Canadian healt care alive and well

[muskymatt]

About 2 months ago after a game of hockey I felt a little tingle in my knee, the next morning it was so swollen I couldn't walk. I went to my gp and she said I needed an MRI and booked one for me 5 days later. Well the knee got so bad by 2 days later they had me in for an MRI, the results of which were back in my gp's office 3 days later, torn MCL, torn meniscus, all kinds of other complications! Also on it was a concern for infection, I was summoned to my dr's office immediately and was taken to emerg, where a battery of tests were done again. The results showed no infection, and the Dr felt they might be able to fix it with physio, so they wrote me a req for physio and for a follow up with the orthopedic surgeon to be thorough.

5 sessions of physio and the pain and swelling was down considerably. Today I had the ortho meeting and he scheduled a surgery for me on the 18th Oct with a strong probability of being moved up to the 10th.

 

What blew me away was he said in and out in 2hrs, walking normally within 36 hrs and back on skates(the leafs called me today lol) within 7-10 days.

 

Total cost to me $0.00 nada, ziltch!!!

 

I know this is not always the case but for me it couldn't have been better.

 

Just wanted to show that there is some good things happening in Canadian health care.

[Rod Caster]

Right on. Glad to hear it. I had a good experience the other day in the hospital as well... was very satisfied with the service.

[lookinforwalleye]

Yep had a scope done today great service.

[davey buoy]

Good to hear that Matt,some of us don't really know how good we have it.

[outllaw]

a great story.

as a Canadian I am proud to say. we have the best over-all country on the planet

[irishfield]

Well Matt, after three full years of playing in the system on a daily basis I can tell you that if it wasn't for OHIP I'd be bankrupt.. and just not a lot poorer than I was in 2010. I have a flying friend in Alaska... with a kid in a similar boat as mine... and he lost his house last week, even with friends raising over $100,000 so far towards their fight.

[Fishnwire]

Just had my first kid two months back. Wife had about a bunch of examinations, tests and ultrasounds leading up to it. She was induced and spent a day in a birthing room, before being given a C-section. Then she and the baby spent 3 days and nights in a semi-private room which she had all to herself. Nurses were in and out non-stop giving help and advice.

 

Didn't cost me a dime. I think some of it might have been covered by my insurance, but I don't even know. More than once I thought about how lucky I am to live in a country where the birth of your child doesn't cripple you financially.

 

Don't think for a second that there aren't people who would love nothing more than to see us move towards a system that is more profitable for them. Taking for granted what we have would be a big mistake.

[Live2fish85]

Yep. I have had 3 heart surgeries and two on my hand. All which were free.

[Steve]

I'm split on this.

 

I have a seizure disorder. (although I have not had one since November 2006).

 

I'm properly medicated for it.

 

From 2001 to 2006 I had 7 very bad seizures.

 

I had 3 MRI's, many Cat's, EEG's, ECG's, etc.

I give full credit to our health system. They tried to diagnose it.

 

However, a cause could not be determined.

 

Since 2003'ish, which is now 10 years ago, doctors have essentially given up in finding a cause.

 

I'm medicated for life, and the med's are not "fun".

 

I'd much rather have them try to find a causation.

 

I've been told if I want to further work to determine a cause I'd have to go to Berkley University.

 

So while Canada's health care was amazing - and I mean amazing to me. MRI's less than an hour after seizure's, etc. Its disheartening that they have "given up" in helping me .... allowing me to succumb to a lifetime of medication (seizure med's aren't tons of fun - but it could be worse).

[ch312]

Just had my first kid two months back. Wife had about a bunch of examinations, tests and ultrasounds leading up to it. She was induced and spent a day in a birthing room, before being given a C-section. Then she and the baby spent 3 days and nights in a semi-private room which she had all to herself. Nurses were in and out non-stop giving help and advice.

 

Didn't cost me a dime.

 

While we have excellent healthcare, too many doctors are very pushy and try to force induction upon pregnant women when it is totally unnecessary simply because the doctors chose a due date. We have a 5 month old and we spent many hours researching and speaking to new mothers about the subject before our little man arrived and the number of women who have been convinced to be induced on a specific day is mind boggling. They're essentially starting a process that the body and baby aren't quite ready for which typically leads to a long labor which often leads to further intervention such as pain killers, an epidural, or c-section. Recovery time is also longer for both mother and baby after intervention.

