The Socialist Bogeyman – Canadian Health Care Myths «

4Mar/10Off

The Socialist Bogeyman – Canadian Health Care Myths

The health care debate rages on in America, and with that debate comes all the rumors about the scary bogeyman known as universal health care. Branded as liberal, socialist, commie, tree huggers, our neighbors to the north are the usual punching bag. We’ve all heard the rumors; you have to wait forever to see a doctor in Canada, doctors are hurt financially by universal care, you don’t get to choose your own doctor, government bureaucrats decide who gets what care (that old pulling the plug on grandma argument), Canadians are paying out of pocket to come to the U.S. for medical care, there aren’t enough doctors in Canada, and taxes are so much higher in Canada because of national health care. Let’s take a look at these myths and see if they are really true.

You have to wait forever to see a doctor in Canada

When it comes to urgent or primary care, this is completely false, however, there can be reasonable wait times for specialists care and elective surgery. According to Health Canada, a federal department that monitors waiting times and patient satisfaction, reports that the median wait time to see a special physician is about four weeks, although almost 90% of Canadians polled said that they wait for less than three months. The median time for diagnostic services, such as an MRI, is two weeks with about 87% waiting for less than three months. Median time for surgery is four weeks, with about 82% waiting less than three months. So, are wait times longer in Canada than in the United States, yes, but they are nowhere near as bad as the right wing pundits would have you believe. It should also be noted that even with the wait times, Canada scores better than the United States when it comes to life expectancy, infant mortality rates, and according to the World Health Organization, Canadians are, overall, statistically healthier than Americans and show lower rates of cancer and many other diseases. It should also be noted that Canada’s health care costs much less than health care in the United States. Per capita expenditure on health care is almost half that of the Unites States, and health care costs as a percentage of GDP is much less as well.

Doctors are hurt financially by universal healthcare

This one is both true and false. Doctors in Canada report making less money than doctors in the United States, but their overhead is also much lower, and they also report better working conditions. Doctors in Canada do not have to spend day and night on the phone with insurance carriers, working to get them to do right by their patients. Doctors also don’t have to worry about getting x amount of dollars from one insurance company, but only getting y amount for the same procedure through Medicare or Medicaid patients. Doctors in Canada generally get the same compensation regardless of the patient’s insurance coverage (or lack thereof). Another thing to keep in mind, is that medical students in the United States graduate with about $140,000 in debt, Health Canada reports that Canadian doctors debt is about half that.

You don’t get to choose your own doctor in Canada

This myth was pulled directly out of the ass of Fox News. I searched the internet far and wide for any small iota of proof to support this claim, I couldn’t. Canadians get to pick their own doctor. In fact, it is Americans that don’t always get to choose their doctor. In the United States, if your doctor is not in your insurance carrier’s network, you’re out of luck. Canadians get to go to any doctor they want, regardless of their level of income.

Government bureaucrats decide who gets what care

Physicians are the only ones in Canada who get to decide what care their patients receive. The Canadian government has absolutely no say in who gets care, no matter how annoying your old crotchety grandmother is. Do you want to know where bureaucrats get between you and your doctor? In the United States of America! HMO’s, PPO’s, and other private insurers are run by bureaucrats who get to decide what kind of care you receive. Insurance companies in the United States have entire departments whose sole purpose in life is to find a way to deny you coverage! If that is not, “pulling the plug on grandma” then I don’t know what is.

Canadians are paying out of pocket to come to the U.S. for medical care

This issue has been front and center in the news lately. Danny Williams, the premier of Newfoundland, flew to Florida in February for heart surgery. The fact of the matter is, Mr. Williams could have received the procedure in Canada, but he chose to see Dr. Joseph at the Mount Sinai Center in Miami because Dr. Joseph has more experience with this specific procedure than any other doctor available. If Dr. Joseph lived in another country, Mr. Williams probably would have gone there. If you are rich, why not pay to have the best doctor available to perform the procedure? This goes for rich people in the United States as well. Wealthy Canadians are free to pay out of pocket for services in the United States, that doesn’t mean that those services are subpar or not available in Canada.

There is one interesting thing that I learned recently about health care in Canada. If a Canadian citizen goes to the United States to get services deemed medically necessary, and not available at home, the government of that patient’s province will fully fund his or her care in the U.S.

There aren’t enough doctors in Canada

Statistically this is not accurate. The World Health Organization says that there are enough physicians in Canada. In Canada, just like in the United States, most doctors practice in highly populated areas. So if you live in the boon docks you may have a problem, that’s not Canada’s fault, move to a real city.

Taxes are so much higher in Canada because of nationalized health care

This one is partially true. Canada’s taxes, depending on which province you live in, are slightly higher than in the United States (unless of course you live in New York or California, in which case your taxes are probably higher). But at least Canadians can say they get more for their tax dollars, such as better tax credits, twelve months maternity leave, better unemployment benefits, much cheaper higher education, efficient public transportation… The overall average after tax income is virtually the same in Canada as it is in the United States (this surprised me as well).

Don't believe the talking heads on television when they tell you that America has the best health care system. Don't believe Michael Moore, don't believe this blog either, do the research for yourself.

