Canadian health care

I'm a Canadian but I have to confess I don't have a perfect handle on our health care system. It is complex and it can be confusing. And being that Canadians hear a lot of the misplaced, error-prone criticism that fills the American airwaves, we get even more confused from being exposed to all the bunkum being bandied about.

The other day I had to go for treatment for my aging, sun-damaged skin. The medical centre I went to is privately owned. In fact, the vast majority of medical centres and hospitals in Canada are privately owned and operated.

The centre in the west end of London is but one in a small chain of medical centre located in various locations across the city. From the looks of this latest addition to the chain, it appears the centres are successful. In fact, the company website promises investment opportunities will soon be offered.

What I do know it that Canadians have a single-payer medical care system. I pay the government in a manner similar to paying premiums to an insurance company. For medical treatements that are covered by our system, and not everything is covered, the government pays the cost.

If my skin treatments are for precancerous skin blemishes, the treatment cost is covered. My skin blemishes discovered during this visit were harmless, purely cosmetic. I paid $45 for the removal.

Does the Canadian system work? Yes, but it has problems and these problems seem to be growing. Health care is expensive.

How does the Canadian system compare to the U.S. system. I really cannot say. There are a lot of conflicting claims. All I can say for sure is that the rare time I had a health care issue treated both in the States and in Canada, the Canadian system finished in first place. But it was not a crushing defeat for the American system. It was a plodding, slow system, Canada's, matched against a speedy, hare, the American system.

The deciding factor was my insurance company. It balked at paying for adequate treatment. I got the minimum of care and was discharged before the excellent U.S. doctors could treat me fully. In Canada, slowly running up a big bill was not a problem but time was a problem. 

The Americans would have been fast if they had been free to give me all the tests necessary but no pay, no treatment. The Canadian doctors were much slower, they had less equipment and so a patient had to be patience. But paying the bills as the mounted in Canada was never in question and over a period of time all necessary tests were done and the cause of my heart condition determined and a pacemaker/ICD inserted in my chest.

The takeaway? If I were a millionaire or had very good insurance at a price I could afford, I'd take the American system. I'm not a millionaire and I have relatives in the States who pay far more for health insurance than I could at my age and with my reduced income in retirement. I could not afford their health insurance premiums. And so, I am happy to have the Canadian system.