Posted on 09/07/2022 7:40:05 AM PDT by billorites
Terence Graham has been waiting anxiously for weeks to receive urgent CT scan results after experiencing "noticeable swelling" in the back of his head that gave him "blinding headaches."
The 55-year-old Canadian Forces veteran, who lives in Laird, Ont., about 40 kilometres southeast of Sault Ste. Marie, said he was checked out at the local emergency department on July 27. Not only did it take nearly three weeks to get the scan, he says he's since been unable to get the results.
The findings of a new Angus Reid Institute poll conducted in Canada and the U.S. in August suggest Canadians are significantly less satisfied with their access to health care than their American neighbours.
Graham is not surprised.
His family doctor left town in 2020, so in order to get his results, he has to make an appointment with what's known as a locum — a doctor who temporarily comes into northern and rural areas of the province where there is a lack of physicians. He was due to see a doctor Tuesday but said the appointment was cancelled. If and when he can get another appointment, Graham says the physician likely won't be familiar with his medical history.
He told CBC News he has friends in the U.S. who brag about their health care, even though it may come with a cost.
"It's a sad state of affairs if that's the common belief that we have as Canadians now," he said. "That's the belief that I have right now."
According to the Angus Reid Institute, 29 per cent of adults have experienced "chronic difficulty" in accessing health care, which represents the equivalent of nine million Canadians.
A further 31 per cent, the equivalent of 9.7 million Canadians, said they had experienced some challenges, even though nearly all (98 per cent) of this group reported having a family doctor.
The situation was similar in almost every region of Canada, in both urban and rural areas.
The type of medical care people had most difficulty accessing included specialist appointments (58 per cent overall), emergency care (54 per cent), surgical procedures (51 per cent), non-emergency treatment (44 per cent) and diagnostic tests (41 per cent).
British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario and the four Atlantic Provinces, combined, all had more than 60 per cent of respondents saying they faced challenges seeking the care they needed. The Angus Reid Institute noted British Columbia and the Atlantic provinces were the two regions of Canada where more than one-third of people had chronically difficult experiences accessing health care.
"Canadians have become so used to the narrative that you won't be turned away," said Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute. But, she said, "they are being turned away or put on hold indefinitely" because of shortages and the system not functioning properly.
CBC News has reported extensively across Canada this year on emergency room closures and service reductions due to staffing shortages, extended surgery wait times, and the need to offload some procedures to other provinces to clear backlogs, in what's seen as a health-care crisis. Health care access in Canada vs. U.S.
When it comes to people satisfied with their access to care, the research found 15 per cent, or 4.7 million Canadians, have comfortable access; Manitoba had the highest at 18 per cent, while B.C. had the lowest at 10 per cent.
More than half of respondents nationwide with comfortable access to surgical care said their health improved, while 34 per cent of the people who faced difficulty said their condition worsened.
On average, nearly a quarter of people in the 10 provinces said they didn't require access to health care in the previous six months.
Even if people didn't have struggles with the health-care system, they may know someone who did; just over half of the people who took part in the poll said they had family or friends who endured serious (18 per cent) or minor (33 per cent) consequences because they lacked adequate care.
Kurl said there is a perception that access to health care in Canada is better than in the U.S., but that gets "turned on its ear" when you actually speak to Americans.
U.S. citizens have a much more favourable opinion of their own health care system, with almost double the number of Americans surveyed (29 per cent) saying they are comfortable with the access they have.
There were also far fewer U.S. respondents (13 per cent) who said they have chronic difficulty seeking medical care.
Faced with the possibility of needing emergency care, 70 per cent of Americans felt confident they would get it in a timely fashion compared to just 37 per cent of Canadians.
The Angus Reid Institute conducted two online surveys in August, receiving responses from 2,279 Canadians between Aug. 8-10, and 1,209 Americans between Aug. 16-17. The Canadian findings had a margin of error of +/- 2.0 per cent, 19 times out of 20, while the U.S. results had a margin of error of +/- 3.0 per cent.
Yet they voted for Trudeau, a known quantity.
Screw them. Eat the sandwich you made.
govt healthcare
you never want to be a line item on a govt ledger
Canadians have screwed themselves and got what they voted for.
But the libs keep saying that govt run medicine is what this country needs. It’s more “equitable”.
More Canadians voted for the other party
I can sympathize. Even with great healthcare insurance and an ability to choose any doctor, specialist, facility, etc. I’ve attempted these last two years during all this Covid nonsense I’ve had to wait sometimes up to 4 months to be able to get an appointment to see a specialist. And when I did finally get in, there were other impediments to procedures and surgery that extended that delay upwards of up to almost a year.
I can’t imagine what it would be like in Canada now.
I would not trade American medical treatment for any other in the world.
Equality is a non achievable goal. At least half the population is lower than average.
Less than average means there is no equality for a lot of reasons.
In theory, Americans are equal under the law, but everybody knows that is not true, especially when the tyrants have weaponized the law to put down their opposition.
bkmk
Trudeau is more interested in the Fake Global Warming and Dictatorship than helping people
Known, predicted and expected. Time for them to rot in the system they asked for.
Nothing will get fixed until enough people begun to truly suffer (and do mean suffer) under the consequences they were warned about.
Healthcare needed in weeks is only years away.
Just remember, liberal-voting Canadians... none of the folks you voted for have to wait for any medical treatments.
Rules for you - but not for them.
I usually buy travel insurance when I visit the spousal unit’s Canadian family. It includes air ambulance to the US.
There is a standing order - if I need medical care, evac me to a US hospital rather let me be tortured in the Canada health care system (that comes from past experience).
If you need a doctor you have to wait months at times to see one. Then if you need an x-ray, mri then wait months more.
Meanwhile if you do not die you are in pain from the bad knee or hip etc.
Along the US side of the border clinics have been setup and Canadians arrange to go there to get treated right away and get mri the day they arrive.
In Canada the gov’t lets you suffer and hope you die.
Yup. And how many of them have moved to Canada, the UK, or Cuba for the sake of their health care?
They are true morons.
CA federal law requires the provinces and territories to provide universal health insurance. It’s left to the provinces to fill in the details and oversee.
Bottom line is that medical care is functionally limited and rationed compared to the US. This especially accurate for “elective” procedures such as cataract surgery. This is something I looked into since at some point I’ll need this.
First thing I found out that a person needed to schedule the procedure before October or so before the yearly allotment of slots ran out until the next year started. Next, the technologies used in CA were 1 or 2 generations obsolete compared to the US.
There was a second, boutique level of medical care if a person had cash.
“It’s more “equitable”.
Suckers !!
Nothing new. 20 years ago, when I was living/working in SE Michigan (auto industry) there were clinics in the Detroit area that specifically catered to Canadians. CAT scans and even plain old X-rays especially, but also dentistry. Cash and carry.
OTOH in the ‘80s a motorcycle racing colleague dropped his Norton at Mosport, smashed his pelvis up badly. Was a month in hospital before he could be moved home to the States; he was never charged a dime.
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