"How I Lost My Fear Of Universal Health Care"

[pocheros 101]

Here's an interesting article about an american republican lady who moved to Canada and initially thought free health care was an imposition on her freedom (seriously) and then changed her mind: http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/07/12/how-i-lost-my-fear-universal-health-care

This article made me REALLY miss Canada. It's funny how so many americans are afraid of "Obamacare," when in my opinion free health care should be a human right! It's just so wacky. Gosh. I'm glad I'm not having kids because health care is so ridiculously costly here and I can't fathom being billed just for giving birth. Not to mention not getting maternity leave!

[Krikit 1,164]

Interesting article. Thank you. I would add that the lower abortion rate is also due to the availability of prescription birth control. But I guarantee that if you posted this article over in P&R you would get the usual hysterical mob finding some type of fault and hollering about their rights.... even though they have never, ever, experienced universal healthcare.

There is an interesting blog I sometimes read, of an American couple and their family living in Canada. She has some interesting and amusing things to say about Americans and their craziness at universal healthcare. She loves the Canadian system also.

Edited August 10, 2012 by Krikit

[Peachey 10]

I agree that the prenatal/becoming a parent/having a baby care is MUCH better in Canada, however there are things in my personal experience that are not as good.

Let me tell you a story.

Six (6) years ago I had this problem with my eye, I had severe pain in my left eye (especially on movement), and sudden loss of vision (like REAL sudden, matter of hours). So I went to see an optometrist. He couldn't figure out what's wrong, he diagnosed me with something that's not supposed to have those kind of problems. My vision wasn't returning and my "head ache" was still present so I went to my Family doc. She ordered a cat scan, but that came back clean and said I had cluster headaches and to just deal with it. I complained so her office made an appointment with an ophthalmologist who said I was "fine". My headache eventually went away and my vision never returned and developed into Astigmatism. (Note: my vision was better than 20/20 before this incident)

Fast forward to 2 months ago. The same thing happened again, but now I live in Pennsylvania. Again, I went to see my Optometrists, he did a thorough exam, and I did a bunch of tests in his office and he says to me "I think you have Optic Neuritis, you need to see an ophthalmologist tomorrow!". Ok, so they call their specialist partner and make my appointment for the next morning. I see a really nice specialist, again who runs a bunch of tests and does an exam. He said I have Optic Neuritis, and that sometimes leads to Multiple Sclerosis and sends me for an MRI. I have my MRI and he calls and said there's lesions on my brain and I need to see a Neurologist. I make an appointment with a Neurologist who does a bunch of tests, orders MORE MRIs and then gives me the official Diagnosis of MS. He put me on IV steroids that help my vision a bit, and makes my headache go away.

I'm not saying that the doctors in Canada could have prevented the MS, but I think they could have helped my vision and at least warned me about the possibility of MS (or maybe I even had it then, but I don't know since I didn't have an MRI). I also lived in Sudbury, which is notorious for not having enough doctors, so maybe that's why. It just seemed like the doctors down here wanted to find out what was wrong with me and weren't satisfied with just saying "deal with it". I also have amazing insurance, so I don't have the fear of having to pay when I go to the doctors.

I recently got offered my old job back in Sudbury, my old boss also offered my husband a job since she knew that I wouldn't move unless we both have a job. I had to decline, and the biggest reason was because I am terrified that now I have this disease and I wouldn't be able to get the care I need because there's no doctors there.

TL;DR: Had a problem 6 years ago, docs said deal with it, happened again in the US got a real diagnosis of a life long disease that is possible that started 6 years ago with the problem I had.

[Rob & Monika 87]

I think there are 3 thoughts that go through the mind of people that don't want Obamacare. First, the government already pays out over $2 trillion in entitlements, 1/2 of which is medicare (health care). They bring in about $2.5T in taxes and spend over $3.5T. People tend to see this as "you can't afford what you got, why are you spending more?" A nice analogy I heard was that the gov't is like a family making $50k/yr, spending $75k/yr, with a $300k CC debt.

There is the notion that supply of doctors is already short, and increasing demand with free health care would make it even harder to get into a doctors office. It's bad enough that people have to wait hours at urgent care or the ER without adding more people to the mix.

The other issue is not wanting to give money to people that refuse to contribute to society. For instance, my former brother in law went 10 years without any form of work and mooched of anyone he could. It wasn't because he couldn't find a job, but he would rather sit and play video games all day than work. I would not hand that bum a dime, nor do I want my country giving him money (it's not any different than me handing him money).

Then again, we treat our prisoners better than our poor. If you were desperate enough, you could commit crimes, then get sent to jail and get free health care there. So I admit something needs to change, the question is how.

Edited August 10, 2012 by Rob & Monika

[Gypsyangel 11]

One of the hardest things about living in the U.S., for me, is hearing people be so adamantly against universal health care. To me, providing access to experts and professionals that can ease suffering or heal that which can easily be healed is a basic form of human caring. As a Canadian, I can't get my head wrapped around the idea that people simply do not care at all about others. My mind won't accept it. It simply cannot be true. There must be something I'm not understanding.

