UnitedHealth CEO shot
but we have those same horror stories here (probably more and worse) and we are going broke and going into bankruptcy in the process.. i bet Canada doesn't have story after story after story about people dying on the emergency room floor in the waiting room
So, a few months ago, the daughter of friends of ours, who lives in Vancouver, had to have gall bladder surgery. It had taken months to get the surgery approved... it coincided with her starting a new job, and her being in a 30-day probation period at work, so she asked for a week of to get the surgery, for which she got all the time she needed as she was let go (employment at will).
Anyway she goes in to have the surgery, and she's told the surgery is postponed (no surgeon available, no bed available) and to come back in 2 weeks. She didn't make the two weeks as her gall bladder got seriously infected, and she was rushed to the hospital.. rather than rush her into surgery, she's placed in a hall on a chair with a bag of fluids (still no beds available). Since the doctor deemed her stable enough, the surgery kept on being pushed back... she stayed 3+ days in a hall sitting on a chair with fluids attached to her, not being able to eat, as the doctor said she couldn't eat before the surgery.
After she finally got the surgery, she was told she needed to leave in 4 hours because the hospital needed the bed.
The husband of a friend of my wife went in because a skin cancer (the bad one, the one that attaches to lymph nodes) had returned. He was told that the next available 15 minutes (that's what I am told doctors visits last) were 12 weeks in the future.
A couple of things I learned about the Canadian healthcare system:
The aforementioned 15 minute time limit on doctor's visits.
You can only talk about 1 subject with your doctor. There's no the "by the way" that happens in the U.S.
You are assigned a doctor and a hospital. If you lose your doctor for whatever reason, you are placed on a waiting list.
Hospitals close on weekends to save money.
Why so few doctors? Because doctors prefer private practice and getting paid. This happens in MX too, BTW... 2 years ago MX had to import 500+ doctors from Cuba as MX doctors not only want to make more money, but they also don't want to be sent to places with high cartel activity.
Now, they are not going to go bankrupt like someone in the U.S. could, but that's not exactly quality healthcare either. What our friends tell us, the Canadian system is collapsing, it just can't sustain the model.