The Reality Of Canada's "Free" Health Care
On PsychologyToday.com, Gad Saad, a Canadian academic whose work I follow, advises Americans not to romanticize the Canadian health care system:
(1) Our healthcare is anything but free. We are levied some of the most punitive and exorbitant tax rates of all industrialized nations. The average Canadian will pay extraordinarily more taxes to subsidize the "free" healthcare system then he/she will ever receive in return in terms of services rendered.(2) Margaret Thatcher famously quipped "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." Let's see how this played out within the Canadian healthcare system. For decades, the Canadian medicare card did not include a photo ID. In other words, when an individual presented his/her card to obtain "free" medical services, seldom did anyone ensure that the card belonged to the individual in question. The running joke among many Middle Eastern communities (recall that I was born in Lebanon) is that the whole of the Middle East obtained free healthcare in Canada. The Canadian government eventually smartened up to this astonishing scam by altering the medicare cards to include a photo ID. That said, the politicians did not have to worry about the billions of dollars stolen (which I paid for), as there is always a passive citizenry willing to absorb additional tax hikes. You see, we have "free" healthcare in Canada.
(3) The Canadian healthcare system is so overburdened that it is difficult to find a family physician willing to take on new patients. In our "free" system, one has to beg and plead to be taken as a patient. You are made to feel as though you are personally indebted to a physician who accepts you as a patient. "Thank you, doctor. I will never forget your infinite kindness for having accepted to provide me the 'free' service that I pay thousands of dollars per year in taxes to have. You are a mensch doc." Good luck finding a specialist in due time. There are endless anecdotes of patients being told that the next available date for an important surgery is many months down the line, given the scheduling backlog.
(4) Let us suppose that you are facing a medical emergency. Have no fear, as our Canadian system is free and generous. You'll only have to wait 8-14 hours in a hospital waiting room (as did my wife when she experienced a medical situation whilst pregnant with our first child). You might die while waiting but at least it is "free."
(5) The failure of our Canadian healthcare system is so apparent (and so unsustainable) that in the last few years many Canadians have had to enroll in private health insurance programs! I recently experienced debilitating lower back pains rendering me nearly immobile for several days. I could have sought the services of our "free" healthcare but this would have meant that I would have likely waited six months to see a physiatrist. He/she would have then ordered me to have some MRI images done, which would have taken a few more months at the "free hospital." On the other hand, since I pay for private healthcare insurance, the problem was addressed in less than one week. Hence, not only do I pay exorbitant taxes to fund a healthcare system that is utterly broken but also I must enroll in private healthcare programs (as would the average American) to avoid having to participate in the "free" system that I already paid for!
What are Canadian tax rates exactly? I was talking to an acquaintance of mine from Canada yesterday, and she was saying when she had moved to California from Alberta she was surprised that there wasn't actually much difference in taxes.
I suppose it depends on your income bracket.
NicoleK at June 14, 2012 11:56 PM
'Exorbitant tax rates' are just as prevalent in the US. Ask the "self-employed."
Would the higher taxes you pay be more than what you give to BC/BS, Kaiser, UHC, whoever each month?
And one could argue points (3) and (4) here in the US just as easily.
DrCos at June 15, 2012 3:04 AM
Also worth noting: Alberta's taxes are (IIRC) the lowest in Canada and California's the highest in the USA, so an AB-to-CA move would be the floor in terms of the overall change.
silverpie at June 15, 2012 5:26 AM
Thanks, silverpie.
NicoleK at June 15, 2012 5:32 AM
3 and 4 are very much true here. I remember waiting 10 hours for a cat scan at the ER, and I had insurance that I paid for. I've taken people to the ER numerous times, and no wait has been fewer than 5 hours. It has taken me weeks to see primary-care and specialist doctors even with paid insurance, and I had a hell of a time finding ones that were taking new patients.
MonicaP at June 15, 2012 7:46 AM
"What are Canadian tax rates, exactly?"
Here are the federal and provincial income tax rates for 2012:
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html
The federal sales tax (GST) is 5%. Provincial sales taxes are as follows:
Alberta 0
BC 7
Manitoba 7
New Brunswick 8
Newfoundland 8
Nova Scotia 10
Ontario 8
PEI 10 (effective 10.5, since it's charged on GST)
Quebec 9.5 (effective 9.975)
Saskatchewan 5
Martin (Ontario) at June 15, 2012 9:36 AM
1) Fee for service is higher in the us than any where in the industrialized world.
