My mom is Canadian, and her entire family lives in Canada -- mostly the greater Vancouver area, so we're not talking rural farmland here. I spent a LOT of time up there growing up, and have two relatives who are successful in their medical careers, as well as relatives who've had a million health problems. I think I have a pretty good idea of some of the benefits as well as the drawbacks to the Canadian system.
First of all, they have the public system called Medicare, but they also have a private sector that provides insurance through employers, similar to the US, for dentists, optometrists, some prescription coverage, and also allows you to effectively "buy" yourself better access to health care. This means you jump to the front of wait lists for appointments, you get to choose better hospitals, and better physicians. This seems odd to me.... if the system is supposedly a single-payer system that a lot of people see as being superior to the US, then what about the advantage that some people get just because they get a second health plan through their employer? Now, I'm not saying that the public system is inferior to ours, because personally I think the opposite, but it's not truly a single-payer system, if there is private insurance in the mix, is it?
Secondly, I cannot tell you how many times I've been to Vancouver and seen the nurses on strike. I understand the idea that they need to be fairly compensated for the care they are providing, but what does it say about your health care system when the nurses walk out of the hospitals and their patients because they don't like the amount they are making and the extent to which they are overworked? It doesn't sound like everything is better. There is a huge shortage of nurses and the like up there, and it never gets better. There is a lack of funding to the point where the Vancouver General Hospital, which is supposed to be the best in the area, has to close a huge part of its (new in the last 10 years) facility because they don't have the staff to operate it. This leaves the people without the best care possible. Sure, ambulance rides are covered, prescription drugs are covered, but when there aren't enough beds, doctors, or nurses, I don't think their system is quite what we glorify it to be.
Finally, their rate of health care spending is second only to ours. That's not saying much, since we are so much higher than all the other developed countries. However, to be fair, the numerous medical problems that have struck my family members haven't bankrupted them, even though they dealt with most of these after they were retired. Their comprehensive coverage actually is pretty comprehensive, if they could get in to see their doctors. I hate to say it, but I am pretty sure that my relatives in the medical field pulled a few strings to make sure that my sick relatives got in to see the right doctors at the right time. I hate to think what would have happened if they hadn't had that connection.
I think there are actually some benefits to our health care system here in the US, but mainly IF you have the right coverage and live in the right area. I think there are also many areas that need vast improvements, as we've been talking about this semester. I know Canada has a different/better overall system of delivering care, but I also have seen the improvements that they need to make. Are they further along in the right direction than the US? Probably. But they have a few things that could be fixed as well.
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