is nonsense, anyway, but at least I can say "It depends on the province")

[Astrad]

10. We don't have socialized medicine

We have socialized medical insurance. The doctors are still private contractors. They sit on a board in each province which sets the fees for different procedures. It's called fee-for-service medicine. The doctors and the government have to agree on the rate for a given procedure. A truly socialized system like the UK's has the doctors as employees of the state and they are salaried. There are advantages to this as a salaried doctor has no incentive to hurry you along in order to do more procedures in a day and get paid more. This is one of the drawbacks of the Canadian system. I still like it alot though!

[Canuckistanian]

11. That one of the BEST explanations of our system I've seen

Kudos! :thumbsup:

I should add that we're about to have a provincial election and the Conservative party is about to call for profit-based clinics for hip and knee replacements. They never give up.

I sincerely HOPE that we can get the message out that profit-based care is like kryptonite to our system. The closer we get to it, the weaker our cherished system gets. Too much, and it's dead.

Yes, we have problems. But they're being addressed in our own, slow Canadian way.

I'll be damned if we let it sink to the level of U.S. style corporatism.

[gateley]

12. K&R nt

[eridani]

14. One thing I would definitely do different from Canada

Put the health care funds in a dedicated fund like Social Security, so health care doesn't have to compete with roads and schools in every legislative session. The Rethugs have been trying very hard to privatize Social Security, but haven't succeeded.

[AuntPatsy]

15. Very imformative, so much I was unaware of...

[slipslidingaway]

16. Thanks for posting! n/t

[enigmatic]

17. I live in Alberta

It's not close to becoming Americanized, not since Ralph Klein left power. And when you call Alberta "conservative", it all relative. I've been here 6 year since I came here from the US, and it would slant Center/Right if it was a State, though it's definitely the most conservative Province.