This is not medical advice.
This is not a post just critical of Canada. Our system in the USA is not all roses either.
I’m continually reading posts on social media about people from Canada seeking medical advice. One person said, “your shoulder has to be hanging from a thread in order to be seen by a doctor.” Many people on these forums state that it takes months before they can get into see a specialist. Many of these people are in chronic pain, and can’t get help.
I watched a woman post a question about her knee pain on an orthopedics forum. You’re not supposed to post questions like that on those forums, because people aren’t supposed to give out medical advice over the internet. I think she made a mistake, and didn’t understand where to look. I’m assuming the people who responded were students or young doctors, though I don’t know that for a fact.
Every comment thereafter was to ridicule and insult this person for asking why her knee hurts. No mention of where she could go to get help or answers.
So you have forced socialized medicine in Canada, you pay taxes for it, you are made to wait sometimes 6 months to get an appointment with a specialist, and you will be shamed for asking a question, while you remain in pain with no help for that entire 6 months?
I’m going to digress for a moment on healthcare debate, and will come back around.
This summer marks my 29th anniversary working in healthcare, and I am long past counting repetitions. Most people won’t count, or forget, and don’t understand that the final number of 10 is not the most important part of strengthening. Adjusting the weight to reach fatigue within a reasonable time, is the most important part. I’ve tried explaining this concept, yet most aren’t interested in learning. “Just tell me what I have to do.”
I get it. I may not want to hear about the tax code from my accountant.
So within the last 5 years I have been setting a 2 minute timer for an exercise set, that allows me to talk with the patients, and interview them about a wealth of topics (two minutes is also exhausting, and people are getting stronger). Everything from politics, war, money, and healthcare. I don’t want to listen to the news. I’m interviewing the direct source, and I get to hear many opinions on boths sides. I love history, and have willing participants. Of course I drop the matter if they are uninterested, but that is less than 1%.
I’ve interviewed former soldiers, FBI, police, fire, nursing, orthopedic doctors, politicians, laborers, ranchers, teachers, etc.
I also get to interview people from other countries, and I always want to hear what they think about healthcare. England, from what I’ve been told, has the National Institute of Health. I’ve heard good and bad.
We of course also have forms of socialized medicine, good and bad. We have Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Administration, Indian Health Services, etc. These services can be helpful, and also extremely inefficient and costly.
We also have the option of private insurance. They will screw us for profit, less so incompetance. Their combined annual revenue is over a half trillion dollars. You don’t make that much money by paying claims, or providing all the healthcare that is needed.
So which is better? Many people argue for a one payer nationalized system. In the US we seem to be is this quasi stalemate, where most of us get seen, some for free, some are charged much much more. My health insurance tripled after the Affordable Care Act.
Is healthcare a right? I believe yes. If many of us pay nothing for healthcare, then a one payer system is already here for some of us.
Most people I talk to from other countries are not happy with their version of socialized medical care. Although as I’m writing this, I would rather not pay $2000 per month for my family plan. And I would not be stuck at certain jobs. But I also want my kids to be able to get seen ASAP.
It’s a tough one. Which brings us around to what to do about it.
The main problem is, there are not enough providers, and/or, there are too many customers.
So people are on social media looking for help, and looking for answers. For ethical and safety reasons, people are not supposed to get medical advice on the internet from strangers. But if you are in pain, and waiting for months, what are you supposed to do?
I think the main point is that we have to take care of ourselves as much as possible. We can’t assume that healthcare will be there for us. If more people were healthier, we would have less customers, and people who really need it would not have to wait.
Healthcare is also very profitable because there are so many customers. Let’s not give them as much business.
I would love to hear more perspectives from other experiences in the comments.