General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Canadians starting to demand the privatized USA Health Care system....... [View all]laundry_queen
(8,646 posts)it's near impossible to have a 'national average' for those things. They vary WIDELY from region to region and province to province. I don't know anyone who has waiting half that long for some of those surgeries. Large cities tend to have longer wait times (sheer numbers) and also really remote areas have long wait times (lots of travelling, booking with specialists when they happen to come to town, etc). For instance - my mom needed a CT scan (well, not really, but 'in case' because she had been having more headaches than normal, but nothing emergent or serious). She was told it would be 6 weeks. Her doctor phoned around and found for an extra 15 minute drive my mom could get in THAT WEEK.
Another instance of miscommunication that may be part of the reason for the stories people in the US hear - my ex-FIL needed a knee replacement. For years he'd been to a specific doctor who kept telling him he was too young to get a knee replacement. When he started going to a new doctor, who immediately realized ex-FIL needed new knees asap, it took him 2 weeks to get his new (1st) knee and when he was recovered he got his second (3 months after the 1st). My ex-MIL has told people "Oh, it took him YEARS to get his knees!" implying he had been on the wait list for that long. Um, no, LOL, it was his stupid doctor who just refused to put him on the wait list - once he was on he got right in!
And I think your little 'thing' about not being able to purchase private insurance is weird - why would you even want to here? I pay no premiums, have no co-pay and no deductible and I get right in to the doctor or hospital whenever I want or need to. What would private insurance offer on top of that (for a cool few hundred a month)? And the main reason I was taught in school was to prevent any kind of 2 tier system developing.