Comment by ozmodiar | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ozmodiar | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

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.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com