[lbo-talk] Re: Us vs. Canada in health care providing (was Vive La France!)

jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net
Wed Jun 1 17:47:56 PDT 2005



> But if you can afford it, it's better to have
> elective surgery in the US. Wait times are far shorter.
>
>
> MG

If it is truly elective how much difference does this really make? I can get a nose job next month in the US but might have to wait three if I lived and Canada? Is this a measure of anything other than convenience for a small percentage of the population? This seems about as important as how long it takes to find a parking space at the clinic.

What about wait times for non-elective but non-life threatening stuff? How long of a wait to see a rheumatologist or an orthopedist? When I went to make an appointment to see a rheumatologist, whom I had seen before, the wait was 5 months before I could see her. 3 months if I would use another doctor that was "in plan" but that I knew nothing about. This is typical for most people I talk to and was true when I worked in a hospital back in the late '80's. Are wait times for similar appointments noticeably longer or about the same when comparing the US with Canada? Hell, half the doctors my SO called recently said they're not even taking new patients and she should look elsewhere.

John Thornton



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list