Worked in both systems as a nurse. Both systems have their good stuff and their flaws.
I’d like to point out a couple of issues with the assessments made here:
1. NO ONE in the US is rejected from hospitals. It don’t matter if they don’t have insurance. There’s these laws that are basically “anti-dumping” laws which state that no one can be rejected from a hospital for not having insurance. Anyone who tells you that happened to them is stupid for not threatening to sue and report the hospital or is lying. Or left by their own choice.
2. There are plenty of people who never pay their hospital bills. When I worked in the NICU, we called them half a million dollar babies. If the parents were homeless crack addicts who would never pay their bills, did we suddenly shut off the baby’s ventilator? Of course not. That’s stupid.
3. Who bills the insurance companies for care? That would be the hospitals or the doctors. So whose fault is it that health care bills are through the roof?
Canada:
1. My uncle waited 3 years for a left knee replacement. Shoved off the waiting list four times. Now he’ll need the right one done because of all the stress it was under. Back on the waiting list he goes.
2. My grandpa waited 6 months with lots of arthritic pain for a hip replacement.
3. My other grandpa is having health care rationed to him for being over 80 and having heart probs. He needs a pacemaker and they keep putting him. Guess what they’re waiting for?
4. Those babies being transferred from Calgary to Montana for treatment, guess why?
The real question is: Why do people come from all over the world to the US for health treatment of weird diseases and junk? Because socialized medicine does not provide enough impetus to develop new drugs/treatments. People like to make money. Drugs and health care treatments can make people money. Guess which system supports this?
Governmental fingers in the health system pot is a dangerous thing. Look at the disaster getting a passport is. Do you really want the idiots who mess that up on a regular basis dealing with your healthcare?
