Monday, August 10, 2009

Horror stories from Canada

Imagine that you and your spouse, and three children under the age of six move to a new city and must find a family doctor. You are told at the local clinic that the doctors there are not accepting any new patients. (Canadian price controls have created shortages of everything when it comes to healthcare). The receptionist suggests that you go through the yellow pages and try to find a physician whose practice is not "full." You spend days, and weeks, doing this, and are repeatedly told "Sorry, we are not accepting new patients." You put your name on several waiting lists and persist in calling doctors’ offices.

Finally, a receptionist tells you that, while the doctor is still accepting new patients, he requires a full medical history and an interview with each family member before you can be added to his roster of patients. Based on the questions asked during the interviews, you come to understand that he is screening out sick or potentially sick people. You are all healthy, fortunately, so he takes you on as patients. Others are just out of luck.


Read the rest here.

8 comments:

  1. Do I assume that story to be a true one, or at least based on truth? If not, I fear it will become truth one day!

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  2. I'm wittingFrom Ottawa Canada.

    I read the whole article and all I can say is, wow, what a load of mis-leading rubbish.

    I'm amazed at her ability to diagnose her child with an appendicitis.

    The story is loaded with rhetoric, bombastic exaggerations and paints a picture that is so contrary to reality, that there is no point in even refuting all that she wrote.

    I do have to point out, one erroneous statement, reference to speeding up access to health care by opting for ambulatory transport.

    B.S.

    1) Ambulances speed nothing up, patients are still triaged according to their medical issue.

    2) If someone calls an ambulance and there condition does not qualify as an emergency, and the ambulance transports them...guess what....the patient is billed for the unnecessary ambulatory care.

    Another odd comment, the fact that it's hard to find a family doctor. How then have 85% of all Canadians maanged to find family doctors.

    How intellectually dis-honest for this woman to have not mentioned that those without family doctors, have a multitude of choices in walk in clinics, where yes, they can see a Doctor.

    I live within 10 km's of 4 separate walk in clinics. I don't need them, as I have a family doctor.

    Careful what you believe....

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am curious to know where this story came from. Did I miss something?

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  4. Of course--how could I forget? All horror stories about US health care are automatically true, but all horror stories about socialized health care are probably false.

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  5. The stories coming out of America regarding healthcare are ones of crippling debt, which is felt by the statistical fact that half of all debts in America are medically related.

    The stories coming from Canada are, on the statistical whole, that of a higher life expectancy than the average American.

    We live in debt with worse health care. Why is that so hard to see? Relax the anti-government rhetoric for a split second and turn that skeptical eye towards the fat pockets of the American health care industry, and realize the government is our only way of reaching out and changing anything in this area.

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  6. I didn't ask a controversial question, it's a simple question really. Don't know why it can't be answered in a straight forward way.

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  7. jadedj,

    Click on the link and try to figure it out yourself.

    Ginx,

    Thank you for a thoughtful comment instead of ranting.

    The stories coming from Canada are, on the statistical whole, that of a higher life expectancy than the average American.

    Life expectancy is a poor way to measure quality of health care. Many have pointed out how these statistics are misleading.

    See: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/business/04view.html?_r=2

    ReplyDelete

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