Any Canadian FReeper, please give me a basis for comparison. In March I had a regularly scheduled follow-up with my cardiologist, who suggested a stress test since it had been several years since my last one. We scheduled it for mid May with a follow-up in June. At the follow up he said there were anomalies on the display and gave me the option of wait and see or a proactive cardiac catheterization. I chose the procedure, and got a scheduling call within two days after the visit, Friday I think. They scheduled it for Monday morning.
Long story short, though I’d had no symptoms, they found my old stent blocked and a new blockage in another artery and did the repairs.
My question is, under the Canadian system, would I have even been looked at yet, let alone fixed up and back at rec b’ball?
I am not an expert on waiting times, but I know for a fact one like yours would likely be a good deal longer up in my country. Many have died up here waiting for cancer treatments and other things. Link enclosed for a more detailed study:
https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/effect-of-wait-times-on-mortality-in-canada
I had a heart attack 14 years ago. I waited in ER for 3 hours with chest pains because was deemed “not urgent”, i.e. I was still conscious. As a result of the delay they couldn’t use plaque busting drugs and unneeded angioplasty and stents. I never had a follow up appointment at any time following the surgery.
The Canadian doctor is correct that people get “urgent” care, i.e. If you come in with severe injuries following a car accident, are in full cardiac arrest at the hospital, convulsions, etc. I have seen people wait hours to get stitched with significant cuts, broken bones, raging temperatures. And don’t even bother coming in with common flu symptoms or you can wait all night to see someone for 60 seconds.
Canadian health care is rationed. Operating rooms stay idle because surgeons are only allowed a few hours each week. It can take years to get a family doctor if you relocate and many rural areas have no doctors within 60 miles.
We also suffer from a lack of specialists. You can wait over a year to see some specialists. An uncle of mine waited off work, on pins and needles for 11 months waiting for a quadruple bypass. The Stalinist purity of single payer does kill people.