这样的免费医疗你觉得好吗？ 你住的地方医疗是怎么样的？记得留言告诉我！ Do you think Canadian healthcare is good? What is the healthcare system like in your country? Let me know down below!
Norway got a similar system but you have to pay a small sum to see your GP, emergency room, and the GP would also have to refer to see specialists (usually 2/3 of the cost is paid by taxes) But if you get really ill and in need of an ambulance and hospitalization, that's free, the same with the medication, the government will pay most of the cheapest drug, but it's free while you're in an institution (like in a caring home, hospice, hospital etc.)
My uncle went to a Montreal hospital's emergency room due to COPD. After waiting the whole day, he was sent home at midnight. They told him to return tomorrow. They prioritize the patients; and my uncle was not urgent enough for immediate treatment.
Chinese-Canadian here, just wanted to add a few things. First, what is covered or not covered can be complicated and may differ by province. In Ontario, a lot of services (vision, dental, physical therapy) are covered for those under 19 and elders but not for the general public. So for those services you have to pay out of pocket or through private health insurance. Most drugs are not free if you are not hospitalized (though they are quite affordable compared to the US), but specialized brand-name drugs can still cost a lot. Also, it's not that easy to switch family doctors as there is currently a shortage. Doctors who are taking patients will prioritize those without a family doctor so unless you move it is difficult to switch. The visits to family doctors are free but there are small fees for signing forms and other things, so it's not completely free. Personally I prefer to call our system nationalized healthcare instead of "free" healthcare because ultimately it's not free, and often there are still out of pocket costs.
And it's all paid for with our tax money. Employers have to pay into it, and everyone who makes above a certain income has to pay the health tax on their tax return every year. Although the health tax is very affordable, just a few hundred $.
I'm a healthcare worker in Canada, just want to clarify: there's a triage process in the ER to identify and prioritize those with the most serious, time-sensitive issues. If you come to the ER with a gunshot wound or an arm chopped off, you'll get treated immediately! But if you walk in with a stomach ache/fever, you'll be seen by a triage nurse who will determine if it's something minor (e.g., fever from a flu which will pass by itself, and there's nothing they can do other than give you an Advil), or if there's a more serious problem (e.g., appendicitis). （实在懒得翻成中文，朋友们查查 “triage” （分诊）应该就明白了）
I walked into the emergency department of a public hospital with a high fever and was lucky enough to see a doctor on duty within five minutes. Was instantly diagnosed as appendicitis and shipped in for a double check, the result of which was positive. It became my first time in an ICU. The appendix was later found to have been ruptured, a life and death situation if not taken care of promptly. Thanks God that no nuclear acid test was required otherwise I would be dead man now.
I was kept in a single room with a shower room in the ICU unit for a week and a dedicated team was working on me… no cost from my pocket. I was released when as my situation was well under control and the operation was arranged and postponed and finally completed after eight months, which was acceptable to me as the hospital was busy dealing with another wave of COVID. Some other patients made their way to save my life and I need to do the same for other people. I am really grateful for the team there who literally saved my life 😝
Hey Jared, one thing you forget mention is that many specialties are not covered here. I live in Ottawa Ontario and I had to have my wisdom teeth removed in January, it costed me 2k in total to get it done. Seeing dentists and mental health professionals are not covered at all. The backlog is indeed a problem, and also the lack of family doctors too. Many med school graduates don’t wanna go into family medicine anymore and this creates a huge problem here in Ontario at least.
@@zhimingsha6466 Some companies offer good group insurance. In US, teacher's union is powerful; generally, teachers have better health care insurance than most.
^^ This tbh, if you're lucky your job can cover a part of it (incl. prescriptions/aftercare services), but it's still not entirely "free". I got extremely lucky when OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan) covered a surgery that was very necessary but "not medically a priority" in full, though I had to wait two years for it. I also had to do the legwork and find a surgeon that would accept payment through OHIP, as not all of them do. And that's not even mentioning the absolute mess that is mental healthcare. Oof. Hopefully one day more of our tax dollars can be invested in healthcare of all kinds to all people so that we don't need to make the morally challenging decision to prioritize some people over others. (And maybe considering making medical school more accessible so that we can get more doctors!!)
In Canada (and many other countries), dentistry and mental health professions are considered totally separate fields than medicine (i.e., they're not a "specialty" in medicine). Dentists for example don't go to medical school to get a MD, they go to dental school and get a DDS/DMD. That's one of the reasons the government doesn't cover these dental services. Most companies do have some coverage (albeit limited) for dental/mental health services, so do universities for students. Mental health services is also more nuanced: if you have a psychiatric issue (psychiatry falls under medicine), then the services by the government. Things like therapy, counselling etc are done by psychologists and other mental health professions, which don't fall under "medicine", and therefore usually not covered. But this depends on the province you're in, and whether you're a child (most services are free for children, at least in Ontario), and some services are subsidized.
