Hey #Canadians I'm trying to figure out what healthcare is like there. Everywhere has problems but they're all a bit different. Here in the USA people don't want to go to the hospital and rack up a bill that will leave them homeless so they stay home and die of something preventable. One person on Reddit said in #Canada people die of cancer while waiting for the results of their biopsy - they can afford the care but it takes so long because everything is so backlogged they die anyway. How true is this? Wait times for specialists take a couple months where I am in the US and the ER wait times probably 4-12 hrs.
You're going to get #conflicting#answers to many questions, because #health is a #provincial responsibility, so there are 13 different systems across Canada, and each does things a little differently.
#Access also varies a lot across the country, even within a province or territory. There are many #specialists in the largest centers, and next to none in #rural areas.
In the thinly-populated prairies, even getting a regular G.P. can be difficult or impossible.
Many people can't find a G.P. / family doctor that is accepting new patients, so they have to use walk-in clinics for everything, and likely see a different doctor each time, so there's no continuity of care.
Seeing a specialist is something only your doctor can order. In Saskatchewan, and probably elsewhere, the G.P. sends a referral to a specialist, and then at some point you get a call from the specialist's office telling you when your appointment is.
Depending on the specialty and where you are, you may wait months just for that phone call, and then a year or significantly longer to see the specialist. And then if they decide you need treatment, you may wait another year or more for that.
I was on a waiting list to see a particular specialist ... for 7 years. I ended up moving to a different city, under a different health administration, before I got to the top of the list.
And yes, it's not uncommon for someone to #wait many months even for #treatments that are obviously #urgent. People #die of cancers and other conditions that may have been treatable if they had seen a specialist sooner, and got into treatment sooner.
Even when life's not at stake, the delays can impact lives. You need a new knee or shoulder so you can work and live again? In many places, you'll wait at least a year, and probably two.
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