Health Care Stories from Americans in Canada

Advantages of Canadian Health Care

I am writing to let you know about the advantages of the single-payer healthcare system in Canada, where I now live after spending 39 years of my life in the United States. Here I am struck by the absence of things that I took as commonplace in the U.S. such as co-payments, insurance deductions from my paycheck, and worries about losing medical coverage if I lose my job. Canada’s single-payer system means that everyone is covered, everywhere regardless of where you work, how much you earn, or “pre-existing condition.” Furthermore, I get to choose my doctor and control my care. Because all doctors participate in the same system those choices are not constrained by price or by a choice made by my insurance provider.  

F.T.

Calgary/Alberta/Canada

A partial amputation was enough stress, at least I didn't have to worry about insurance denials too!

I can speak to this issue as someone who has had health care in the US and Canada, and someone who provided health care in the US and a little in Canada. My experiences with health care in the US aren't all bad. When I was in high school and university, I had good coverage (to the best of my knowledge) under my mom's insurance, all the way to 24 years old. But once I started working, I began to realize how much health care could cost - as a patient and a provider! I was constantly mortified when insurance companies would provide how much rehabilitation someone needed after a stroke, and I watched it get worse through the 90s. As a patient, I had periodic flare-ups of back and neck problems. Once when I went to physio for a flare-up, the owner of the clinic came to chat with me while I waited for my appointment. She wanted to be sure that I was going to be able to pay for my visit. I was so shocked. I asked why? She said that my insurance coverage was limited to 60 days per body part per year! I could have had physio every day for 60 days and they would pay - but I couldn't go once per month for 3 months. How does that make financial sense?! So I had to pay, despite the fact that I worked at a rehabilitation hospital!

I have lived in Canada for 7 years now. Just before moving here, I had some serious gastro-intestinal problems and had to undergo a variety of tests to figure out what was wrong. I was never admitted to a hospital, only had some out-patient diagnostic tests. Yet, my 20% of those tests was several thousand dollars! At the time, I didn't care because the doctors convinced me that if I waited until I got to Canada, I would be on a waiting list for years. When I was healthy within 6 weeks of the conclusive test, I was very grateful - but paid the bills for it for a year.

Last summer, while in Arizona teaching a 4-week course, I became extremely ill. A friend who lives there kept insisting that she should take me to the ER. I refused because it hadn't occurred to me to get travel insurance. I called a walk-in clinic and it was going to be $250 just to walk in! I decided to wait, though scared and in pain, until I got back to Canada, and was extremely weak and dehydrated by the time I got home. But I got right into my doctor and had no expenses to worry about.

Since coming to Canada, I have had several accidents (clutz!). I have never had to pay a penny for my knee or foot x-rays (and no, I don't just run in to the doctor or go for unnecessary tests because it's free). I've also had plenty of physio for various injuries - and I go to a private clinic, but when my insurance coverage runs out, it only costs me a fraction of the price it would in the US.

Recently, I chopped 1cm off the top of my left pinky finger in the car door. Ugly! I went to the emergency and was then followed at the Plastic Surgery clinic every 2 weeks for 2 months, and had a few occupational therapy visits... all for FREE! No worries! I can't tell you what a relief that is. If I had to sit in the emergency room worrying, "Will my insurance consider this an emergency or should I have called for permission?" and "What will now be denied because of this pre-existing condition?" and "Oh my goodness, how much is my 20% going to cost? A plastic surgeon?! How will I ever pay for that?!" - then I think I would have had a nervous breakdown on top of the trauma.

There are plenty of stories of Canadian health care not working, and from what I hear, Americans are being inundated with THOSE stories, but not of any good ones. That's why I chose to write this post. Anyone in Canada could chop off their finger and get care... that's how it should be! Come on Americans, show the world that you're better than this. Show them that you don't like being in bad company (as with the death penalty... that's some great company we keep!) Look to France, Sweden, Norway, Australia for positive stories of socialized medicine. You like your socialized highways, schools, public buildings... why is it so awful to think that health care, something so fundamental, should be accessible to all??? I just can't wrap my head around the selfishness of the current system!!

