The Ordinary Preconceptions of the Canadian Health Care System
As an independent broker , I have never faced the question about comparing the ups and downs of the Canadian & US health care system more often than now, when the US congress is debating on a huge change concerning the system. Certainly both of them have many faults, but the whoopers I sometimes get to hear regarding the Canadian health care system, well, that’s a bit too much. Let’s mention some of them.
“The health system in Canada is much more expensive than the system in America.”
To begin with, there’s this faulty assumption about the cost. It is often claimed that the Canadian system costs more than the US system, but in fact while Canada spends only 10% of its GDP, covering hundred percent of its population, the USA spends over fifteen percent GDP, while at least 15% of Americans is not covered at all and even more people are left with not enough coverage. An example from 2005 indicates that the Americans spent US$6,401 per head, which is almost twice as much as the Canadian expenditures.
“In Canada, it’s up to the government to judge who gets the treatment.”
That’s totally wrong: the only people allowed to make these decisions are in fact the doctors. On the other hand, the situation is completely different in the USA, where in fact it is up to your insurance administrators to decide what treatment you are allowed to get, never mind what you doctor thinks.
“The Canadian insurance sucks since it only covers the basic and the rest comes out of your pocket anyway.”
The rules regulating the insurance’s coverage comes from the provincial government. Generally speaking, doctor’s fees and all the hospital procedures are covered. Generally various medical equipment and also vision and dental care are not. Because it’s not too hard to predict the cost of these extras, since all those big troublesome items are already covered by the national health insurance, number of insurance companies offers some additional low premium insurance that takes care of all these extras. For example the FlexCare Program from Manulife. To summarize, to get the same level of service in the USA as in Canada, the Americans have to pay so much more. The system is simply running better in Canada.
“In Canada, you’ve got to wait for so long to get the treatment you need. In fact, Canadians rather travel to the US for their treatment.”
This statement has something in it, but only to some degree: if you require some kind of specialist treatment, you could wait a few weeks or up to one month, and for selective surgery the waits could be even longer. But if you need an imperative treatment, you get it fast. No matter if you’re how poor or rich you are. In those cases when the waiting list is too long and it is not possible to access the treatment in an acute situation, the patient is sent to the States, but you don’t pay a cent: the insurance covers it all. Only those Canadians who pay out of pocket for their treatment in the US wish to get the treatment faster than their physician finds necessary.
“The physicians are employed by the Canadian government. And the government picks the doctors for you!”
Nope… the doctors do not work for the government. The provincial government doesn’t act as an employer, since the doctors in Canada own their private practises just like their colleagues in the States, but constitutes the only insurer that the physicians have to deal with, therefore the paperwork is kept to the necessary minimum. And of course you can pick the physician yourself.
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