"....While Canada still has access to reasonably priced drugs and patients can get care across the country, "those are probably the only positives," he said. "The negatives are access to specialists and diagnostics."
On the other hand, medicine in the U.S. is "quite complicated and very much a business," he said. While it's easier to get specialists and diagnostic tests there, "there's a lot more paperwork getting medicine to patients and medications are far more expensive." Dr. James Shaw, a Toronto dermatologist, returned four years ago, mainly for family reasons, after 20 years in the U.S. with his wife, Dr. Wendy Levinson, now chair of the department of medicine at the University of Toronto.
But after a year back, he concluded he preferred working here, largely because of patient access to care.
"Physicians can evaluate patients and treat them without having to get approval and jump through a million hoops of HMOs (health maintenance organization) and private insurance companies that try to restrict care," he said...."
"....The downside is that doctors make less money [in Canada]," he said, "or that's what we hear. In my specialty, there's not much difference. Fees for certain services are paid for by the ministry of health and immediately, compared to the U.S. where they are often rejected or cut in half...."
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