That said, neither system is perfect. To me, the problem in the U.S. is that they've built a state-of-the-art health system that is inaccessible to so many people because of money. And in Canada, you have easy access to basic care, and then sometimes they have too few resources and are overwhelmed if anything is out of the ordinary.

Places like Sudbury (Hey Peachey, I grew up there!), don't have enough medical specialists. My Mom (in Sudbury) had a similar problem to yours, Peachey, in that she got some sort of virus in her ear, we took her to emergency, then she went to her doctor who sent her to a specialist. She couldn't get an appointment with the specialist for six months and by that time she was permanently deaf in that ear. If she had insurance in the U.S., I don't think that would have happened, but if she didn't have insurance, it would have been the same result.

There has to be a middle ground. I think Canada has a better chance of getting there than the U.S.

[Peachey 10]

I think Sudbury is probably one of the worst places in Canada for healthcare... it's sad.

So I grew up in Garson/Coniston, where did you live? Do we know each other?? LOL

[bsd058 296]

I think Sudbury is probably one of the worst places in Canada for healthcare... it's sad.

So I grew up in Garson/Coniston, where did you live? Do we know each other?? LOL

Try Lloydminster. lol.

[Peachey 10]

Try Lloydminster. lol.

Lol probably, but I didn't say THE worst, I said ONE OF the worst

[dukeandduchess 141]

Wow Peachey! I had a similar problem - twice.

First I had this problem with my ear (dizziness, vertigo) and my doctor said it "looked weird" and sent me to a ear-nose-throat specialist. It took 6 months to get in, and by that time the problem stopped, but I was left with a significant loss of hearing in the ear and a distortion. I constantly have problems understanding what people are saying. They just kind of shrugged and said "pay attention". Wow!

Second I started having severe pain in my pelvic area on the left side. Went to a doctor and they said oh it's just your period deal with it. It was so bad I couldn't get out of bed, wearing pants was like torture, and I missed a ton of my university classes. It went away after 3 weeks. Then it came back after 3 months, while I was on summer break at my parents. It was so severe I did nothing but lay in a bed for weeks. This time it didn't go away so I finally got referred to a gynecologist, who of course couldn't see me for about 5 months. She immediately wanted to do exploratory surgery (thought I had endometriosis), so they gave me some pain killers and told me to deal with it for 4 months. I had to go to the hospital a few times from severe pain - I started getting huge cysts and they shrugged and gave me morphine and told me to wait for my surgery to remove them. Finally had surgery and she didn't see endometriosis. Did a biopsy which came back "inconclusive", but rather than figure it out they just shrugged and said "oh you have a trigger point or something". HUH? So they put me on more pain killers and then put me on a drug that puts you through pseudo-menopause (I was 21) for a year. That still didn't solve it so they just shoved drugs in my face and said deal with it. She couldn't figure it out which meant there was nothing wrong with me. Clearly! I jumped through all the hoops and tried everything they told me to and still no solution. So when I kept saying there's a problem they just went "well, maybe you should give it more time or get pregnant, that might fix it" - lol!

Anyway, I still have problems with pain so this makes me hopeful that maybe a doctor here will have an answer for me. I've been having more problems recently so I may just make an appointment.

So yeah, I can definitely say from experience Canadian health care sucks unless you're dying or only have a simple cold. I've had to live in constant pain for 4 years, 2 years of that pain being debilitating (as in had to drop out of university, couldn't work) and the last 2 years learning how to live with it. Nightmare.

[SapphireDreams 71]

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis Peachey.

I am all for universal healthcare, I think it really does make a difference in so many ways.

However, I have to say that I have had a really great experience with the American system, mainly because we have great insurance, but they just really do get down to the root of the problem. I had an issue in Canada for years that just never went away. My Dr. could not figure it out, basically just kept telling me to take drug store medication and she basically said it would just be something I would have to live with. Fast forward, saw my first Dr. in the US about it, she immediately prescribed me with some medication (that isn't available in Canada funny enough) and my issue went away. It comes back once in awhile, but all I have to do is call my Dr. and she'll send in the prescription and I'm good again.

The waiting and the difficulty seeing a specialist is an issue in Canada. No doubt. BUt the security of knowing I'd be okay if I was unemployed etc. is a huge benefit.

[keysjangle 145]

Being in a large city certainly helps with getting to specialists faster. When my heart problem was being checked out I didn't wait months and months for specialists; it took a few weeks at most. Maybe because it's a vital organ? Either way, I'm currently editing a book by my friend who lives with chronic pain and her boyfriend who has terminal merkel cell carcinoma. It's about the dismissive attitude of some doctors, medical marijuana and their legal/health battles. Our health system is very complicated and is different from city to city. I'm glad I married a military man because I know I am covered more or less as well as I was in Toronto, but I have yet to experience the American system.

[X Factor 1,112]

Interesting article. Thank you. I would add that the lower abortion rate is also due to the availability of prescription birth control. But I guarantee that if you posted this article over in P&R you would get the usual hysterical mob finding some type of fault and hollering about their rights.... even though they have never, ever, experienced universal healthcare.

It's dangerous in P&R