If Obama doesn't change things, it won't be just his fault, it will be the whole nations fault! Let him be the change we can believe in!!! Yes we can!!!

Ellen

Halifax

Living Abroad

As a US Citizen from The South, a Father that was a World War II Vetran and a former Nurse I have witnessed many things in health care.

My father got the best care because he was a Vet. My mother on the other hand had to struggle to pay bills for her Illiness.

Unless you work for the Govternment or companies that offer Health care
you have none.

Many people in the US everyday are being turned down at Dr's offices and even Hospitals for Health care.

People are Human and this is not the Humaritian thing to do..
As I hear some of the things about President Obamas Health Care Policy
I am amazed that the American people believe the lies.
Your health care providers are scared that they are going to loose those big
bucks they are making off you , the american people.
Big premiums that can be cheaper for the same coverage. It is all the kick backs they are going to loose.
As an American I am covered under the Canadian Health Plan. i have been here for 30 years and I have NEVER paid a single penny for Dr's services, Hospital Cost, Sugeries, XRays ect.
If Canada, France and some of the other countries can do this why not the US?
Are we that far behind in time that it is hard to understand that the Republican Party is always against a good thing for this Country?

Yet we listen to the former President about the war we been in for how many years now putting the US futher in debt.

It is about time that the people of the the US wake up and realize that this is for the good of our Country.

I fully support this Policy. I want to come home when I retire and have a plan like I do now.
As we get older we are going to need more.

Wake up America and support your President!

L.L.

Edmonton Alberta Canada

Universal Health Care is Good Business

I'm a professional rehabilitation counselor who has been living in Canada for 10 years. My work with clients involves assisting people with physical, mental, developmental, cognitive, and emotional disabilities to achieve their personal, career and independent living goals in the most integrated setting possible. Access to quality health care is vital to a client's success.

In the United States, many of my clients were unable to break the cycle of unemployment, poverty, and poor health because they could not afford basic health care. Individuals are unable to find and keep jobs if they lack basic health care. Individuals with jobs who become ill, often lose their health care coverage and cannot return to work because they no longer have health care services. In other cases, parents of children with disabilities lost their homes because they could not afford to pay for their child's health care costs. Parents often lost their jobs because their health insurance plans denied them the ability to choose health care options that would support their ability to remain employed.

In Canada, all of my clients had access to quality health care. Early intervention, a health care system that focused on choice and quality, and access to leading health care technology enabled many clients to lead happy, productive lives. Many clients obtained employment or returned to work. They didn't lose their homes and families because of health care costs and they were able to make choices to enhance the quality of their lives.

Universal access to quality health care is not only a question of ethic, the right to basic dignity and quality of life, it is an economic issue. Without basic supports such as universal access to health care, a strong workforce cannot be guaranteed. People cannot work if they are not healthy or they have to quit work because the health care their insurance covers interferes with work obligations.

The facts show the current system hasn't been able to control costs, promote choice, or provide sufficient access to health care. The only ones who aren't paying for the current system are insurance companies and others who profit from the system as is.

The question shouldn't be whether Americans can afford health care, the question is whether we can afford not to have health care.

R.R.

Windsor, ON, Canada / Iowa City, IA

A regular family but

We have a regular healthy family BUT over the years I realize just how much the medicare system in Canada has given us freedom to be healthy, and get care when needed. From a pre-mature baby, to eye operations, to baby deliverys, to arthritus, mammograms and pap tests, regular check up for all four of us...not to mention the care my mother inlaw received when she had a stroke. It does not cover everything and yes, we pay some and need private drug plan although the province has a drug plan for those who need it and they have to register for it. It's the peace of mind, the knowledge that we would be bankrupt from my husbands heart attack last January. It's hard to watch from up here to see the difficulties for reform where my parents grew up. My Dad was so proud when Canada got health care...and mentioned to me that this is what is needed back home. It is also the main reason my children have decided to stay in Canada. It's their choice but they are clear that health care is one of the reasons. It is not 'free' - we all pay but I beleive that it is less in our taxes than what many families in the US pay.

