Health Care is becoming a huge debate in the United States. Will Obama succeed where Clinton failed? Only time will tell. What surprises me in this debate is how the critics in this debate will throw criticism of Canada in the debate with witty one liners and presumed conclusions that somehow Canadians receive inferior health care because of our centralized system. Now, I can't say too much about the American system - I've watched Sicko, heard some stories of Canadians living in the US and once vomitted in the trash can while waiting in the lobby of a Lake Tahoe clinic. But I have plenty of first hand experience going through the Canadian system. Is it perfect? Of course not. But through my experience I know that I certainly would rather stick with the Canadian system than to chance the American system.
The largest criticism of the Canadian system, both north and south of the border is wait times. And this is a weakness of the Canadian system - particularly if you show up at the emergency ward. My mother was ordered to the hospital by her doctor because of astronomically high blood sugars. They triaged her, took her blood sugar and then asked her to wait. They said if she feels any change in how she feels to let them but they warned it would be a long wait. She got a bed in about 9 hours. They took her blood sugar every 3-4 hours and fortunately it remained stable during the wait. So she had to wait while the doctor's took care of people with heart attacks and victims of trauma. Once she got a bed, she was very well taken care of - the Doctors came twice a day, the nurses took her blood sugar hourly and she had appointments with social workers and other support services to get her prepared for her life as a diabetic. The wait was a bit harrowing, but my mom's life wasn't in danger, so she had to wait so that those who life were in danger were attended to first.
My dad has the exact opposite story. He had a lump on his shoulder that at first we just thought was a cist. At a regular check up he brought it up to his regular doctor and the doctor sent him for some further tests. The Doctor never found anything in Red Deer, but they sent him to a specialist in Edmonton. The EdmontonDoctor did another biopsy and found a stage 2 cancer. Dad had surgery within a month of the diagnosis. He had a 10 hour surgery with 12 surgeons attending to him. He also had a long period of radiation. 5 years later he is still cancer free. There was some waiting between seeing specialists and my parents almost cancelled the one with the specialist in Edmonton, but thanks the Canadian medical system, my dad is still alive. My parents had to change their lifestyle a fair bit because Dad could not work full-time after the surgery but they did not lose their shirts over this ordeal.
The key to the Canadian medical system is making appointments. If its not an emergency it can sometime take some time to see a specialist - for example it took me 5 months to see a digestive specialist after a really bad case of the runs last year (more than 6 weeks of problems). But I got to see a specialist, and although his advice was quite straightforward - eat more fibre - I got 30 minutes with a guy who knows the digestive system from entry to exit. But for our regular doctor, if its a semi-emergency we can often get a next day appointment or if we're lucky a sameday appointment if we call early enough in the morning. My wife had severe cramping last year while we were in Red Deer. I called that morning and I had an appointment for 3pm that same day back in Edmonton for her.
That doesn't mean that the system is not without its problems. It has plenty. But I believe that the system for the most part works. Now I am biased against the American system. But a fairly large segment of the American system are not insured and even those who are insured often have trouble getting everything covered through their insurance. I'm sure there are plenty of Americans who are satisfied with their system, but I do see some injustice inherant in the system. The Canadian system on the other hand does ensure that everyone can access health care. And I believe most if not all Canadians are able to access the highest quality care available.
So, even though some critics in the United States of centralized medicine like to villianize the Canadian system, I think it has more to do with ideology and less to do with trying to maintain an efficient health care system. I do hope the Americans are able to continue this debate in a healthy manner, but lets not beat up little ol' Canada eh? We're just content to sit back and watch and stay healthy.
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