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Comment by markdog12 | Hacker News Reader

That's because it is genuine. Take it from a Canadian who has had to wait many months multiple times for MRIs. Right now I have a tear in my hip joint that needs an MRI, been waiting since November, still nothing. Meanwhile I'm yelping in pain when I try to stand up from sitting down.

Here's a Canadian woman with cancer that went undiagnosed for 2 years because she couldn't access a family doctor: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/health-care-plea-...

Note that she also tried to get access to mental health services to cope, in January, and has to wait until the summer.

Health care access is one of the major issues in Canada right now.

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Both times I needed an MRI in Japan I got it within hours of being referred to a major hospital. My out of pocket costs were ¥10,000 ($120 CAD). Japanese spend a bit less per capita on healthcare than Canada:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_hea...

When will people understand the what works for one country won't magically work in another country with a vastly different economy, population, geography, and a million other things?

I mean, even ignoring advanced reasons and thinking about this logically, do you really think healthcare for a country with 348 people per square kilometer scales to a country with 4 people per square mile?

Yes, considering that per capita Canada has more money than Japan and spends more on healthcare? I think total population density is misleading when Canada’s population is very concentrated in a few cities.

I accept that Japan has the most MRI machines per capita in the entire world, but the question is why is that? It could be economy of scale, but that doesn’t explain why Japan is such an outlier globally

>Yes, considering that per capita Canada has more money than Japan and spends more on healthcare?

Canada spends about 2% more, or 100$ more per capita: https://img.datawrapper.de/IzkJn/full.png

You think spending 2% more will result in comparable healthcare to a country with 870% higher population density?

> I think total population density is misleading when Canada’s population is very concentrated in a few cities.

Ah yes of course, because you can just abandon those who don't live in the few cities.

It's almost like this is a complex issue you can't simplify by examining one dimension at a time, but even if for a second you smoke test this idea by singling out population density, it's absurd to expect similar outcomes.

That's great, but what does that have to do with the Canadian healthcare system waits?

Long waits don't have to be an intrinsic feature of government-funded healthcare

That's incredible. Which province are you from? I know that over the 6 years I spent in Alberta (I'm from BC), I was always shaking my head at how much worse their healthcare was than it was back home in BC. It really is a crying shame how the stark difference is between provinces and the quality of care provided.

Of course it's possible to mismanage socialized healthcare a socialized healthcare system, that doesn't make socialized healthcare bad.

These situations are rare despite what the occasional outrage-inducing news story would have you believe. Here in Ontario for example, the average wait time for urgent patients is 1 day, for high-priority (target 10 days) it's 15 days, and for low priority (target 28 days) it was 58 days. Detailed, up-to-date stats for this are available at https://www.hqontario.ca/System-Performance/Wait-Times-for-D...

As bad as it is in the US, I can get seen the same day or next day.

I had a thrombosed hemroid, I called and got an apointment the next day with a specialist. He confirmed my diagnosis and I got surgery to drain and remove it the following day. Only cost me less than 200 dollars after insurance.

I had a bump on my testicle. I was concerned about cancer, so I see my regular doctor. $20 copay and he said it was just a blood something. I wanted to be sure, so he refered me and I got an ultrasound the same day at another facility. That only cost me a $100-something dollars after insurance. (It wasn't cancer.)

Thrombosed hemroid where 95% of people treat it by soaking it in water daily? Probably low-priority, 58 days. Waiting 58 days for an ultrasound to see if you have cancer?

Yeah, I'll keep the coverage/insurance that I have. I still understand the vast majority doesn't have it as good as I do and we still need to fix the system. I think we can bring people's standards up to what I experience, not down to what Canada experiences.

> I can get seen the same day or next day.

You must not live in a big city because it is difficult to get appointments in the bay area.

> You must not live in a big city

Houston

or in a rural area where the specialist you need only comes twice a year

I don't know about Canada but in most countries with socialized health care you can always opt in for private care, on a case by case basis, at very reasonable prices (since private care has to compete with public care).

Canada is one of the few (the only?) countries where it is specifically illegal to offer privately a service that is covered by public insurance. For the most part, there is no option to opt in for private care as an alternative.

Are the stats honest? In the US a large government healthcare system, the Veterans Administration, was faking their wait time stats.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/03/vete...

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