Canadian versus American Healthcare

I am continually appalled by the lack of coverage in the American healthcare system. Millions upon millions of Americans have no coverage at all, and as Michael Moore’s movie Sicko points out, even the people who do have coverage are often untreated. It is estimated that in Texas alone, seven people die every day because of a lack of healthcare coverage. Thousands of Americans die every year because they can’t afford to pay. To put this in perspective, more people die from lack of treatment in America every year than the total number killed during the 9/11 attacks.

And yet, with talk of reforming the healthcare system in the good old US of A, comes dooms-day style attack ads. A frenzied campaign is underway to convince Americans that public healthcare systems are evil. They are told that bureaucrats in Washington will decide whether or not they get covered. They are told they will have to wait for months or years to get treatment. They are told they will not get to choose their own doctor and their doctors will not get to choose where they practice. An endless stream of half-truths, innuendo and out-right lies are employed to convince Americans that there is no way to fix their broken system.

For my American friends, I will relay some recent healthcare stories from my life in Soviet Canuckistan. Last year my appendix ruptured. When I went to emergency I was treated right away. I went under the knife that same day. It was a much more involved surgery than normal appendectomies because my appendix actually ruptured several days earlier. I spent a week in hospital recovering. My bill would have been covered 100% by our public healthcare system, but I chose to pay a little more to stay in a private room with a TV (yes, you can do that). The extra charges were covered by a private extended healthcare plan paid for by my employer (yes, you can do that too). The overall quality of care was excellent.

A few days after getting out of hospital my son was born (I know, rough timing). We were planning to do a home birth with a midwife. We chose the midwife we liked and the government paid the bill. But as my wife went into labour there were some complications. The home birth didn’t work out and we had to go into the hospital. After a gruelingly long labour, Nikolai was born. We had our midwife there, plus a whole team of others. A couple days later we took our new son home and again, paid nothing. We did not have to call anyone for approval. We did not have to ask what hospital we were allowed to go to. And through it all, we didn't even think about having to pay a bill.

One of the founders of Canadian healthcare, Tommy Douglas, was recently voted by the public as the single “greatest Canadian” in history. That is the extent to which we value our public healthcare system. It is so well supported that if any political leader even talked about privatizing healthcare it would be political suicide. Not a single major party in Canada advocates an American-style system. We are horrified at the thought. I am convinced, that if any government in Canada ever attempted to privatize healthcare, there would be a revolution.