2) In the US it's the providers that scam the programs out of millions of dollars
3) Almost as difficult to find a GP or Specialist in the US.
4) Average ER wait times in the US are as long as any where in the industrialized world.
5) I have no problem with a person being able to purchase an upgrade. Happens throughout the economy.
If you are amoung the powerful and wealthy you get good care regardless; if you are not...it doesn't matter what counrty your in, it's all about the same.
nuzltr2 at June 15, 2012 9:50 AM
ObamaCare counts only 40% of Healthcare Costs
Mike: I have a $4 coupon here for a hamburger.
Server: (loudly to kitchen) Burger, well done, no salt, no cheese, no fries, half a bun. (to Mike) We'll have it for you in an hour.
Mike: Wait, I don't want it like that!
Server: It's free. Stop complaining.
Mike: (looks at the next table) Their meals look good.
Server: Politicians and union guys. Where do you work?
Mike: Acme Manufacturing, why?
Server: We'll bill them for the other $6. Hah, they'll be happy.
Mike: Say, what sort of restaurant is this?
Server: Obama's Health Care Restaurant.
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The Congressional Budget Office released another estimate for ObamaCare. It still omits the cost of new private-sector mandates, nine months after the first version was released. President Obama has implicitly acknowledged this omission. The mandates will likely cost 1.5 times the amounts spent directly by government.
Andrew_M_Garland at June 15, 2012 11:14 AM
Wait, I thought private insurance was illegal in Canada?
I know it's allowed in the UK. When I asked a friend there how he liked the NHS, he said it's fine, but then he had private coverage too, because he had so many health problems.
carol at June 15, 2012 2:07 PM
Carol:
It was, but their supreme court ruled that prohibition unconstitutional because the Canadian health service's promise of health care wasn't being met. (They actually stated something along the lines of how waiting in line for health care wasn't the same as actually receiving health care and thus, the citizens weren't actually receiving the health care they had been promised.)
AB at June 15, 2012 4:18 PM
I just read an online article yesterday in a professional publication about government healthcare versus the US. It stated the average ER waits in Canada were 23 hours to be put in a room to see a doctor versus 5 for the US. The average wait in Canada for non-emergent hip replacement surgery was 17 months versus 3 months in the US. Cancer survival rates were roughly half what they are here. There was also an article about the NHS and how satisfaction dropped from 70% to 51% in the last year due to increased care rationing and wait times.
BunnyGirl at June 15, 2012 11:37 PM
If you don't pay, you are NOT the customer, and the agency you deal with has no duty to satisfy you.
So do not be surprised when you get shafted.
Radwaste at June 16, 2012 9:10 AM
Question for anybody who knows: In the UK and Canada, is it common for people who have non-emergency medical problems to go to an emergency room for treatment?
Cousin Dave at June 16, 2012 9:56 AM
As I stated on Twitter, nobody says national healthcare is free - it is just a more efficient type of insurance than the "for-profit" type and results in better health outcomes. It has only the downsides of any insurance and is only as socialistic as any insurance is. I simply don't get why single payer is worse than any healthcare. Between what my employer pays and what I pay, it costs 15k to insure my wife and I. How is this not a tax? I'll take a 10k tax increase and pocket the rest to get single payer. Single payer encourages job mobility and increases the risk pool. The way free market libertarians think their one size fits all ideology fits all markets, no matter the evidence (high costs and bad health outcomes in the US) shows that the ideological tail is wagging the evidentiary dog. Free marketism MUST be true before the evidence is even examined and no amount of explaining the different in relative vs absolute advantage and "arms race" markets (ala Robert Frank) will dislodge the commitment anymore than evidence about sex differences will sway political feminists or the fossil record sways the religious.
Brian at June 16, 2012 10:51 AM
Cousin Dave,
In my (admittedly anecdotal) experience, yes, we Canadians will go the ER for non-emergency reasons, especially on weekends or at night, when doctor's offices aren't open. I went once, after hurting my thumb in a baseball game, but that was mostly because my mom was way more worried about it than me. I think I had a 2-3 hour wait. I will say the ER at the local hospital was VERY good and very quick when we took my daughter in with respiratory distress.
Also, it isn't true that the health care system covers every expense. I have no idea of the permutations, but there are employer health plans that go on top of the gov't benefits...and I know we had to pay some for a private room at the hospital when our two children were born.
Jdbar93 at June 17, 2012 12:46 PM
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