If you promise to leave the politicians and lawyers behind then by all means COME ON DOWN! (oops, I guess that should be UP)


>Ok, let's all go to Canada! However, be fore-warned that if you publicize the Canadian healthcare system too much all of our illegal aliens (now mostly living in California and Georgia) will migrate to Canada!
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>>Craig,
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>>>There are other things to consider, such as the quality of the care. Talk to people in Canada that are waiting for heart transplants. It takes far longer than here in the US. In fact, many Canadians come to the US and pay for the transplant out of their own pockets because they can get the surgery done much sooner than waiting for it in Canada.
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>>You really picked the wrong category when you picked heart transplants, but you are otherwise correct that wait lists are a problem for the majority of medical services in Canada. And people with the means **do** go to the U.S. for many many procedures.
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>>On the other hand, I look at my own experience with a kidney transplant comapered to what I've seen recently on U.S. TV (60 Minutes et. al.).
>>My transplant (cadaveric, so I gues some costs were saved there) cost me around $12.00, that being the cost of renting a TV while I was in the hospital. TOTAL!
>>Now in the U.S. the kidney itself is free (as it is here). But to get a transplant operation there, according to 2 different programs I saw, it takes insurance coverage with the operation pre-cleared OR smacking down $125,000 cash, in advance TO GET ON THE LIST! I would have had to stay permanently on dialysis in that situation!
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>>cheers
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>>>
>>>Talk to people in Japan that want to see a specialist. They just don't exist there because of the government run health system. The same is true in many other countries with socialized medicine.
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>>>>that's been a question I still don't know the answer.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>SET DISAPPOINTMENT ON
>>>>
>>>>Coming from a *third world* country, I've been always analysing and comparing the differences between a poor country and the almighty U.S.
>>>>From a country like Brazil, people always see that country as the poor, resourceless, corrupted place to live, whereas the U.S. are seeing as the best place to live.
>>>>
>>>>Living almost 1 year over here now, it amazes me how backwards the U.S. can be at some specific points. Healthcare is one.
>>>>
>>>>In Brazil, I used to pay something around US$ 100,00 for health insurance for my wife, my daugther and I. With that, we've had access to the best hospitals down there. And we didn't have to pay a fee for every visit to the doctor, or stuff like that. It was everything paid by the insurance company, depending on the type of plan you have.
>>>>
>>>>Now, I pay US$ 700,00 for the three of us. And if we have to go to the doctor or whaterver, we still have to pay more money. This is unbelievable.
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>>>>Although the public hospitals in Brazil are far from being great, you can still receive treatment without paying anything (depending on the treatment, you'll have to wait for awhile, but still, it's free for the people).
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>>>>Yesterday, a friend of mine (originally from Argentina) has suffered an accident and had to go to the hospital. He doesn't have health insurance. He stayed at the hospital for 5 or 6 hours, they've taken a few x-rays, and sent him back home. Well, actually before sending him back to home, while he was still drowsy from the drugs they gave them, and still feeling a lot of pain, they gave him the bill: US$ 10.000,00.
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>>>>Serious, what the hell is that??? 10 thousand for a couple of hours of waiting and a few x-rays???? This is stupid. And how can a poor guy pay such bill??
>>>>
>>>>That makes me wonder:
>>>>How come an almighty country like this cannot provide its people with healthcare for those who cannot afford health insurance? I always hear a bunch of hype about human rights and blahblahblah... so, if a poor guy suffer an accident and has to stay some days at the hospital, he'll rather wanna die instead of being kept live, since he's unlikely to be able to pay the bill. I can't believe there's nothing in the human rights to prevent that... that's ruthless.
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>>>>And why on Earth health insurance is so expensive over here?
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>>>>SET DISAPPOINTMENT OFF