Clyburd: 60 shouldn't be crucial number for HC reform

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Citing a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, House Majority Whip James Clyburn said Monday that the Senate Majority Leader should use a budgetary maneuver to pass health care reform with a government-run insurance option if Democrats do not have the 60 votes necessary to break a filibuster.

According to the survey released last week, 61 percent of Americans favor a public health insurance option that would compete with private plans. Support for the public option rose six point since an earlier poll in August.

"I can't imagine that 60 percent of the United States Senate will deny 61 percent of the American people the opportunity to get what they say they want," Clyburn said Monday in an interview on CNN's Newsroom. "So I would say to Senator [Harry] Reid that 60 ought not be the crucial number. Fifty ought to be the crucial number."

Clyburn said that if there are 52 or 53 Democratic votes for some form a public health insurance in the Senate, then Senate Majority Leader Reid should use a budgetary maneuver called "reconciliation" to bypass the usual 60 vote threshold needed to get to a vote on the Senate floor.

"And I do believe that the time has come to make 50 the number," the South Carolina Democrat said. "Reconciliation has been provided for in our budget resolution. It is time for us to stop the snail's pace. Stop running out the clock. And start getting done for the American people what they tell us they would like to see done."

Healthcare system wastes up to $800 billion a year

Here's a must-read analysis by Thomson Reuters - HC reform opponents take note!

Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:53am EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. healthcare system is just as wasteful as President Barack Obama says it is, and proposed reforms could be paid for by fixing some of the most obvious inefficiencies, preventing mistakes and fighting fraud, according to a Thomson Reuters report released on Monday.

Why I couldn't go home.

In early 2000 my family began the process of moving from Canada to the US. I was an American citizen and my husband was Canadian. Our 15 year old son was moving with us.
We made this decision to assist my elderly parents with leading a high quality life in their remaining years. To this end we purchased a beautiful home which was easily set up to share and provided a pool for exercise and a beautiful landscaped garden on a canal for my mother and I to play in. I had investigated schools for our son and my husband applied for residency which he obtained so he could seek employment and eventually citizenship. We were all set.
In February, seven years ago, our 16 year old son had a right brain stem stroke which left him with a useless left side and a host of other difficulties. This was the year we were supposed to make the final move.

He and I spent 4 1/2 months in hospital (Sick KIds and Bloorview Rehab.) He then spent another two years as an out patient in Toronto Rehab. When we told friends and relatives in the US what happened, they all said, "Thank God you're still in Canada".
For the years that Jan was in rehab and trying to get his life back together, my husband and I took turns living with my parents. He spent the fall and winter and spring there with Jan and I going for holidays, and I spent the summer months there. It was crazy for all of us.
There was no way we could move and get facilities and help for our son with the same quality that he was receiving here. We also discovered that insurance was out of the question for him.
We continued that crazy life until it just became too much. My mother was stressed by it all and we realized that we had to do something else. We sold our home in Ft. Meyers and my parents moved to a seniors' facility in Ft. Meyers. As my mother became ill I was running to Florida or my sister was (she lives in Utah) every month. It was not tenable to continue in that way. I eventually moved my parents to Utah so they were close to family. They are both gone now but I cannot help but feel sad that their final years could not have been more stress free which was our intention.

Thanks to the great care he received in Canada my son is a healthy, 6ft., 23 year old with a good life ahead of him.

This could have been a different story if we could have transitioned to health care in the US for our son, and given my parents the care they deserved. That is not what happened and I can only hope that a new health care policy in the US might prevent this situation, or similar ones from happening to other families.

While in Florida, I met many health care workers who came into our home to care for my father who had dementia. One women who had two sons, one of whom had been ill since birth, was working two jobs as was her husband to cover the costs of his care. Needless to say neither son saw much of either parent. I thought this was unjust and unacceptable.

