Single-Payer Health Care: As Goes Canada, So Goes Vermont

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Single-Payer Health Care: As Goes Canada, So Goes Vermont

lonelywurm: Aug 10, 2009

Lead out in cuffs posted:

In Canada, money for the government health insurance is levied as an insurance premium and totally separate from taxes. You even pay directly to the provincial health ministry. It's about $60/month, with reductions for people on (very) low income.

That does make it slightly regressive (vs something like the UK's National Insurance which scales with income), but it at least makes it clear that it's not a "tax".

Only in some places. Alberta used to have that, and did away with it while I lived there, and Ontario has never had that as long as I've lived here (which admittedly has only been 3-4 years). It's hard to talk about healthcare in Canada without explicitly discussing each province's approach.

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lonelywurm: Aug 10, 2009

MattD1zzl3 posted:

I got a medical bill today and went on a rant about how the american system is ridiculous, i was told in response a story of a friend of a friend in canada who had a broken arm in montreal and had to wait "24 hours" or so to receve any kind of car, apparently not getting even painkillers while he waited. Is this actually something that happens there with any regularity? I love the idea of socialized medicine and something that ridiculous actually happening breaks my heart. Thank you for the clarification.

None of us can comment on the situation without knowing more. How bad was the break? Because if he had just a simple fracture and went to a major city hospital, then maybe. Simple fact is, "my arm hurts" is bottom priority in the ER, and he's going to keep getting shunted back every time a more serious case comes in - and hospitals in Montr�al will have the same pressures as a hospital in any major city; maybe even more that day. It's hard to say what impact a sudden bout of flu among staff or unusually busy day for car crashes might have on wait times on a single day. Single-payer healthcare isn't a panacea for limited resources, it just means you don't tend to go bankrupt trying to access them.

If he went to see a doctor at a walk-in or his GP late in the day, then he still might wait a day between that visit and having his cast done, because his doctor's going to say, "yep, could be broken" and send him to an imaging clinic that will do the X-ray. X-ray in hand confirming a fracture, he'll head back to his doctor to get the cast done, but that might need to wait 'til the next day simply because doctors are busy and casts take time. But he'd also spend most of that time at home, where he could take his own Tylenol no problem. That's how it went with my broken arm.

lonelywurm fucked around with this message at 22:18 on May 3, 2014

# ¿ May 3, 2014 22:16

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Single-Payer Health Care: As Goes Canada, So Goes Vermont