With all the debate going here in the US with the upcoming election next fall, I wanted to get your take on national health care.

Every time the subject comes up around here the first outcry is that people must wait months to see a doctor (geez we do that now) and that care is substandard and that taxes eat all of your income (like our premiums arent high on top of our taxes...plus we get denied coverage for the wind blowing the wrong way)

Since you members actually live there I thought you might be the best source of info.

thanks in advance for your input and opinions.

I'm not canadian, but I dont think national health care would be beneficial. The government has a hard enough time with funding public education and keeping test scores high. I dont think the government could handle the task of health care too.

I am Canadian, and Its really nice to know if I ever get sick, its not going to bankrupt me. It is also comforting that no hospital will ever turn me away, no matter how much (or little) money I have. National health care is one of the greatest things about being Canadian.

What's your experience in actually using it though?

No problems here. It is just like U.S. hospitals, but no bills when you leave.

What about the claims that about 40% of patients in North Dakota hospitals are Canadians that can't get emergency care in their own country?

Would your prefer a lower tax rate and have to pay for your own healthcare? For higher-income inividuals, isn't the tax rate close to 50%?

These questions kinda sound offensive, but I really don't mean it that way. I'm geniunely curious.

"Pay for" healthcare is not available here, so the wealthy do not get special treatment, and must wait their turn for procedures and operations. Many choose to go to the States where hospitals are buisnesses, and they can go to the head of the line.
Canadians are taxed more than Americans, thats true. We don't like it, but with any good country, you take the good with the bad. I don't know about the 50% though. Mabye I don't make enough. lol.

I know by the time I total up what I spend in taxes, health care premiums, copays and the like...if taxes alone were all I paid then I could skip all the hassle of in/out of network, referrals to other specialists (that you have to wait eons to see)...and I'm not even in a condition where I'm unhealthy. My mother and her husband pay over $400 monthly just for medications and they are on fixed incomes. It isnt her fault they chose years ago for her to be a housewife...no one could have predicted that my father would have died so young...and he had so called good health insurance. I really hate to see them struggling the way they are when in my opinion they have already given much to our society.

Excessively wealthy doctors and pharmecutical barrons should not be wallowing in luxury at the expense of people in such great need. Whatever happened to the medical code of ethics?..."never make the patient worse"...if the care they receive is breaking them financially then I see that as harm. I believe the insurance industry and the HMOs have turned our medical care into a mockery.

Thomas Jefferson said "taxes are the cost of a free society"...If it means that I must pay higher taxes to have piece of mind that my mother could recieve the care she needs and that I might have to someday as well then so be it. I would rather pay higher taxes so that those in need have care then to pay higher and higher premiums so that a few get rich.

no ranting...just my point of view.

I work in health care. There are delays with regard to acessing certain procedures, knee replacements, MRIs, CT have wait times, some are months long. However in an attempt to decrease wait times the govt will now send you or your loved one to a community where the wait is less, if this means out of province then so be it.
The wait times for emergency events is solely beased on whats wrong..If your having a heart attack, simply dial 911.... the critically ill and injured typically do not wait.
There is a shortage of Drs RNs and support staff....this adds to delays...again recruiting of Drs as well as nurses is ongoing. The province of ontario has committed to hire a further 8000 Rns.
I work with in the health care system and I have used it....Im sure there are better systems out there, but for me....our social safety net is one we are proud of...
Its reassuring to know that in the event of a medical crisis you need not have to sell your house in order to receive the health care you need.
This covers treatment for injuries and illness as welll as work related events and the followup physio required.
No doubt the BEST hospitals are in the States....thing is, can you afford to be sick in one?

Well being from Canada I can tell you there is a shortage of Doctors and Nurses which is why many go to the states for treatment and it all comes down to money ,the US pays better so health care proffessionals drift south and have been doing so for the last decade,I know in T-Bay it is impossible to get a regular family doctor unless you inherit one (a family member dies) ,both of my daughters are RN's and both moved to TX. upon graduation (money's better) so free health care is nice if you could actually get to see someone .Chico(pops)

Correct. Provincial Governments have a very hard time competing with wages offered "south of the border" adn retaining nurses/doctors. Also, doctors here seem to prefer to do as little as possilbe (who wouldn't) while trying to collect the most from the government. I beleive our Canadian system would work, were we not located so close to and so heavily influenced by the U.S. My opinion. My experience, It's near impossible to see a doctor, they don't keep appointments, and I haven't been to one in 4 years. Knock on wood.

The doctors are making more money here for sure but I dont think the level of care or their enthusiasm is any better. Doctors get paid by how many patients they see, so evenif you do get to see him dont expect for him to be there very long...you'll probably spend more time with his staff nurses than anyone else. I have one "specialist" that if you schedule an appt you better not have anything serious wrong cuz it'll be 2 months easy before you get in...I think he vacations every month (seminar...out of town...out of the country)...if he is making that much dough on the pitiful amount of time he spends with a patient then our system is cracked.
Even if we dont get national health care we need regulation to put a clamp on the greed this industry is getting from bleeding our people dry (in more ways than one)...if the govt doesnt act as watchdog then no one else can...if we are waiting on the compassion of the medical industry then we might as well write ourselves off.