Womaniac

I know it’s a controversial issue and being debated in the US presently but what is the real deal with Canadian healthcare. I will explain. I should preface this with the fact that I don’t have any political motivation in writing this either for or against. Just the facts as I see them.

I live in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). In the GTA there is a massive doctor shortage, there just aren’t enough to go around. So many of us go to clinics. Clinics have a receptionist who takes your healthcare and then quizzes you of your reason to be there. After that you are to take a seat with the promise that a doctor will see you soon.  If the clinic is not busy (non-flu/cold season) the wait could be an hour.  Now the waits are about 2-3 due to the current H1N1 flu going around. 

A  Hospital Emergency Room wait can take a very long time. Life and death emergencies are dealt with promptly but any non-life threatening situation can vary from 1-10 hours. My daughter fell last summer and bashed in her top four teeth and her dentist was closed. Fearing damage to her mouth, I took her to the ER. That wait was 6 hours and then the ER doctor-on-call told us that their was nothing he could do and she should see a dentist. I don’t know why the nurse at the front desk couldn’t tell me that but that’s for the Rant of the Day.

Another thing about Canadian hospital is, they aren’t as elegant as the American hospitals are. Our hospital rooms are the bare bones, nothing but essentials and a little third world looking. In comparison, American hospital rooms look like a luxury hotel.

If you ever need a test like a MRI for instance, depending on the severity of your ailment. You are going to wait from days until months to get an MRI. It is not unheard of that Canadians living near the US border will pay for their own MRI in the US.  Buffalo MRI gets alot of Canadian business. 

We have a service in Ontario called ‘Telehealth Ontario’. What this does is to be an information service to Ontario Health Card holders in case they have a health related question. Usually Telehealth nurses tell you they don’t know what to do and you should go to a doctor. Telehealth Ontario wait time to talk to a nurse on the telephone during the H1N1 flu has been reported as being as long as 11 hours and I am not kidding.

Waiting lists for doctors, extremely long wait times for everything, ugly hospitals then what is good about Canadian health care you ask?

It’s free for the most part. If I brake my arm, I don’t need to worrying about paying any insurance company. There are things that aren’t covered by our government but if you or your family had a health problem, the doctor, emergency visit and most tests will be paid for by the government.

It is definately two-tiered meaning it’s geared for people who are not wealthy but in the end I would rather have it where I didn’t need to mortgage my home to have to pay for an emergency hospital stay and the government foot the bill instead.