I also have a young friend who has a son and is a single mom who cannot get off welfare because she would loose her health care and she is the sole support of her son and could not afford to get sick, literally if she was not on welfare. She finds her situation degrading and uncomfortable but sees no way out.

Needless to say, although we visit the US to see many friends and relatives, we will just stay in Canada, a country which cares for its people throughout their lives no matter what their circumstances happen to be.

M.C.
Canada 

Great Health Care for 32 Years

My family and I are US citizens. We moved to Canada from the US in 1977. We could not believe the Health Care Plan offered to us "Landed Immigrants" (now called Permanent Residents). For 31 years I was never hospitalized. After early diagnosis (mammogram) of breast cancer I had two operations that did not cost a cent -- no cost for the hospital or the surgeon, and the follow-up medication is free. My family doctor has a specialization in Internal Medicine from the Mayo Clinic. My husband had two cataract operations with lens implants that also did not cost a cent. His Ophthalmologist had worked on a NASA project in California studying the effect of Space on the eyes. We choose our own doctors and receive only high quality medical care.

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Where else but in Canada?

As a child of an enlisted man, I usually went to an Army base for whatever ailed me. At age 19, living with my aunt who seemingly was unaware of my medical coverage, I was sent to a private doctor for treatment of an ear infection. I was appalled to see that a single visit - that did nothing to improve the condition - cost over $60 ... in 1965.

The next time I needed to see a doctor, I was an A.T.&T. employee and was happy to discover that they (in 1967) had their own full medical clinic in the building; no charge for treatment, x-rays, etc.
Unrelated to health care, I transferred to Montreal in August 1970. A few months later, the government's health care plan kicked in. I signed up as did everyone else.

I have had two babies delivered, taken my growing children umpteen times to have ear infections treated, gashes stitched, a crushed vertebra collared, etc. I had a large cyst on my wrist removed. I had IUD's placed, and an embedded one removed with a D&C. I eventually had a tubal ligation, and later - when two of my sisters were pregnant together - a reversal of the tubal ligation (no pregnancy followed).
When an idiot driver cut me off and dragged my through a right-hand turn, resulting in a partially separated AC joint in one shoulder, the government paid not only for the treatment, but for the time off work due to a traffic accident! When the other shoulder developed adhesive capsulitis, that was likewise treated without great delay. Of late, I've become diabetic - despite my continued cycling - and that chronic disease is also treated and followed up by very competent doctors, nurses, and dietitians at a hospital.

All of the above cost me NOTHING ... OK, nothing above my annual income taxes.
On the other hand, when my son was in an Outward Bound program in New England as a teenager and fell during a portage, the hospital there charged a nearly bankrupting amount for a the overnight-for-observation and assessment. If the Quebec medicare plan hadn't reimbursed part of it, I would have had to declare bankruptcy.

Then, when I was bitten (mauled?) by an angry cat while visiting my mother in New York City, I had the worst nightmare experience with the so-called health care system. We went to the hospital she usually used; were given a number and made to wait for over four hours before someone deigned to ask why we were there. When that person learned that I was a non-resident, all treatment was refused. It didn't matter that my mother was willing and able to pay whatever amount demanded, there was no way anyone was going to examine my ever-swelling hand. So, we went to another clinic - by this time I was exhausted and ready to take a bus back to Montreal, even if my vacation wasn't even half over. The second place only made us wait another few hours, and then did treat me, for a sum my mother never did tell me. They also were very angry that we hadn't come sooner to have it treated!!

Is there any wonder that, although I have five sisters and a zillion cousins Stateside, I prefer to remain in the relative security of Canada?? I had once-upon-a-time imagined I would return to live nearer them in my retirement. Never, not until a bout of illness won't bankrupt me and mine!
Yes, I have kept my US citizenship; I may give up residency, but not citizenship, not until I die. 

Jessica-Jean

Quebec, Canada