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Comment by nceqs3 | Hacker News Reader

You ever been to a Canadian hospital?

> You ever been to a Canadian hospital?

As a Canadian: yes.

And the bill was $0 at the end of my father's heart bypass and valve replacement surgery. My friend's sister cancer treatment also had a bill of $0.

Finished filing my taxes last month, and my average rate (provincial+federal) for last year was 21%. Happy to pay.

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4495123

“ "Then I found out that this other country — which I thought had a healthcare system that was so superior to the U.S. — doesn't test for the tumour marker that saved my life, and doesn't cover this drug that is responsible for pushing my cancer into remission after traditional chemotherapy failed to do that."”

"... and then I found out that this other country - which I thought had the best healthcare system in the world - allowed for-profit insurance companies to dictate what treatment would be paid for, and allowed millions of people without insurance to likely go without any sort of test for cancer at all."

I'm not sure I'd feel better with the explanation "No, we won't pay to cure your cancer, but hey, if you were in the US there is a chance they won't pay for it either!"

Pretty sure I'd prefer even a 5% chance versus a guaranteed 0%.

Not to mention the fact that the entire argument is a strawman. US insurance companies almost always fold in the end.

Folding doesn't help someone with a US$7000 deductible but no means to pay it.

Legit every major drug company would give you the drug in question for free, not to mention Medicaid, which if you can't afford 7k, you would easily qualify for.

I have Canadian friends and it sounds better than when my older brother had to call their insurance company every months to get their anxiety meds covered because, for some reason, the insurance company lost the paper work for approving them every month. For a year.

Funny because it’s just the sort of thing to cause more anxiety in an anxious person.

I’d also love hear how many Canadian cancer survivors have to put up gofundmes or go bankrupt for care.

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4495123

Who here is saying Canadians are perfect? I’m sure it’s easy to find individuals who had a better experience in the US.

I have, as have members of my family, and have received excellent care for some fairly serious conditions. I think the Canadian system is under funded, and I'm sure there are plenty of true horror stories, but they always get highlighted by people who want to tear down/prevent a public healcare system so I feel I have to bring up that my family have received good and timely care. When I really needed healthcare I was unemployed and it was stressful enough seeking care without having to worry about insurance. Now that I'm employed I'm happy to pay back into the system.

I value having public health care. I hope the US can come up with a good public system so that Canada can stop resting on "at least we're not like the US!"

It really seems to be one of those things where depending on who you are, you are better off under one system or the other. I have an aunt who was handicap from birth. Her care in Canada from birth to her death in her 70s was far better than what she would have received in the US under Medicaid, which is what her disability likely would have restricted her to as her ability to work and access quality health insurance would have been limited. On the other hand, there's no shortage of Canadians who end up coming over to the US to get timely care that the Canadian system treats as low priority even though it has a large quality of life impact and even in some cases, a life expectancy impact. There was a case recently of a Canadian YouTuber living in Japan who ended up in Florida for treatment because both the Japanese and Canadian systems failed her. The comparisons between systems aren't anywhere near as clear as many would have us believe.

Those stories aren’t irreconcilable. The US is huge and has a lot of specialists and I don’t doubt there are some cases where you can get better treatment in the US, especially if you’re rich.

The issue is we fail most people and those we don’t fail we often bankrupt. That isn’t acceptable.

I've been to multiple Canadian ERs (2 times total) and multiple US ERs (2 times total).

The only difference has been that 1 time the Canadian ER was busier and I waited my turn (based on an initial triage).

I feel, during my visit, I was appropriately handled in all 4 locations. After leaving the hospital in Canada I was done. However in the US, both times a few weeks later I got a bill for roughly $1000, and it actively makes me think twice about going to the ER (even though I can afford the $1000). In the US, I may have skipped the ER the second time if I hadn't felt strongly I was having an appendicitis. Truly scary to think I considered not going based on a bit of money.

If it wasn't clear, even being well off in the US, I prefer the overall experience in Canada.

The quality of Canadian healthcare depends greatly on who is in the room having the discussion about it. If it's just my Canadian relatives discussing it, it's the worst healthcare system on Earth and too much of their taxes goes to funding something to provides garbage care. Once someone from the US enters the conversation, the quality of the Canadian healthcare system skyrockets. Things get really interesting when my cousins from Ontario who have lived in Florida for most of their adult lives get in the conversation since they're willing to call out both sides on their BS.

Yeah, I've also had friends and family go. No complaints.

Why do you ask?

Have you? Do tell.

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