[cooolbear]

Aside from the usury of US healthcare, even with insurance from your employer, dealing with the healthcare in Canada is a dream to the US. You might have to wait to see a doctor (most people probably still have to wait in the US if you're lucky enough to get treatment), but there's essentially no fight with layers and layers of occult insurance for anything you get a referral from a doctor for. No surprise or hidden 'networks' to speak of. I think that people who are fine with US healthcare don't really realize how incredibly inefficient and harmful it is to be so uncertain about whether or not insurance will cover your treatment.

[decafninja]

Then why are there stories of Canadians crossing the border to seek care in the US?

I work with some Canadians in Toronto. They’re always complaining how terribly slow and inefficient their healthcare system is.

I am by no means defending the US healthcare system as good. It’s not - it’s terrible.

I just wish that those here that want to see it improved/reformed would look across the Pacific, not the Atlantic (or the northern border) for what a truly good healthcare system looks like.

[cooolbear]

> Then why are there stories of Canadians crossing the border to seek care in the US?

Because they got the scrap to pay for it and they can't quite get what they're looking for in Canada. There are private clinics here, too, where you can pay out-of-pocket or maybe with private insurance for treatment where you haven't gotten a referral from your family doctor (PCP), but if you're looking for something specific and fast, you're in basically the same boat as any American.

For example, my wife got a referral from our family doctor to what would basically be some local ENT for surgery on something that wasn't at all life-threatening but still needed to be dealt with. I'm pretty sure people from all over Canada come to see him and he's internationally-renowned, which I've gathered from him being out of the office for a few weeks to work out in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. He's got all these plaques on his wall for teaching at the university here here and in Saudi Arabia and such. I'm sure he is the cream-of-the-crop given that he's going to the other side of the world to do his thing. He just happened to be the guy that she got to see with just regular provincial health insurance. Also a totally lovely dude.

Compare this, too, to the the whole debacle about Americans having to buy Canadian insulin ...

> I work with some Canadians in Toronto. They’re always complaining how terribly slow and inefficient their healthcare system is.

Well, it is slow and inefficient compared to most things when people expect to get everything on-demand, and it is probably worth complaining about. I'm pretty sure it's mainly because there's a doctor shortage crisis here and there's a lot of factors that go into why that's the case. But having grown up in the states where my family had very little money and I didn't go to the doctor at all for probably 10 years, I'm very glad to be here and get to go to the doctor at all.

> I am by no means defending the US healthcare system as good. It’s not - it’s terrible.

No worries--just saying that it can be hard to weigh salary vs. amenities (or necessities?!) and especially that things can be better than they are in the US :)

> I just wish that those here that want to see it improved/reformed would look across the Pacific, not the Atlantic (or the northern border) for what a truly good healthcare system looks like.

For sure. Now I'm curious about how it works and if there are any issues in funding or doctor supply like there are uh ... everywher eelse

[nxm]

"most people probably still have to wait in the US if you're lucky enough to get treatment" This is really not the case. Over 92% of Americans have health coverage. I can also see practically any specialist next week....

[cooolbear]

> Over 92% of Americans have health coverage.

How many choose to use it, though, and specifically, how many are afraid to use it because of cost? I'd count "waiting for an appointment/life to line up to see someone 'in network'" that as "lucky enough to get treatment"

> I can also see practically any specialist next week....

It can be similarly the case in Canada if you pay out-of-pocket or with private insurance or travel, and people do the same in the US too.

[floxy]

Is there a way to find out which CGRP medications for migraines are covered by which provincial health plans? Seems like a few of them are available if you have private insurance. Or if you could pay the fairly steep costs out of pocket.

[sudosysgen]

Each province maintains a master list of approved medications (and for some conditional approvement requirements), which is freely accessible.