On this note, as someone who just moved from Canada with a special-needs child, and let me tell you, the US is light-years ahead of Canada. You mentioned you are healthy, so I can only assume your experience is fairly limited. Myself, and mostly my wife, have experienced both of these systems (coming back to the US just last year), and she absolutely loves the American system. Having seen the results myself, I can't describe the Canadian system as anything better than outright child abuse.
Hi there :) I wanted to clarify, I'm not talking about the quality of care. I'm talking about just the act of choosing which health care you should get and then keeping up with all the paperwork once you're sick. I've been outside of Canada for the past 12 years, but when I've gone to the doctor in the states for something as simple as stitches or a bad cold, I've always been amazed at how complicated it is in terms of bills and co-pays etc. I know that everyone things the system is so great, but I agre with you, it's not. It's ugly. People wait months for critical cat scans. Surgery is often cancelled or bumped. And patients regularly abuse the system rather than be proactive about their health. So in summary (sorry this got so long!!) neither system is perfect, but when I came to the states, I felt like I was just totally blind as I was choosing which insurance to get. I'd love to see someone fix the issue of helping people choose the right health care that's best for them, make best use of the FSA system, and manage bills / paperwork in a more efficient way.
Gotcha. =) I have a knee-jerk reaction when someone starts promoting Canada over US healthcare. I blame Canada for that, not the person.
As for the health care in the US, a lot of that is based on your carrier. Shop around! You aren't stuck with a single health care provider, and you can choose your doctors. My wife was amazed that after she went to one doctor, she was asked if she wanted to continue to see that doctor, or wanted to try someone else.
She's the one that deals with this on a day to day basis, so I trust her in this department. She also mentioned that here, people are so much more willing to help with any paperwork that might arise. And considering all the paperwork she's done to get my son the care he needs, she knows what she's talking about.
That's not to say things couldn't be easier.
> I was just totally blind as I was choosing which insurance to get.
So many choices! Yep. It can be overwhelming. My wife abused the help line of our insurance provider, and our companies rep the first few months. She'd call at least once a week with questions. However, she found that generally, they were more than willing to walk her through everything, and in some cases, did it right over the phone on her behalf.
Comments
On this note, as someone who just moved from Canada with a special-needs child, and let me tell you, the US is light-years ahead of Canada. You mentioned you are healthy, so I can only assume your experience is fairly limited. Myself, and mostly my wife, have experienced both of these systems (coming back to the US just last year), and she absolutely loves the American system. Having seen the results myself, I can't describe the Canadian system as anything better than outright child abuse.
Hi there :) I wanted to clarify, I'm not talking about the quality of care. I'm talking about just the act of choosing which health care you should get and then keeping up with all the paperwork once you're sick. I've been outside of Canada for the past 12 years, but when I've gone to the doctor in the states for something as simple as stitches or a bad cold, I've always been amazed at how complicated it is in terms of bills and co-pays etc. I know that everyone things the system is so great, but I agre with you, it's not. It's ugly. People wait months for critical cat scans. Surgery is often cancelled or bumped. And patients regularly abuse the system rather than be proactive about their health. So in summary (sorry this got so long!!) neither system is perfect, but when I came to the states, I felt like I was just totally blind as I was choosing which insurance to get. I'd love to see someone fix the issue of helping people choose the right health care that's best for them, make best use of the FSA system, and manage bills / paperwork in a more efficient way.
Gotcha. =) I have a knee-jerk reaction when someone starts promoting Canada over US healthcare. I blame Canada for that, not the person.
As for the health care in the US, a lot of that is based on your carrier. Shop around! You aren't stuck with a single health care provider, and you can choose your doctors. My wife was amazed that after she went to one doctor, she was asked if she wanted to continue to see that doctor, or wanted to try someone else.
She's the one that deals with this on a day to day basis, so I trust her in this department. She also mentioned that here, people are so much more willing to help with any paperwork that might arise. And considering all the paperwork she's done to get my son the care he needs, she knows what she's talking about.
That's not to say things couldn't be easier.
> I was just totally blind as I was choosing which insurance to get.
So many choices! Yep. It can be overwhelming. My wife abused the help line of our insurance provider, and our companies rep the first few months. She'd call at least once a week with questions. However, she found that generally, they were more than willing to walk her through everything, and in some cases, did it right over the phone on her behalf.