Normally in this blog we shy away from getting overtly political (apart from in an educational sense), but one of the many fascinating things we’ve discovered in once again living outside the US is that almost every issue is political to Americans, whereas outside America quite a number of these so-called “hot button” issues ... aren’t issues at all.
I’ve posted a couple of times about our healthcare experiences in Canada, in part because one of the main missions of this blog is to educate our fellow North Americans about the differences of our neighbour to the north, and in part because I have known for many years that Canada is a familiar if wildly mischaracterized scapegoat for the “horrors” of single-payer health care (which, contrary to a million lying ads and bits of propaganda on the subject, is not the same thing as “socialized medicine” -- Britain has socialised medicine, Canada has single-payer -- they're quite different really), and I intended to use my own experiences and credibility to prove this.
Sadly, neither Heather nor myself are sick enough to give the Canadian system a good shakedown. A nice problem to have, but apart from reporting that:
- We have no rationing of doctors (or a hard time seeing one);
- Prescription prices for uninsured people (of which I, as an immigrant, am one of the few around) are the same as insured prices for Americans; and
- That healthcare in this province isn’t actually free (just cheap);
Interestingly, the imminent birth of our friends Sarah and Christian’s first child will allow us some deeper insight into how the system works for the people who need it most, so over the next few weeks we will post about how Canada’s (well, British Columbia’s -- each province has its own system) healthcare system works for those in need, and with particular needs (more about that later).
In the meantime, there is still a lot of utter and complete crapola about Canada’s healthcare system to dispel, and more is coming as the US debate about offering a “public” option heats up. Until we can post more of our own (by proxy) accounts with hospitals, doctors, prescriptions, prevention and follow-up care, we can at least point you to articles we find that ring true to us as people who have lived in more than one country.
Recently, the Boston Globe and their writer Jonathan Cohn came up with such an article, talking about the red herring of comparing the US system now (and in the future) with that of Canada or the UK (and falsely making them sound scary) and the rampant ignorance of those that claim the horror stories. This piece cuts through the bullshit and gives you the real deal on where healthcare in various countries -- notably France, the Netherlands and the US -- stand or fall when it comes to helping the people they serve.
We recommend the piece as a good “overture” for the comparisons and contrast we will be offering in this space over the next few weeks.