As an American I’m curious what it’s like if you need to go to the doctor and how much you pay from say a broken arm to general checkup. Also list what country please
As an American I’m curious what it’s like if you need to go to the doctor and how much you pay from say a broken arm to general checkup. Also list what country please
Canadian here.
$0 for everything, generally
If you have blood pumping from a stump, or have something catastrophic and are in immediate peril, you are seen quickly and get first class treatment…in most cases… However, our Indigenous population and other vulnerable sectors do not always get treated well sadly, and in some remote places access to health care is limited
Now if it’s something “minor”, you will wait for an appointment, or in the ER…for a long time, like 6-18 hours. which I have done many times However, you will get seen, and you will get services… The biggest bill I ever had was like $15 for parking
Some examples from my own experience: My mother had multiple, debiliatating illnesses over 20+ years, $0 Dad had a heart attack 15 years ago, $0 I was born , c-section, $0 i had multiple children, $0 Vasectomy (no more children haha) $0 Massive car accident, many injuries, $0 See my doctor annually for checkup, $0
Wait times suck in the US, too. I snapped my collarbone when I fell off my bike. It was gnarly. I waited in the waiting room for three hours to get a bed in the hallway then I waited another another two hours to have my first x-ray. Between waiting for each nurse or PA, I was there for 9 hours. And during that time all they did was take some x-rays, told me my collar bone was really fucking broken and scubbed dirt out if my wounds. I was sent home considerably uncomfortable. I had to wait a week to see a doctor to assess my collar bone and another week have the surgery. It sucked
And here’s another fun example: I started having chronic nonstop migraines a few years ago. After a couple very long months of back and forth with my primary care, I finally got a referral to neurology, but I had to wait over a month for them to contact me, and then even after they finally contacted me I had to wait EIGHT MONTHS to finally have a video appointment.
Edit: fixed lots of careless typos.
I came into this thread to speak about wait times too, but you said it much better than I could have. Thank you :)
You are very welcome.
We need to acknowledge the problems if we want to address them.
The system isn’t perfect, but it does (generally) have your back when you get sick
Healthcare is one of, if not THE most important, valuable and defining parts about being Canadian. Right alongside being polite and friendly, in my opinion.
…unfortunately, the shitheads know this too, hence the attacks on public healthcare. It will not work tho, as the reptile people hate each other and cannot concieve of even small sacrifices to help others, and they cannot understand liking others either.
Canadians like each other, have a great thing going, and know it.
Stay strong hosers
We had to rush my SO to the ER in the last year and the wait time was actually only about an hour. It’s probably specific to the area you are in but I was shocked too since I kept hearing about the long waits so I braced myself. All in all the whole visit took likr 6 hours since they kept having to run more tests and he had to wait for results. It didn’t end up being anything major and the overall experience was mostly positive.
Oh and of course the entire visit was $0.