GET WELL SOON
Last week I found myself at a walk-in clinic. While I was partly too lazy to trek across the Cambie Street Bridge to my actual doctor’s office, I find the medical staff at the Stein Medical Clinic [website] to be thoroughly professional and less of a headache to deal with.
I had a minor health glitch, one that had me diagnosed and out the door, prescription clutched in hand, in under 10 minutes. At one point during my time at the clinic, I do remember flashing my BC Care Card, but my debit and credit cards stayed firmly tucked in my wallet. From there, I walked to Urban Fare’s pharmacy, handed over my prescription and paid for it only five minutes later with, quite literally, pocket change.
To most Canadians, this is completely normal; to most Americans, this is a luxury.
To many of them, it’s a choice between visiting the doctor or paying this month’s rent. Canada, it seems, isn’t that far behind.
Photo: Brittany G on Flickr
Garnering both flack and praise, Michael Moore’s 2007 documentary “Sicko” turned the spotlight on the some 50 million Americans who are uninsured or are covered with such measly insurance that they’re victims of the system all the same. The problem at large in the United States is that health care is completely privatized, and in his film, Moore targeted his suspicions of the conglomerate insurance companies that were denying treatment to policy holders in order to pinch pennies…billions and billions of pennies.
Here in Canada, various levels of our Government foot the bills for approximately 70% of healthcare costs and the system is “designed to ensure that all residents have reasonable access to medically necessary hospital and physician services.” [source] A huge number of our citizens also receive further and more comprehensive coverage through their respective employers.
In a time where the almighty dollar is king (and making more of it is the name of the game), I have to stop and wonder how much longer we have until Canada goes the way of our southern sister. If and when that day comes, I’m packing my bags and moving to France. Who’s with me?
(Click here to view the trailer for “Sicko.”)
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6 Comments
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Great post, Keira
Lots of people take the health care system for granted. I’ll go to France with you
very interesting…yes, I pay possibly $60.00+ per week out of my paycheck just IN CASE I need a doc appt. And then when i get there…it’s $25 for a reg doc just for the appt, $35 if a specialist, $150 for urgent care and $100 if it’s the emergency room. Prescriptions…anywhere from $15-$100.00…it is vert costly and it deters you from seeking proper medical care. And honestly I know I pay a lot less than most.
Funny that you mention the possibility of your medical coverage changing to be like America…bc many Americans are pushing for universal healthcare esp with the upcoming elections. Some concerns? Overcrowded waiting rooms aka not getting adequate & timely care…or having to book appts approx 4 months in advance for a specialist…like a dermatologist or such. Personally I don’t understand how those inconveniences can measure up against someones life or health but hey — Hmmm….but either way I’ll move to France with ya
Je ne sais pa a la Francais. Alas, I think I’d get shot by a local shortly after moving to France. :/ Couldn’t tell you why, I wouldn’t understand them if they tried to explain!
I’m voting for England. And Sicko a freaking awesome movie.
Here’s one U.S. expat who will never take our health care system for granted. I suffered a devastating wrist injury in a bicycle accident back in May. Emergency room care, x-rays, a CT scan, surgery, post-op care, occupational therapy, etc., all covered in full with no questions asked (beyond confirming that I’m a Canadian resident with a valid BC Care Card after hearing my thick southern drawl). I’d rather not think about what it would have cost me down in the States, even with insurance. And there’s the whole “drive past three hospitals to get to one in my network” thing that we don’t worry about here either.
If our health system eventually becomes privatized (and in some provinces, it is already to some extent, even in BC), it will be because ultimately the public system failed. I spoke at length with my plastic surgeon the other day, and he said the situation here is fairly dire, mostly because everything is underfunded, even the doctors. No serious professionals want to work in Canada because they get paid peanuts here despite doing ten years of higher learning. In the states, operating on, and looking after, someone with breast cancer will net the doctor $8000. In Canada, the surgeon gets $750, and that is also meant to pay for time in his doctor’s office leading up to the surgery. They simply can’t stay competitive. In addition, many of our high tech surgical wards and under utilized, simply because there aren’t enough staff to keep them running as often as they need to be. That’s why surgical wait times are so long. The doctors want to perform more surgeries, but they simply can’t hire enough people to keep everything running.
When the private clinics first popped up on Quebec, it eventually went to court. The courts, however, ruled in favor of the clinics, since they were saving lives that probably would have been lost in the public system. The public system is in massive need of an overhaul, and a major injection of funding.
thanks for sharing.