Would the people in canada please answer on their health care.Is it good or bad? and please none of the rants?

The good thing about the Canadian system is that no one has to go without life-saving medication and treatment for fear of the resulting hospital bills. You can go to any clinic or hospital and seek treatment, and as long as you have your government-issued health card, you will get treatment and the only thing you pay for is if you chose to get a private or semi-private room, if you wanted phone service or television viewing rights, or if you had to take an ambulance to the hospital.

The area that could be improved in Canada is to allow more doctors to practice or pay existing family doctors to take more patients. And the agency in charge of doctors only gives out a set number of licenses for practitioners each year.

One example of bureaucracy in Quebec, GPs are allowed to take on as many patients as they like, but the government only pays them for a set number of patients per period. In one way, that prevents doctors from taking the cattle car approach and passing patients through every few minutes without actually treating them carefully. On the other hand, by limiting them in this manner, there is no incentive for doctors to treat more patients even if they happen to have the time, since they won't get paid for these extra clients anyway.

Where the government in Canada seems to have more clout is in the pharmaceutical industry. Canada has limits on how much drug companies can charge for their products, and for every name-brand drug on the market, they must have a generic version available that is identical or similar in its nature, but at a less expensive price.

But in USA, the pharmaceutical industry is a very large and powerful lobby group, who tend to influence their representatives to prevent any legislation that might control drug prices there. In the past, they have even fought to make it a criminal offense to seek prescription drugs from outside USA, and more recently using massive marketing campaigns to claim Canadian drugs are inferior than US versions (even though they often make both themselves). This info may help:

http://money.cnn.com/2006/10/05/pf/saving/toptips/...

Finally, our courts also set limits on malpractice claims. You can sue a doctor or hospital if they misdiagnose or mis-prescribe medication, but you cannot sue for millions in punitive damages like what happens in USA. That helps to keep medical liability insurance down and this in turns means less costs to the patients and on the system in general.

http://www.loc.gov/law/help/medical-malpractice-li...

Hope this information helps you compare. I was trying not to "rant" but present the details in an informative organized manner. Of course, that's hard to do when you are part of one of the two systems. There are always good and bad parts of just about any system. I'm sure that if you review the US system, you will find parts that should not be changed, just as there are parts of the Canadian system that should be.

I've tried a few times to answer this question when an American rants on about inept Government running things. If they just took one second to think about that statement. Every 4 years you elect those to "over-see" your tax dollars. If they do a lousy job, don't re-elect them. Our system may not be the answer but it cares for all through "collective" taxes and I am proud that my contribution helps in some small way. It is a tangible result of paying taxes where profit doesn't enter into the equation. Health Care for the sake of Health and Care. Nice to see another from elsewhere asking those who have the system what they think about it.

I have always received very good care.I can get in to see my doctor within days and the last time I was in the ER I was out of there in 40 min.My daughter was born weighing 1 1/2 lbs and spent 15 weeks in the hospital and had 2 years of follow up care with specialists, all covered and she got top notch care. I am diabetic and I get eye care, foot care, diabetic counselling all covered plus I was supplied with a free glucose meter and most of my drugs are covered through our provincial drug plan.

I may not be unbiased, living in Canada as I do and having benefited greatly from our health care system, but I have to say that I've been happy with the level of care, and how quickly I was given that care. There can be waiting times for some things, but that's for things that can wait. The patient might not see it that way, but from the experience that I had and that people I know have had, if you have some illness that your doctor thinks needs fast treatment, you get it fast. I very particularly appreciate that no one in Canada will ever have to sell their house to pay for medical treatment to stay alive.

Our health care is quite good due to the fact that we don't have to pay large sums of money directly from our pockets all the time. However, it still isn't perfect because it doesn't exactly cover everything that someone might need. But when you go to the emergancy room it can take hours before you are able to see a doctor. When my sister broke her toe she was in there waiting for seven hours! Overall, our health care is quite good, and is avaliable to everyone (not just the rich!)

Our health care system is good. Our main complaint about it stems from long waits for specialists and elective procedures. I have numerous first hand accounts, but instead of going into long, boring details, I will just say that I have aging parents (my mom is 60 and my dad is 75) who have had serious health problems (cancer, heart disease, osteoperosis, just to name a few) and both have received grade A treatment under the Canadian health care system.

IMO

Pros...

- access to competent, and timely healthcare

- no worries about losing all your assets for costs associated with surgery, etc

- wait times for specialists and tests are short if the problem is major

Cons...

- shortage of GP's makes it hard for some people to have a regular 'family doctor'

- hospital waiting rooms are always crowded, BUT if you're in dire need, you ARE treated

I am one of the fortunate ones with a family doctor. I can make an appointment any day, and am seen on time. I have many family members with a variety of serious ailments (cancer... diabetes... MS...) and they have always had timely and effective care. My father did not lose his house and assets when my mother was fighting cancer. My husband did not incur one single expense when he was involved in a car accident years ago. The only one of my family that ever went state-side for 'care' was my aunt who went to NY for an MRI because she felt she was too important to wait 2 weeks. She paid for it herself and only managed to get it done 3 days sooner than she would've had she taken the appointment made for her here in ON.

If you go to the emergency room expect to wait five hours unless you are dieing. If you don't have a family doctor most of them are not taking new patients for at least six months. If you make an apointment at a clinic because you don't have a regular doctor expect to lose your place and wait because people walk in with worse problems than you. Like in Cuba and North Korea it is illegal for a doctor to open up a clinic outside the government system so if you want better treatment you need to go to a diferent country.

It's almost free. A couple hundred a year in some provinces. But once you look at the taxes at all levels of government you see that we are giving up nearly half our income for service that people in Europe would sue over.

A family member, on the outskirts of a big city.[ It wouldn't be so easy in the far north.]

Big problem to family doctor Tuesday, referred to specialist #1 Thursday.

CT scan Thursday in another hospital nearer home. MRI Monday, referred to specialist #2 Tuesday for slow growing tumour.

One month to see specialist #2, with tests in the interim. More tests and surgery in three weeks. Six hour transphenoidal (through nose) brain surgery.

Booked to do specialist radiation in US for confirmed rare cancer. 4 month wait list. Canadian healthcare pays.

Follow up with six different specialists and lots of scans, 24 so far.

Our bill? Nothing, we paid for it already through taxes.

Friend with a cancer crisis - sudden agonising pain 10am, major surgery 8pm. Four surgeries since, chemo, radiation, specialists.

Her bill? Nothing, she paid for it already through taxes.

I book ahead for appointments or go to the walk in clinic operated by my family doctor's practice, picking up my records on the way. My doctor also does home visits for palliative care.

I'm retired, I don't pay a lot of taxes. :-)

We have really good health care.

Its not like in the US when you have to pay for every doctor visit,etc or a stay in the hospital.

Most businesses get good health coverage.