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YashwanthManjunath
March 4th, 2010 - 10:30

I hear you…

But I do not want us to move to a single payer system like Canada has, any more than I like the current system we have now. Canada has cheaper care than we do, but the wait times, while not as bad as hyped by Fox News, are still preferable to avoid, and Doctors here would never go for Single-Payer. I think the best way to go here in America is allowing Everyone over the age of 25, the age people are no longer on their parents insurance, to buy into Medicare if they want to. Medicare has much lower overhead, 3% versus 30%, no marketing costs, no executive compensation, etc. etc. According to the CBO it would cost a 62 year old $7600 a year to pay Medicare premiums, versus over $12000 on the open-market in private insurance. There is no reason the costs would not be much lower the more people purchase Medicare, as you spread the risk out over a much larger pool of people, and those savings could be used to increase reimbursement rates for Medicare to be more competitive with private insurance so that the Hospitals and AMA would support the idea. It would bring down costs in both the public market, and private market through competition. In addition to the subsidies in the current healthcare bill it would expand coverage, and it would slash the deficit by curing Medicare’s budget crisis, and still allow people to choose between private and public insurance. In other words, win, win, win, win.
kirkus
March 4th, 2010 - 10:31

Docs and Single Payer

Actually most doctors are enamored of a single-payer system. When a doctor is in a marriage with an HMO, it means it’s his/her responsibility to account for the patient’s insurance and deny them the prover treatment if they don’t have it, which only adds to the stress they already have to deal with; There’s only one downside to it however, you only make a standard 120,000-200,000$ a year as a physician on average, as opposed to making larger figures through PPO and HMO. God forbid
pattilyn
March 4th, 2010 - 10:32

A Few Words in Response

Medicare is a single payer system, and it’s much more efficient and consumer friendly than our current multi-payer profit system. If you favor almost everyone buying into Medicare, than you do favor single payer, which is also known as improved and expanded Medicare for all.

Sixty percent of American doctors favor a single payer system. Generations ago doctors were afraid of such a change, but today’s professionals know better than anyone how bad things have gotten and the kind of crap people have to deal with just to get the medical care they need.

Your buy-in idea is a great one, and if we had that, the majority would buy the government non-profit insurance over the private. I certainly would.
kirkus
March 4th, 2010 - 10:33

Old but good news

It’s nice to have all of these debates summed up nicely on this page because I don’t think they’ve all been addressed at the same time; however, I think we have gone over all of them at least once, especially the one with wait times because that’s the one that one-sided conservatives and republicans are always yapping about.

As for all of your answers to these, hell yes. I was nervous when you brought up the answer to wait lists because many of us hosers will blatantly yell out a negative when it is in fact true: we do wait a little bit longer. It’s the rural areas like the one I was raised in- southwest BC- where it can be a pain to get a CT or fMRI, I think the closest fMRI is five hours away from my hometown and is booked 2 months ahead typically. But that’s the rural life up here- naturally being so far spaced out will cause that problem.

I’m amidst the pre-med degree right now and yup we do have a small shortage of physicians, in the rural area especially as demand is higher and income is lower. Because of this UBC’s letting in 30 more doctors per year with more attention paid to rural citizens (good news for me), and I wouldn’t be surprised if prairie institutions are getting in on that too, but it’s so unbelievably exaggerated how little doctors there really are.
mmosespt
March 4th, 2010 - 23:34

There have been…

some very glaring instances of Canadians travelling to the US to get medical care, such as Robert Bourassa coming to get cancer treatment, but overall Canadians travelling to the US for health care is very low. One study showed a rate of about 0.5% out of a survey of 17,200 Canadians said they came to the US for healthcare. Lets not forget though that US citizens spend over a billion dollars a year for pharmacueticals from Canada. That doesn’t count what is spent in Mexicao and overseas. I hate to qoute this study, because I’m not looking at it, but another study that looked at the rate of Canadians visiting border clinics from Quebec was very low( about 60 people). In the same year over 1 million Americans sought treatment in Mexican clinics( if anyone knows where I can find this study, please let me know).
PiterJankovich
March 30th, 2010 - 13:20

My name is Piter Jankovich. oOnly want to tell, that your blog is really cool
And want to ask you: is this blog your hobby?
P.S. Sorry for my bad english
admin
March 30th, 2010 - 22:36

Don’t worry about your English, it is fine. Where are you from? Yes, this is just a hobby for me. I would love to get paid for my writing, but I haven’t been that lucky yet. I really enjoy politics and since I read about it everyday, I though why not write about it.

Thanks for the kind words, I’m glad you like the blog.
zynga chips
April 3rd, 2010 - 20:00

i was beginning to sense i could possibly be the sole student which cared about this, at the least currently i recognize im not odd i will be sure to check out a number other blogposts right after i get a tad of caffeine in me, it is actually rough to read without my coffee, I was up late last evening practicing zynga poker and after getting my fill with a few brewskies i finished up melting away all my facebook poker chips take care
admin
April 4th, 2010 - 01:03

You are certainly no the only one. In fact, in every poll taken over the last ten years, the majority of Americans are in favor of a single payer health system.
watch twilight
April 7th, 2010 - 22:55

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admin
April 8th, 2010 - 00:02

I’m not sure why it would be faster. I don’t know of any plugins or widgets that I might have that would make it faster. Is your blog hosted by WordPress on their site? I have a WordPress software installed for layout purposes, but I bought the domain and the host server. If your website is not through WordPress, it might be that I have host than you.