Canadian system might be prescription for U.S. (click at title)
BY JIM LANDERS Dallas Morning News
Article Last Updated: 11/17/2007 03:13:51 AM CST
EDMONTON, Alberta - Linda Littlechild, 56, had quadruple bypass heart surgery in October. Had she been living in the U.S. instead of Canada, she might still be struggling for breath, hoping to make it to 65 and Medicare.
Or worse.
"In the States, I'd a probably been dead. I couldn't afford an operation like this," she said recently from her hospital bed at the University of Alberta Hospital.
On the other hand, if Littlechild had health insurance, she would have gone into a U.S. operating room soon after tests showed the blockages in her heart's arteries. In Edmonton, she waited three months.
Dr. Brian Day, president of the Canadian Medical Association, argues that access to a waiting list is not access to health care. "Canadian patients are suffering and dying on waiting lists, yet we are one of the richest countries in the world," said the Vancouver orthopedic surgeon.
These are the two faces of the Canadian health system: All 33 million Canadians, regardless of income, get hospital and doctor care as a civic right. But the health program leaves patients waiting - sometimes more than a year - for surgeries, diagnostic tests and appointments with specialists.
One in seven Americans lacks health insurance and faces falling into a medical and financial abyss if they become seriously ill. That is not a worry in Canada.
Though rare, some Canadians have faced deadly consequences while waiting for medical care. That is usually not a worry for insured...
