How's the healthcare?

Tonington

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Oct 27, 2006
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I mean radiation oncologists routinely make that much, working in university settings they can make that much I stated or more. I think the brain drain isn't so much due to $$, it's due to the research intensity up here compared to down there.
 

Machjo

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Oct 19, 2004
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Not sure if this should be under culture or politics, so sorry if I got it wrong.

Anyway, I'm from the U.S. and everybody's always talking about how universal healthcare is evil and will result in underpaid doctors, year-long waits for surgery, and 24-hour waiting periods in the waiting rooms. I was starting to wonder if this was all just propaganda spewed by the overpaid doctors in this country. So, I'd like to ask anybody here who as experience with the healthcare in Canada.

Few questions:
How's the waiting times in the waiting rooms?

I don't know. But I know the waiting times at the grocery store are no different whether you buy healthy food or not.

How long do you have to wait for major treatments/surgeries?

I don't know. But then again, I avoid extreme sports but do walk and cycle lots to keep fit.

How much do you pay for medicine?

Well, the price of fruits and vegetables does go up in winter, but still not too bad.

Do you have to pay anything at all at the hospital?

No. I just pay through taxes, but can barely remember the last time I'd gone to the hospital

Do you think universal healthcare is a good system?

Debatable. I'd like to see a two-tier system. Maybe something based on the Singaporean or Swedish systems would be nice, or some mixture of the two. My beef with an excessively socialized system like Canada's is that it removes responsibility for individual action. Those of us who care for our health are essentially subsidizing those who don't.

On the other hand, a purely privatized system like the US one could really put a poor person or one born with medical issue at an unfair disadvantage. What I like about the Singaporean system is that it's a true two-tier system. It guarantees universal healthcare for all, but those who can't pay their own way just get the essentials. If you want more, you pay extra. The Swedish system also encourages private sector involvement to promote more choice in healthcare too. Unlike the Canadian and US systems that go to extremes, the Singaporean and Swedish systems seem to be trying to find some happy medium.
 

AnnaG

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Jul 5, 2009
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I mean radiation oncologists routinely make that much, working in university settings they can make that much I stated or more.
ok
I think the brain drain isn't so much due to $$, it's due to the research intensity up here compared to down there.
There's that, too, yes.
 

SirJosephPorter

Time Out
Nov 7, 2008
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Ontario
There's more than one kind of MD...

It really depends upon how hard a doctor is willing to work, I would say that these days a Family practitioner would net 150,000 $ per year easily, without any trouble, and around 200,000 $ if he is willing to work hard, at least here in Ontario.

Family doctors don’t do badly at all in Canada.
 
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AnnaG

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Jul 5, 2009
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Someone's being purposefully misleading about doctor's wages discussion. :D

But anyway, things could be better in Canada, but they could be an awful lot worse. In 2008 we were ranked 30th of 190 countries.
 

VanIsle

Always thinking
Nov 12, 2008
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Not sure if this should be under culture or politics, so sorry if I got it wrong.

Anyway, I'm from the U.S. and everybody's always talking about how universal healthcare is evil and will result in underpaid doctors, year-long waits for surgery, and 24-hour waiting periods in the waiting rooms. I was starting to wonder if this was all just propaganda spewed by the overpaid doctors in this country. So, I'd like to ask anybody here who as experience with the healthcare in Canada.

Few questions:
How's the waiting times in the waiting rooms
How long do you have to wait for major treatments/surgeries
How much do you pay for medicine?
Do you have to pay anything at all at the hospital? If so, how much? And in what cases?
Do you think universal healthcare is a good system?

Thanks you,
Justin Ellard
TenPenny has answered you well. I don't think he mentioned that everyone in Canada is entitled to health care (equal health care). If you don't earn enough money, you still get the same care as the guy next door who does earn enough. In many provinces, people pay a monthly fee for medical to their provincial government but again, if you cannot afford to pay (meaning your earnings are too low), you still get care but you don't pay. Many of us have back up care such as Blue Cross or Sunlife. Through our employers, we receive extra benefits that are paid for by the employer. For my husband and myself, my husband's previous employer pays a portion of our medical and we have to pay out the first $100.00 toward our medical costs such as prescriptions, physio/chiro/Massage therapy, podiatrist etc. Then we send in our receipts and we get back 80% of what we have paid out. In our case, our dental is much the same. I work too and I also have a plan in place. That means we get back pretty much 100 % of our medical expenses.
We can have a private room in the hospital if we up-grade our coverage but it's been many years since I have seen a hospital room in BC with more than 2 beds to a room.
 

SirJosephPorter

Time Out
Nov 7, 2008
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Ontario
Quite right, and we have not hashed out anything before, in spite of what Anna claims. I don’t discuss anything with her. With her, all the conversation is one way.

It really depends upon how hard a doctor is willing to work, I would say that these days a Family practitioner would net 150,000 $ per year easily, without any trouble, and around 200,000 $ if he is willing to work hard, at least here in Ontario.

Family doctors don’t do badly at all in Canada.


Surprisingly, Family Physicians don’t earn all that much more in USA. These are 2008/2009 figures, and they show an income between 150,000 and 200, 000 $ per year. I assume somebody willing to work harder would earn more.


FAMILY PHYSICIAN SALARIES at MDsalaries - The Physician Salaries Blog

But it may be that Family physicians are not well compensated in USA, specialists earn much more. Not surprisingly, the same website says that USA needs 39% more Family Physicians.
 

JLM

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Nov 27, 2008
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Surprisingly, Family Physicians don’t earn all that much more in USA. These are 2008/2009 figures, and they show an income between 150,000 and 200, 000 $ per year. I assume somebody willing to work harder would earn more.


FAMILY PHYSICIAN SALARIES at MDsalaries - The Physician Salaries Blog

But it may be that Family physicians are not well compensated in USA, specialists earn much more. Not surprisingly, the same website says that USA needs 39% more Family Physicians.

Please correct me if I'm wrong (which is a remote possiblitity) but any figures I've seen published re doctor's salaries (I believe they were in the $200,000 to $400,000 range) I understood included the cost of running his office and hiring nurse and receptionist etc. Was I mislead there, or just had a spell of CRS?
 

SirJosephPorter

Time Out
Nov 7, 2008
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Ontario
Please correct me if I'm wrong (which is a remote possiblitity) but any figures I've seen published re doctor's salaries (I believe they were in the $200,000 to $400,000 range) I understood included the cost of running his office and hiring nurse and receptionist etc. Was I mislead there, or just had a spell of CRS?

You have to be careful here, JLM. If the figures report how much the doctor billed to the government, then yes, they are gross figures, before deducting any expenses. Many times it is these figures that are published and then people think that doctors earn an outrageous amount of money.

But expense for running a doctor’s office can run up to 100,000 $ per year. The expenses are higher for a Family physician than a specialist. FP sees more patients than a specialist, and most of them in his office, a lot of specialist’s work is done in the hospital. So an FP needs a bigger office and perhaps a staff of two, a specialist can make do with staff of one (and many times, that too part time).

But here I am quoting the net figures, after expenses.