this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023
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You know... this one is really complex.
Nobody feels hesitation to seek the help they need based on funds, but now due to access or wait times.
It wasn't always like this, in the 2000s it was marvellous, I remember having a medical scare, showed up at the ER, got triaged right into a doctor because it was time sensitive, saw the doc, got an examination, got cleared, and discharged $0.
Now I feel apprehensive about seeing my local clinic for a sprained ankle.
Now you may wonder why? Is the system failing? Well...yes, and no.
In the last decade or so, we've seen a strong ultra-right push to "prove" the system is broken and we need to copy the way the US has it (so the politicians friends that own pharma services etc... get lucrative deals from the govt) by sabotaging it directly and saying "look, it's broken"
One very clear instance, in my province (AB) during the biggest health emergency we've seen in our life time (COVID) our health minister made it his life's mission to piss off the medical community, under funding programs, firing component leaders in health and replacing them with yes men, and ripping up the doctor/nurse contracts.
What we've seen is docs and nurses leaving on droves as we doubled down on COVID hardship and squeezed the money out of frontline workers instead of going after the real problem which was lazy/corrupt middle management and supply chain problems.
To make things worse, our lab services was a crown-run (means it's a govt funded business, which can think bigger because they don't have to seek profits so hard, just efficient use of government funds) and they cancelled that contract to replace it with a private sector business.
Since this wait times for lab services have multiplied 10x, costs to consumers became a thing (it was free before) and all that government funding has disappeared.
So lose, lose, lose for the People.
So it's gotten worse, because the people in charge at the government are gifting, and killing it on purpose.
Would I trade it for your system? Not in a heartbeat, never, we just need to solve our fucked up politics and get people who care in power.
A good friend of mine is Canadian but lives in America.
He didn’t have good thing to say about the Canadian system in 2003 when he moved here.
He said the quality of care was similar and the cost was dollar. The difference is Canada you pay for each month in taxes and in America you pay for it at time of service.
Now he felt Canada was more willing to try new things. His other had hep c and they covered experimental treatment. In America that wasn’t really an option.
He also noted American wages were much higher and housing was cheaper.
Your friend is paying it today in insurance premiums. Same money, just a different line on the paycheck.
And then if he gets sick, he’ll pay again.
Our willingness in America to pay money to a company that is incentivized by profits, just to not pay taxes is astonishing.
We pay 150 a month for insurance . 500 dollar deductible and a max out of pocket of 3500.
I don’t think that’s bad at all. Our incomes are 300-500k a year. So it’s a small part of our wages. In Canada he was at 60k.
My health insurance premium + deductible (I always hit it due to ADHD medication) was almost $13k annually, and that’s the best value plan that was available to me at $60k salary, including Obamacare plans. My situation was worse than most people’s I know, but not way, way worse. Your situation is incredible, hang on to it for as long as you can.
I’ve had similar insurance my whole career. This isn’t anything special and it worse than I grew up with. Uaw Had the best insurance. No idea if it’s good anymore but it was the best.
That’s really lucky, good for you. I was, ironically, in insurance (but not health/life). My mom had insurance as a public school teacher growing up, and that was incredible too. She at one point had a treatment that cost $10k a week, which she paid nothing out of pocket for.
Unions make the difference.
Insurance seems the worst insurance. lol. My gf works in insurance and says hers is garbage.
To be clear. I think we need the Australian model. A system paid for by everyone but the option for private.
I don’t think it’s a “right”. I think it’s common sense to reduce cost and keep people working. I like to work. I’d hate to have to stop because I’m injured.
Americans are stupid when it comes to a better system. They only think of paying for someone care instead of thinking of cost and benefits.
Yeah, that lab situation is something else.
What's funny, assuming I'm remembering things correctly, is that a big chunk of lab services started out private in AB, then were taken over by the province, and now they're private again, and overseen by slightly reorganized version of the same initial private players.