 

Some of the Bull and scare tactics a few doctors spewed forth made me angry as for many mothers they're promoting unnecessary procedures which greatly increase risk to mother and baby. So, for our child the lady went with no pain killers, no induction, had zero tearing/stitches (perineal stretching works!), and was walking around within a few hours and went home the next day.

 

Anyways, the moral of the story is I believe doctors sometimes push unnecessary procedures and medications upon many of they're patients.

 

 

Seeing as we're taxed out the yingyang, I wouldn't exactly say it didn't cost you a dime

Edited October 4, 2013 by ch312

[MJL]

Yes, I am grateful for the health-care system we have in Canada. It’s not perfect, but I didn’t have to sell off a car, mortgage a house or fund raise in order to go through my cancer treatments the last 2.5yrs. Some drugs weren’t covered by my plan. In the case for the very expensive drugs, the hospital gave me the drugs on a basis of compassion and all I had to do was pay the dispensing fee. My ultrasounds, CT Scans, X-rays, blood tests were all scheduled in a timely manner. I might’ve had to wait 3-5hrs before each session of chemo, but I didn’t have to pay for it. I remember the names of all the doctors, nurses and pharmacists that I’ve had just because they’re that awesome

[vance]

I have friends in the states WITH health insurance who have just lost their house because their son has a terminal disease and they totally hate health care but they wont admit that our system is better than theirs....

[fishindevil]

Yes it is !! I wish the wait times for specialists were shorter tho !!!!!! As I'm in the middle of a process that was started almost 2 yrs ago for a major surgery and should know more at the end of October !!!! But the one neurosurgeon has between 18months and 2 years wait time to see him at st.mikes downtown Toronto !!!! And that's blamed on Ohip so I was told bty by several doctors and people involved that its all about how many surgeries and time availiable for the operating rooms !!!! Kinda like a salary cap !!! It's weird ..... But yes in glad we have out healthcare system as well and people like Wayne (irishfeild) and what they are going through as well as other members here who have had cancer and bad stuff !!!! The cost for things like that is enormous for sure !!!!! But like it was stated above in other posts I have had MRI several times and lots of tests and procedures even a bone biopsy all in a timely manor and have been looked after well and and really glad we have these professionals with us !!!! But everytime I get referred to another specialist is sometimes 6months to a year to see them !!!!! That part sucks !!!!!

[bigugli]

Yes it is !! I wish the wait times for specialists were shorter tho !!!!!! As I'm in the middle of a process that was started almost 2 yrs ago for a major surgery and should know more at the end of October !!!! But the one neurosurgeon has between 18months and 2 years wait time to see him at st.mikes downtown Toronto !!!! And that's blamed on Ohip so I was told bty by several doctors and people involved that its all about how many surgeries and time availiable for the operating rooms !!!! Kinda like a salary cap !!! It's weird ..... But yes in glad we have out healthcare system as well and people like Wayne (irishfeild) and what they are going through as well as other members here who have had cancer and bad stuff !!!! The cost for things like that is enormous for sure !!!!! But like it was stated above in other posts I have had MRI several times and lots of tests and procedures even a bone biopsy all in a timely manor and have been looked after well and and really glad we have these professionals with us !!!! But everytime I get referred to another specialist is sometimes 6months to a year to see them !!!!! That part sucks !!!!!

Doctors are always ready to blame OHIP for the surgical delays. They would love to be able to charge whatever they want for their services. Sadly, the shortage of specialists is due to the limitation on salaries. Many a specialist, upon completing their residencies, go running to the states to write their own paycheques, despite the fact that a large portion of their education was underwrote by Canadian taxpayers.

Yes wait times would shorten considerably under a user pay system. That is because more than a third of our population could not afford services under a privatized system, and would be forced to do without.

[mattyk]

I have lived in both countries. Canada is an amazing place with compassionate people and great healthcare system! I was really able to appreciate it once I moved to the US. Don't take it forgranted. People should not be treated like commodities. Health care in my opinion is a fundamental human right that all deserve regardless of socioeconomic status.

[ehg]

I have lived in both countries. Canada is an amazing place with compassionate people and great healthcare system! I was really able to appreciate it once I moved to the US. Don't take it forgranted. People should not be treated like commodities. Health care in my opinion is a fundamental human right that all deserve regardless of socioeconomic status.

