sirs, first off, I respect the insight that you have as a worker in the health-care system and the first-hand insights you get from that.
I hope you understand that not only do I interact with the health-care system here many times in the course of my working week, but also that as a patient and the husband of a patient who between the two of us have had five surgeries, four under general anaesthetic. This includes two major (4 hours plus) surgeries. All of it free. All but the last unmarred by unnecessary and inexcusable delays.
<<I know of 1 patient who wasn't going to be scehduled for abdominal surgery for months, and the pain was so great, she took some bread, poured some red food dye on it, called the paramedics, and when they got there, she told them that "this" is what she threw up. She was immediately taken in, and had the surgery she so desperately needed. That was in England.>>
Nice. Probably getting in ahead of some cancer patient playing by the rules whose cancer went into the lymphatic system during the delay forced on her by the line-jumper. I wonder if your patient (a) took the time to work with her treating physician trying out various pain-management techniques; (b) took the trouble to get a second opinion as to the urgency of the situation or (c) decided to line-jump because she was too lazy to go the usual route of extra pain-management and second- or third-opinion consultations.
<<I had a patient who had a serious break of her femur, and was going to have to wait a minimum of 2 weeks, though was told it'd likely be more like a month, since it wasn't "emergent".>>
This one sounds very typical of most of the "long-wait" complaints I've encountered. A non-life-threatening, "non-emergent" situation, no apparent reason why the leg can't be comfortably splinted with good skin care and pain management until surgery. But the patient "can't wait" probably because she's better than all the other broken leg victims patiently waiting their turns. She's got the cash and so she'll buy her way to the head of the line.
There is no doubt that for spoiled, rich patients with a very healthy sense of entitlement, the U.S. system is the better one.
What you don't seem to get is that our system is not designed to provide the best treatment to the wealthiest fifth of the population. For these folks, our system is worse becuase they have to wait longer when not in life-threatening or "emergent" situations. Your system IS better at that.
OUR system is better because it gives everybody the same decent (but not the best, in terms of wait times) medical treatment, regardless of economic station in life. And I can tell you from personal experience that in life-threatening, emergency situations, the free service available equally to all Canadians, rich and poor, is second to none. It was fast, it was very effective. Within well under two minutes of walking into the ER, I was triaged, put in a wheelchair and had an IV line run into my arm with whatever medication was required to prevent further damage to the heart muscle. The nurses and doctors were fantastic.
I did not say our system was perfect. There are delays in non-emergent situations, but the coverage is universal and it is free. We are way, way, way ahead of you.
