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He's not wrong about the wait times. It's very true here in Canada.
We already have wait times in the US too. That's a funding and organizational problem, not a universal care problem.
Veteran here. The best healthcare I've gotten is consistently the appointments I have at the VA. Y'know... socialized healthcare. The VA has a reputation for being hot garbage - to my understanding they earned the hell out of that reputation, but made pretty massive improvements relatively recently. I only separated a few years ago, so I never say the earlier version.
...the infrastructure is kinda shit, and riding on those elevators is probably more dangerous than anything I ever did on active duty, but the actual health care? Zero complaints.
They do have wait times, but those are comparable to everywhere else.
We always talk about socialized healthcare like it's some unicorn that only exists in other countries, but we're already doing it... just, for some reason we're only doing it for dipshits like me who wandered into the correct star-spangled employer to trade our lumbar vertebrae for a GI Bill.
Between that and the US Public Health Service (who might actually be unicorns... heard of them, but never actually seen one) we've got the framework for it. I wish we'd just add subdivisions to the USPHS. We already have the VA (which is curiously not affiliated with them... that surprises me), medicare, tricare, Indian Health Service... Start adding bite-sized categories according to need, and offer VA style coverage. Crime Victims Health Service... Students Health Service... Rent-Food-And-Utilities-Eats-60%+-Of-Your-Income Health Service. Just keep expanding the mission and staffing accordingly. Switch VA hospitals to just 'Federal Hospitals' that offer VA services... and medicare... and students... etc. Eventually we'll still be bashing heads about Universal Healthcare when... hey wait a minute! We fuckin have it already! Then just dissolve the stupid labels so you just check in as -a- patient instead of a VA patient. Or not. ...probably not, tbh, the govt fucking loves stupid labels.
...
...I don't actually know why I typed all that out. That was way outside the scope of the comment I'm replying to. Um... I hope you enjoyed my almost-certianly-unrealistic-for-a-thousand-reasons-pipe-dream.
There's only one reason why this is a pipe dream: there's no political will to do it.
You know what has a longer wait time?
Not having medical coverage.
Depends, I have a Canadian friend who got same day brain surgery, because it actually was an emergency. Most medical problems can stand a wait.
That being said, yeah waiting sucks. And yeah, the US has months long waiting periods too.
It's also true of healthcare in the US. When my primary care provider left the practice and I had to reschedule with someone else, they weren't able to get me in with someone new for another 8 months. And no one there is taking new patients. It's also a months-long wait if you need to see any sort of specialist.
Not to mention I pay a lot of money for a health insurance plan that won't even cover one of the meds I was recently prescribed because they disagreed with my provider's prior authorization. Surprise, I have to see a specialist. So, we'll see how it works out in 5 more months when my appointment is. At least I have an HMO plan, so I don't need a separate appointment for a referral first before insurance covers it.
Yeah, I wait for weeks for a normal check-in with my doctor as it is now. I can't ever go to them when I'm actually sick, cause by the time I get an appointment, it's like 1-2 weeks out. I'm no longer sick. I have to end up in minor emergency clinics all the time for just basic shit.
I love my doctor and use her any and every time I can, but it's only for pre-planned checkups. God forbid I have to wait the same amount of time as now, and it BE FREE.
Thankfully my clinic has weekend walking for registered patients. That made a huge difference. I assume they did that because patients were going to other walk in clinics instead as they couldn’t get appointments. I think my clinic also has an “urgent care” option, for people not sick enough to need to go to emergency. You can call first thing in the morning for an appointment that evening.
Having said all that, they’re starting to charge for more and more things, and trying to get people to sign up for their “insurance” plan. Thanks Ford.
Imagine how long people have to wait if they are poor in the U.S.
This is the thing that boggles my mind about the "wait times" argument. Like, it's better that people should die without healthcare than... for me to be inconvenienced with a potentially longer wait time for non-emergency care? Really? The selfishness of it is astonishing.
I once had to wait 15 months to see a neurologist. 15 months. We already have long wait times here in the US, but we like to spice it up with a little bankruptcy.
This isn't because healthcare is publicly funded.
It's true that there can be long waits. But public healthcare in Canada and in the UK is getting worse for the same reason: Conservatives refusing to fund it because they want to drive everyone into private, for-profit healthcare. It's the same reason Conservatives try to break public education and other public services: they serve only the rich who will profit from privatization while everyone else suffers.
Conservatives govern almost all Canadian provinces, which is the level at which healthcare is run. The Conservatives who are about to take over federally have explicitly stated their goal of making Canadian healthcare more like the USA's. They undermine it for ideological reasons and for their own gain.
A properly funded public healthcare system remains the best system for ordinary people.
I absolutely agree.
I despise conservatives for trying to move us to the US model, especially as they’re trying to reward themselves, their buddies and anyone who has funded them. Bribery at its finest.