Photo by Vangelis ThomaidisI love our health-care system in Canada.
I love that I am one of the fortunate ones who has a family doctor, and who can always get an appointment same day. I love that I don’t have to worry about whether I have enough money in the bank to get treatment when I am sick.
But there are problems, of course, as nothing is perfect. When I had my first seizure two years ago I had to wait two months before I could even get an initial appointment with a neurologist. As a result I had another seizure. So what, right? Well it is a big deal when the Ministry of Transportation says you can have an isolated seizure and have your driver’s license suspended for a month, but more than one seizure and your license is suspended for at least 6 months.
So I lost my license for 6 months, which caused a huge strain on my job, my relationship, my family, and my budget. Thank god I am lucky to have supportive friends and family around me, but I wonder what would have happened had I been able to see my neurologist that first week and get on the right medication right away to control the seizures. Considering the fact that I have been seizure free since starting on treatment I would wager a guess that I could have had my independence back far sooner than the almost eight months it took to have my license reinstated. Would I have paid for this privilege? In a heartbeat.
I don’t have all the answers to make a two-tier system work, but I believe it could with the right regulations (I realize that I am probably one of a small majority of Canadians who believe this). I don’t want to take anything away from our public system, again I love our health-care system in Canada - I just want more choice. As I see it, in a perfect world the word “privatization” would be a term worth considering, rather than a curse word meant to be shot down the moment it is uttered.
What a great topic! Glad you had your health crisis looked after.
ReplyDeleteAnd what a hot potato topic. If our system worked, we wouldn't need to even consider privatization. And yes, our system is better than many.
I know people who live in Northern Ontario who do have a family doctor and never will as there is simply no one available. Here's one article that describes this issue: http://www.simcoe.com/article/105641
At my own doctor's office she and her partners were having difficulty finding another doctor to join their practice as no one wanted to be a family doctor. It took them almost a year to find another physician.
And in Hungary, where my relatives live, though the government funds medical care costs for people who pay a health care insurance or tax, the doctors depend on patients to pay them for their services in order to have a reasonable level of income.
This post was thought provoking, and could lead to a whole other set of posts and comments - too bad it's the last one for this class!