 

About 8 yrs. ago had to leave workplace and go on Ontario disability due to multiple sclerosis.

The medications for this disease would cost U.S folks about 2500 dollars a month.

I paid nothing.

 

Broke my back about 4 yrs. ago (fishing related accident) lol. Had to wait about 3 weeks for surgeon to be available.

Cost of this surgery and more medications is covered.

 

Thankfully was able to keep vehicle, home, etc....and still get out fishing.

Disability has made fishing a tough go but friends and great health care system still make it possible..

 

Canada ( Ontario ) rocks for fishing and its health care system!

.

[John Bacon]

 

Yes wait times would shorten considerably under a user pay system. That is because more than a third of our population could not afford services under a privatized system, and would be forced to do without.

 

Wait times for people with lots of money and/or good health care plans would be reduced. Wait times for others may not.

[Headhunter]

On vacation to the French River in July, our cottage neighbours were from Pennsilvania. We got to talking about the many differences in our countries and one of their questions was about our health care system.

Now these folks were what one might call typical "democrats" and not Republicans. They were very concerned about Obama-care and it's costs. They asked me about our health care costs/system.

I explained that there is an payroll tax which is a % of income and has a maximum that can be reached. I also explained that everyone gets helath care regardless of income or not. They thought this to be bad as folks get a free ride.

I asked them how they pay for hospital bills and they indicated that they have insurance through their employer, so "it doesn't cost us anything".

After educating them that they are indeed paying this themselve because their employer deducts that amount from their hourly pay, they just don't see it, they started to come around.

I asked them how many of their family and friends have had real finacial struggles as a result of health care bills and they just nodded their heads.

I believe that as a result of our conversation, Obama-care had a few more supporters.

Our system is far from perfect, but a country's people have to decide what's more important to them, the overall health of it's inhabitants or the all mightly $$$$.

HH

[Canuck2fan]

I have been extremely lucky myself with respect to health care. However at a recent extended family fish fry the subject came up and it wasn't long before we all realized just how lucky we all were to be living in Canada.

 

After looking at it out of 16 of my aunts and uncles along with my parents it was painful to see how all but one Aunt and Uncle would not have had to declare personal bankruptcy if they lived in the States.... It was shocking to think about. 8 of those people would have lost their U.S. style benefits when the plants they had worked at for over 20yrs closed, and 7 of them probably got cancer from working in those places. It was a real eye opener to just how good we have it here.

[Fishnwire]

 

While we have excellent healthcare, too many doctors are very pushy and try to force induction upon pregnant women when it is totally unnecessary simply because the doctors chose a due date. We have a 5 month old and we spent many hours researching and speaking to new mothers about the subject before our little man arrived and the number of women who have been convinced to be induced on a specific day is mind boggling. They're essentially starting a process that the body and baby aren't quite ready for which typically leads to a long labor which often leads to further intervention such as pain killers, an epidural, or c-section. Recovery time is also longer for both mother and baby after intervention.

 

Some of the Bull and scare tactics a few doctors spewed forth made me angry as for many mothers they're promoting unnecessary procedures which greatly increase risk to mother and baby. So, for our child the lady went with no pain killers, no induction, had zero tearing/stitches (perineal stretching works!), and was walking around within a few hours and went home the next day.

 

Anyways, the moral of the story is I believe doctors sometimes push unnecessary procedures and medications upon many of they're patients.

 

 

Seeing as we're taxed out the yingyang, I wouldn't exactly say it didn't cost you a dime

 

 

 

The inducement wasn't scheduled. The last couple of weeks the baby kept going in and out of breach, so when we went in for a scheduled examination a week before the due date and the doctor found the baby was positioned perfectly, she recommended we induce. My wife and I also "spent many hours researching and speaking to new mothers about the subject" and we were aware of the implications of intervention. We decided the risks of her going into labour while the baby was in breach far outweighed those associated with inducing.

 

I have to say that one of the most surprising aspects of being a new parent is how eager other parents are to tell you "you're doing it wrong" whenever they discover something you did that's different from the ideal way they did it.

 

I'd be "taxed out the yingyang" whether or not my wife spent the better part of a week in the hospital, so it didn't cost me any more than it would have if we never had a baby.

[John Bacon]

 

so it didn't cost me any more than it would have if we never had a baby.

 

The next twenty or so years will though ... but it will be worth it though. Best of luck.