>>>>>>I agree with you. I like the fact that we have the freedom to choose if we want health insuranse or not here, but the price of health insuranse is getting a little crazy.
>>>>>
>>>>>You can choose not pay the $35 per month up here. You'd be crazy not too since it is a steal for what you get.
>>>>You pay a monthly fee for your socialized health plan? Isn't it included in your taxes? I guess I don't really know how socialized health care works in Canada, but I thought it was similar to the Kindom of Norway's socialized healthcare.
>>>
>>>Different provinces do it different ways.
>>>
>>>In Ontario it is now included as part of provincial income taxes, not even separately itemized (except for a special "surtax" now in effect that is supposed to last a few years). Previously employers paid an amount per employee, with self-employeds paying directly about $150. per half year. I think the huge increase in "part time" status forced the provincial government to change it.
>>>
>>>While our system ain't perfect, it's generally criticized by those who have never used it and/or by those who equate "socialized" with "socialist".
>>>By the way, those who can afford to are certainly free to go to the U.S. for whatever treatment they like as long as they pay for it themselves. And since approximately 90% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the U.S. border it isn't really a hardship for the well-to-do. Few do it, but some do and they often like to inform the media after they've done so.
>>
>>Are there long waiting lists for non-critical surgery in Canada? By non critical I do not mean cosmetic surgery, but rather things that can wait, for example having toncils removed or putting in an artificial hip or something like that. I did not know that each province did it differently.
>
>Indeed there are waiting lists for "non-critical" surgery. And the wait times for some very critical stuff is too long too.
>In some cases, at least here in Ontario, people are sent elsewhere, all expenses paid, to get what is scheduled too late to be helpful, particularly for cancer-related treatments. But that is hardly an ideal solution and we (the people) have been applying great pressure to get those issues fixed.
>Things are underway to vastly improve timeliness for:
>- MRIs
>- cancer treatments
>- lens replacements (big numbers and growing fast)
>- hip replacements (big numbers and growing fast)
>- a couple more that escape me right now.
>
>A couple of "pilot programs" have shown that this can be done within existing resources, the existing systems usually greatly impeding timeliness.
>Some examples...
>a) A (finally) scheduled operation gets cancelled because the operating room was needed for some emergency.
>b) Something serious requires a referral to a specialist. That specialist is heavily booked, so wait a long time. Then the specialist essentailly has to re-do tests because of time lapse and/or imposed standards.
>c) Once the specialist concludes surgery is needed, s/he has to schedule you based on her/his allocated 'quota'. So now you may have 6 months to 3+ years to wait, depending on factors.
>
>The pilot programs essentially:
>1) Outfitted operating room(s) specifically for them, reserved for them.
>2) Had initial diagnosis and specialists and all needed diagnostic equipment all in the same place and specialists would see patients within hours or a day or two of diagnosis.
>3) Quotas, which were not only cost-driven but also facilities-allocation-driven, were removed.

Thanks for the reply. Very interesting information.