Canadian Universal Health Insurance: the Typical Misuderstandins
As an independent life insurance broker, I have never faced the question about comparing the pros and cons of the Canadian & US health care system more often than now, when the US congress is considering a huge change concerning the system. Certainly both of them have many faults, but the whoopers I sometimes encounter regarding the Canadian health care system, well, that’s a bit too much. Let’s have a look at some of them.
“The Canadian health system costs way more than the US system.”
First of all there is this cost-related myth. Compare the numbers yourself: US spends 15 percent of GDP, leaving at least fifteen percent of its population with no coverage, while Canada spends ten percent of its GDP, covering all of Canadians. For example in 2005, the US government spent US$6,401 per capita on their health expenditures – that’s almost twice the sum spent in Canada that year – US$3,359.
“It is not up to the doctors, but up to the administration to determine who will get treated.”
Why should the government be responsible for such decisions? It’s only up to the doctors to determine who gets treated and when and how. On the other hand, the situation is quite different in the US, where in fact it is up to your insurance administrators to determine what treatment you are allowed to get, never mind what you doctor thinks.
“The Canadian insurance sucks since it only covers the basic and the rest you have to pay yourself anyway.”
The provincial government is in charge or the guidelines concerning how broad the coverage is. The least you can count on is that the physician’s fees and all the hospital procedures will be included in the insurance – which are usually the most expensive items. Other stuff like medical equipment, dental & vision care would generally not be included. Because all these extras can be quite well predicted (all the really expensive costs are included by the national insurance), some private plans are offered (i.e. FlexCare Program from Manulife) with low-cost premiums to cover them. To summarize, you end up having access to any treatment you might need, paying much less for the public & additional health insurance combined than any of the Americans have to deliver for the same level of services.
“The biggest problem with the Canadian system are the long waits. Actually, Canadians rather travel to the US for their treatment.”
This statement has something in it, but only to some degree: if you require some kind of specialist treatment, you might wait a few weeks or up to one month, and for selective surgery the waits could be even longer. On the other hand, all cogent medical service, you can count on getting it fast one way or the other. And, unlike in America, noone cares whether you’re rich or poor. In those cases when the waiting list might be too long and it is not likely to access the treatment in an acute situation, the patient is sent to the States, but you don’t pay a cent: the insurance covers it all. Only those Canadians who pay out of pocket for their treatment in the US wish to get the treatment faster than their doctor finds necessary.
“The Canadian government employs the doctors. And the government chooses the doctors for you!”
Don’t listen to those spreading such fable. Although the Canadian doctors are paid by the provincial government, they are not employed by it: the keep their own practises just like the doctors in the US. Don’t worry: you get to pick your doctor yourself.
