What do you think of Canada free medical policy?

[vashti]

That's not true, though. Canada's ethnic/geographic makeup is just as diverse as the United States', if not more. It's just that Canada's poor immigrants actually get coverage.

I didn't say "immigrants". I said POOR immigrants. Your immigrants are largely legal, and therefore not poor. We have a MUCH higher illegal (poor) immigration rate, and the poor don't have health insurance. Also, the US has a much higher population of black people, and although it isn't politically correct to point it out, they totally skew the life expectancy statistics.

[IndiReloaded]

Who's the government to tell me I can't pay for a surgeon if I really want to?

You can. We've done it.

[vashti]

I was thinking about the difference in life expectancies last night, and it occurred to me that the US also has a pretty high violent crime rate, especially amongst certain ethnic populations, and I am pretty sure that plays into the differences in life expectancies, so I doubt very much that the difference can be attributed to the quality of health care.

[Asip4u]

I was thinking about the difference in life expectancies last night, and it occurred to me that the US also has a pretty high violent crime rate, especially amongst certain ethnic populations, and I am pretty sure that plays into the differences in life expectancies, so I doubt very much that the difference can be attributed to the quality of health care.

I agree it's not about the quality of health care. In fact i think overall you guys have better health care. It does come down to the fact so many people in US cannot afford it because it's so damn expensive. Here, no matter how poor you are, you get access for almost nothing. I think in US they like to feed the rich while poor starve to death. As for the high violent crime rate it probably does play a role especially since so many households have guns in their home. That story on the 11 year old shooting his stepmom is so crazy. I blame it all on his dad though. Guns should never be so easy to access like that especially by young kids.

[misombra]

I don't get why other people are debating the status of our medical system. It's easy to be a critic when you don't live here, or never have.

Our system works fine. It's not perfect, but it's better than most. People quote things about people dying while waiting for surgeries, but they don't know jack about it except what they read 'somewhere'. If you have a life-threatening situation, you aren't left to wait and die. Be real.

in school we studied the health care systems of most of the world and canadas was one of the best. germany and switzerland was up there too.

edit: but then we do have all the racial problems like vashhh said and the illegal very very poor immigrants that come here. but like i say, you'll know what it's like when the u.s. becomes a 3d world country.

[SirWagginston]

I don't think illegal immigrants are necessarily poor immigrants. Canada happens to be more lenient on its immigrants; being legal here does not take as much effort. I'm sure the US would institute a similar policy if it was so sparsely populated.

The violent crime rate is a good point, though. It is much higher in the United States. That's a different problem, though.

[bluesummer]

I've heard Germany's is one of the best. I considered moving there to go to school after 5 years of studying German. They send a nurse home with you for a whole week after you have a baby, to make sure you are settling in okay after birth and make sure you know how to take care of it. That's freakin awesome.

[vashti]

I don't think illegal immigrants are necessarily poor immigrants. Canada happens to be more lenient on its immigrants; being legal here does not take as much effort. I'm sure the US would institute a similar policy if it was so sparsely populated.

The violent crime rate is a good point, though. It is much higher in the United States. That's a different problem, though.

Yes, but it speaks to the lower life expectancies, so it's directly relevant. And the immigrants in CANADA aren't necessarily poor, but the illegal immigrants in the US are overwhelmingly poor. That's why they come here - to escape even worse poverty.

[Asip4u]

Yes, but it speaks to the lower life expectancies, so it's directly relevant. And the immigrants in CANADA aren't necessarily poor, but the illegal immigrants in the US are overwhelmingly poor. That's why they come here - to escape even worse poverty.

I bet we have a lot of those illegal imigrants too. When they come to you guys, they notice that it's not that much better so they keep going north.

[bluesummer]

People come here to escape poverty too....and we take in people more readily. We're starting to bring in a ton of Haitians. The difference becomes the fact that even if you arrive here illegally, it's easier to get to stay. In the US, illegal immigrants know that they don't have a snowflake's chance in hell of being able to stay, so they have to take low-paying cash jobs to survive and stay out of Uncle Sam's radar, and therefore have no access to health care.

So it has no bearing on your quality of health care, I'm sure it's just fine, but your immigration policy is so bloody strict it keeps people in poverty and increases the mortality rate. However, if you had a system that provided the same access to medical care to EVERYONE as ours does, it would definitely go down a few pegs in quality. Suddenly you don't have the choice to refuse people daily care because they can't pay for it.

[vashti]

People come here to escape poverty too....and we take in people more readily. We're starting to bring in a ton of Haitians. The difference becomes the fact that even if you arrive here illegally, it's easier to get to stay. In the US, illegal immigrants know that they don't have a snowflake's chance in hell of being able to stay, so they have to take low-paying cash jobs to survive and stay out of Uncle Sam's radar, and therefore have no access to health care.

So it has no bearing on your quality of health care, I'm sure it's just fine, but your immigration policy is so bloody strict it keeps people in poverty and increases the mortality rate. However, if you had a system that provided the same access to medical care to EVERYONE as ours does, it would definitely go down a few pegs in quality. Suddenly you don't have the choice to refuse people daily care because they can't pay for it.

Yeah, I suppose that's true. Canada has roughly the same amount of land as the US, but the US has more than 9x the population, so I can see why it's easier to immigrate there. Though i don't blame people for wanting and actively seeking a better life, we have enough people here. We don't need more. I'm glad Canada can offer a better standard of living for them.

On the other hand, I suspect if you had a population the size of ours, you would have more issues with health care.

According to wiki (dubious reference, I realize), illegal immigrants in Canada number only 35,000 - 120,000.
In the US, they number between 11 and 12.5 MILLION. In California ALONE, the illegal immigrants number almost 3 million.

Big difference there.

[bluesummer]

God willing, our population will always stay small(er).

[Mish]

Do you guys in Canada have an equivalent of what have to "Medicare Levy Surcharge"? It's 1% extra tax when your income gets to certain level if you are not covered by a private insurer.

[IndiReloaded]

Not yet, Mish.

As far as population US vs Canada, its hard to make a direct comparison. Yes, we have more land area, but most of it is ice/tundra & noone wants to live there. Most of Canada is huddled up against the warmer US border like a moth pressed to a lighted window.

[starbuck]

I thought this was an interesting article on the state of the U.S. healthcare system. It says that if insurance premium costs continue to rise as they have been (faster than inflation and wages), then the average policy for a family would cost in the neighborhood of $24,000 a year.

[url=http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/insurance-premiums-still-rising-faster-than-inflation-and-wages/]Insurance Premiums Still Rising Faster Than Inflation and Wages - Prescriptions Blog - NYTimes.com[/url]