Korean Job Discussion Forums

Oreovictim · Joined: 23 Aug 2006

I saw Michael Moore's movie Sicko yesterday. I enjoyed it a lot. But I have a question about health care in Canada. Republicans in America always say, "Yeah, they have free health care, but in Canada, you have to wait for months just to see a doctor." Is this true? In the movie, Moore went to a doctor's waiting room, and the Canadians said that they never had to wait long. But my last coworker said that his dad had to wait at least a month to get his hernia looked at. So what's the story?

peppermint · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 12:30 pm Post subject:

There can be a very long wait for specialists, if the condition isn't life or death, but you can often see a GP ( maybe not your own) on the day you phone for an appointment

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

Not to mention you might have to travel 200 KM to access said specialist. My hometown of Windsor (200,000 people, big auto industry), if you have cancer you pretty much have to go to London to see a specialist. That's about a 2 hour drive.

Canada, the GP is easy to see and free. Lots of basic health care is easy to access for everyone. But if you have a problem, well, then you wish you were in the USA with gold plated insurance.

Temporary · Joined: 13 Jan 2008

I never had a problem. I had surgeries in Canada. No probs. I've seen a specialist as well with in a week. I had a bum knee.

Its not as bad as the repubs make it.

crusher_of_heads · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 5:33 pm Post subject:

There are areas where you can not get a GP. I had a horrible one but I know people in and around Ottawa who could not get a GP to see them and had to go to a clinic.

peppermint · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 5:58 pm Post subject:

SarcasmKills · Joined: 07 Apr 2003 Location: Seoul

RACETRAITOR · Joined: 24 Oct 2005 Location: Seoul, South Korea

It's getting kind of bad in Alberta, where the Conservatives slashed medicare in an attempt to say "Look, it's not working! Let's privatise!"

When I was young, all your medical care was available under one roof. Now, you have to drive somewhere else to get medical tests, which means one appointment (for something bigger than a cold of course) must be divided into three visits.

There's also a shortage of doctors and nurses.

ironwolves · Joined: 25 Feb 2008 Location: South Carolina USA

Also how high are your taxes there? That is what going to bother the American citizen. They want free health care but they dont want higher taxes for it.

Temporary · Joined: 13 Jan 2008

RACETRAITOR · Joined: 24 Oct 2005 Location: Seoul, South Korea

Also we get all sorts of rebate cheques in the mail. I remember a few years ago everyone in Alberta got something like $400 refunded for some reason (to encourage you to re-elect the PCs). There are also GST rebate cheques quite often.

funkywinkerbeans · Joined: 17 Feb 2006 Location: seoul

As mentioned, there are some waits for specialists if not life threatening. A substantial amount of taxes supports the medicare system. Demomogarhic changes in the future will put the system under greater strain.

Personally, I feel it's a much better system than the USA unless you're wealthy. Then if you're wealthy in Canada, there's nothing stopping you from going to the USA or elsewhere to attain medical treatment. At least everyone is covered by medical.

It's a very distinct difference between the US and Canada. In Canada, Tommy Douglas,"father of medicare" was voted the greatest Canadian. It would be interesting to see who Americans would vote as greatest American.

As for people mentioning no specialists in small towns, what do they expect? There are a lot of services not available in small towns as there isn't a population base to support them.

nateium · Joined: 21 Aug 2006 Location: Seoul

Don't know about Canada, but Massachusetts health is freakin' great! We have American quality care, and everyone is covered.

If you don't have a job to pay for your health insurance, just register with the state, and you can actually get better care than the coverage alot of company plans offer!

I did! Very Happy

Health care, full gay marriage, great education, (relatively) low crime, maple syrup, hockey, and even a few moose! Bring it on Canadians! Wink

Saxiif · Joined: 15 May 2003 Location: Seongnam

Personally I like Korea's medical system a lot, cheap as all hell, low taxes, pretty much zero waiting to see specialists, short visits without a lot of time wasted and I've always gotten good service.

Only problem is dental, which doesn't seem to be covered...

ajgeddes · Joined: 28 Apr 2004 Location: Yongsan

Korea's system wouldn't be bad if the doctors were better.