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Canada’s Healthcare System:
Gullible people automatically assume that because Canada has “single payer healthcare” that it’s basically the US healthcare system but “free”.
That’s wrong
Gullible people automatically assume that because Canada has “single payer healthcare” that it’s basically the US healthcare system but “free”.
That’s wrong
It’s obviously true that Americans spend more on their healthcare than Canadians - and that’s a whole other debate re: reducing costs - but Americans receive MUCH faster access and much better medical resources
In part, Canada’s healthcare seems to cost less because their government run system doesn’t cover many advanced treatments and technologies that are widely, widely available to US citizens
Americans spend 50-60% more on healthcare, but we have 300-400% mote MRI machines and roughly 200% more CT machines per million people, we conduct double the amount of inpatient surgeries per million people, and we have ~15% more doctors and ~20% more nurses per million people
In ‘93 Canadians waited an average of 9.5 weeks between seeing their PCP and actually receiving their needed treatment, but by ‘07 that shot up to an average wait time of 18.5 weeks
The Canadian single payer system doesn’t actually have universal pharmaceutical coverage
Literally only 1/3 of Canadians qualify for their government subsidized drug programs, the rest have private drug insurance coverage or pay out of pocket directly
Literally only 1/3 of Canadians qualify for their government subsidized drug programs, the rest have private drug insurance coverage or pay out of pocket directly
Many new drugs that come to market aren’t covered by Canada’s healthcare system; less than half of the new drugs approved as safe were covered
There’s also even a ~1 year wait period for the government to actually start covering an approved pharmaceutical
There’s also even a ~1 year wait period for the government to actually start covering an approved pharmaceutical
Consumers in Canada and the United States spend about the same of their per capita GDP on pharmaceuticals (1.5% vs 1.7% respectively)
As a percentage of per capita, after tax income, the burden is actually higher in Canada vs the US (2.5% vs 2.3%)
As a percentage of per capita, after tax income, the burden is actually higher in Canada vs the US (2.5% vs 2.3%)
Ppl like to say that the US system sucks bc it doesn’t guarantee insurance coverage, however a study in ‘07 found that 1.7 million Canadians (with a population of roughly 34,000,000 at the time) could not access a regular PCP, not counting specialty waitlists
Access to a waitlist ≠ access to care
The estimated % of the pop. that was “effectively” uninsured for non-emergency healthcare in was similar in the United States and Canada: ~7.9% in the United States compared to at ~6% in Canada
A survey found that 39% of Canadians waited 2 hrs+ in the ER, vs 31% in the U.S; 43% waited 4 wks+ to see a specialist vs 10% in the U.S; 37% of Canadians say its difficult to access care after hours (evenings/holidays/etc) w/o going to the ER compared to over 34% of Americans
Patients in Canada waited an average of 19.8 wks to get treatment regardless of whether they were able to see a specialist or not vs. 24 days for Americans (3x faster)
Wait times for the ER averaged 24 mins which comes out to over 4x faster than in Canada
Wait times for a specialist appointment averaged between 3–6.5 wks in the US which is over 6x faster than in Canada
21% of Canadian hospital administrators vs less than 1% of American administrators, said that it would take over 3 weeks to do a biopsy for possible breast cancer on a 50-year-old female patient
50% of Canadian administrators vs ZERO American administrators said that it would take over six months for a 65-year-old patient to undergo a routine hip replacement surgery
Here is a legitimate photo of a neurologist referral showing a 4.5 YEAR WAIT TIME TO BE SEEN IN 2017 IN CANADA
Obviously a lot needs to be done to improve the US system, but we need to stop pretending as if Canada’s system is the solution
https://healthcouncilcanada.ca/files/2.04-Commonwealth_FINAL_E_Nov2010.pdf
https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/waiting-your-turn-2018.pdf
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-physician-relationships/patient-wait-times-in-america-9-things-to-know.html#targetText=1.,2
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/sites/default/files/documents/___media_files_publications_fund_report_2007_may_mirror__mirror_on_the_wall__an_international_update_on_the_comparative_performance_of_american_healt_1027_davis_mirror_mirror_international_update_v2.pdf
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/22/3/106
https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.23.3.119?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub++0pubmed&
https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/waiting-your-turn-2018.pdf
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-physician-relationships/patient-wait-times-in-america-9-things-to-know.html#targetText=1.,2
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/sites/default/files/documents/___media_files_publications_fund_report_2007_may_mirror__mirror_on_the_wall__an_international_update_on_the_comparative_performance_of_american_healt_1027_davis_mirror_mirror_international_update_v2.pdf
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/22/3/106
https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.23.3.119?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub++0pubmed&
You are going to pay for your healthcare one way or another and I’d rather scuffle with the issue of reducing private costs instead of trying to reform a bureaucratic government run system infected with inefficiency, complacency, and with the protections of a government
