Hello, Canadians of Lemmy! Down in the USA there is a lot of conflicting information regarding the efficacy of y’alls healthcare systems. Without revealing my personal bias, I was hoping for some anecdotes or summaries from those whom actually live there.
It’s overburdened. We have a huge labour shortages for nurses and doctors as the boomers retire without enough replacements. Finding a regular family doctor takes a long time. When Covid spikes, the hospital staff are run ragged. But they make a nice living helping people, there are worse fields to work in.
When you need medical attention you get it. If you need surgery today, you get surgery today. If you need surgery or a specialist but there’s no rush, you’re on a wait list that can be months or even over a year long.
I’m in Sweden which I think has a very similar situation. Trying to get an appointment is a pain and they always seem to have too much to do. Getting help can drag on for years.
But then you end up in an emergency and suddenly you witness a well-oiled machine where everybody knows their role yet everybody prioritizes the big picture. It follows procedure when possible but it’s always pragmatic.
It is beautiful competence porn, and costs $30 for the patient.
That’s awesome that you can say “well oiled machine” for your healthcare. Canada is like an old manual pick-up truck. It’s not as fast or efficient but it’s reliable.
Can you explain your last sentence. I miss the meaning I think.
“Competence porn” is the satisfaction of seeing skilled people carrying out difficult tasks with great aptitude. I’d say it’s especially satisfying when it’s a group of people collaborating well. When stakes are high, that’s what I typically see the Swedish healthcare doing. And in the end, the patient fee for all of this is $30.
It happened to me once when I came in with a heart problem. Within a couple of hours I had met with specialists, performing EKG at rest and under exertion, multiple other tests, blood samples, and been given a long-term EKG to carry with me for a day. And all I paid was $20 (the standard fee was less then, they’ve raised it to $30 now).
Once they figured out that it wasn’t an emergency, they put me back in the regular low-priority group and it took a six months before they eventually gave me some medication. I’ve since realized on my own that they made the wrong call with the meds - they gave me beta blockers but what I really need is magnesium and vitamin D.
In the US wait-lists for surgeries and specialists are also months long.
Yeah, I think that’s a misconception that many Canadians have about privatization. Some people get the impression that the US must have no wait and that means private healthcare is better. But while they certainly do have less or a wait, it’s not a difference that I think most people would consider worth it if they saw numbers. There’s diminishing returns. The difference between getting a surgery tomorrow or in one month is huge. But getting it in 8 months instead of 10 months isn’t so big.
I’m sure if you have enough money, you could get any kind of healthcare in the US next day, but not for normal people prices.
I think proponents of privatization like to push this misconception because the idea of reduced wait is really the only thing they have going for them and they’re happy to reap the benefits of misconceptions.