In US, many Chinese restaurant workers either don't have any health care insurance or are under-insured. Without insurance, US hospital can still admit you for emergency. If it is not an emergency (such as cancer treatment), they can deny treatment and doctor visits. In US, 2/3 of all personal bankruptcies are due to medical debt.
American here. And yes we are jealous of Canadian healthcare. In america, even if you are lucky enough to have health insurance, you have deductible and copay to pay. My deductible for the best insurance my employer offers is $7500 per year, and that is on top of my $350 per month premium.
The deductible is $7500 per year??!!! That's ridiculous!! How is that still called insurance? What are you exactly insuring? You are practically paying for it already.
3 things not mentioned but available in Australia: 1. Paid GP(family doctor), so you pay a small fee to access them a lot quicker. 2. ED in private hospitals. You pay a fixed amount upfront but can be seen quicker. Also requires private insurance in case you need to be admitted. 3. Private health insurance
Putting quotas on procedures is total b***sh*t: it doesn't actually save the government money (because people will develop more serious problems while waiting, or doctors will use a different and often more expensive procedure that doesn't have a quota), it also creates backlog that eventually needs to be dealt with. Everyone who needs the procedure will still have it done eventually, but the delay causes much more problems/costs. Health care workers and researchers have tried time and time again to explain this to politicians, but they never listen!
I really have always been jealous of Canadians for their health care. I can literally see Canada from my bedroom window, but I have to pay hundreds of dollars more for everything than the people right over there do.
@@sabrinabai7000 It's more cost efficient for the government to pay for medical care for everyone with taxes than for us to pay for our own medical care but pay less in taxes. If you're lucky and there's never anything wrong with you, then I guess you personally lose with that system. I haven't been lucky.
@@jeremydespair Sorry, but I don't wanna pay other people's medical bills. Now, I don't like the mandatory medical insurance system because of how broken and corrupt it is, but I'd rather have that system than a socialist medical care system.
I like our free healthcare cus you don't have to worry about getting basic care (even if its an emergency situation requiring to go to the ER) since money is not an issue. The only thing that sucks is surgery wait times. My parents come from Taiwan and I know a lot of their friends or other Chinese people tend to fly back to get surgeries down (if they can still fly) cuz it can be down within a couple months. I think you still need to have valid ID and medical card which I don't have (left when I was 3 months old). So i guess i will need to wait like every Canadian when/if i need surgery
Thank you, Jared and your dad for the informative coverage about Canadian health care. We live in Vancouver, my husband has been waiting for his surgery for acid reflex for 2 years. His surgery got cancelled twice the day before, because they told him there is a emergency lung transplant(we suspect was for covid pts). Anyway, we waited and waited, to the point we almost thinking to fly to Taiwan or Boston to get the surgery done. We also get bumped because cancer pts also have more priority than us, we are on the bottom of the priority list. He is suffering everyday to sleep, because he can't lie flat, his neck never get rest due to him sitting up sleeping. We know it's not a hard surgery, but if we were going to do it in Boston , this type of surgery is 25k US dolllar +other testing fee, our flights, food, airbnb. we think it would be at lest 35k us which is 45k Canadian. that's almost an average person's whole year salary after tax. We are very disappointed in the canadian health care system.
I would say Singapore's healthcare system is the best overall. They have been able to control costs throughout the system by keeping economic incentives in play, which enables most people to afford quality Healthcare through their mandatory health savings accounts (which I think is a fantastic idea). At the same time, the few that still can't afford care can be taken care of by the government at a very modest cost to the taxpayer. Both very practical and compassionate at the same time.
Yes! Although the wait time is not as bad sometimes, some would have to wait for months, and by then even the not-so-serious illness becomes serious, I actually didn't know about the backlog system though. 而且一旦做完手术后也只会让你住院几天。我的手术当时不是很严重所以刚从麻醉醒来后就被踢出来了 XD.
I would like to clarify that medicine is NOT FREE in Canada. Take an example in Ontario, medicine is not cover by Health Card if you below 65 years old. So, as your father said in the video, medicine is free maybe because he is over 65 years old. By the way, the price of medicines are expensive compared to in China.
Eh I'm 21 and I'm on prescription meds. It's more often on my side than not. But in some cases, you'll need to look deep if you want to get better medication and have no private insurance though. For some medication, the insurance practically available for the public but the government wouldn't really make it available. Jared's dad's comments resonate with my experience a lot more than the commenters in ON ngl. But we're both in BC so it makes sense.
Even over 65 he has to pay meds himself, I think he's still working and got meds covered by work insurance, he's just confused. Lots of Canadians are like him, there were discussions on Reddit, I was so surprised so many people don't understand work healthcare insurance is actually not part of the government "universal healthcare" system.
We have free heathcare here too. Medicine and doctor to operation all free. That is provided by the government but you can get private ones too, if you pay for it. For the free part it's ok, we're used to the waiting in line and less pro doctors who are not permanent, they get transfered around so you probably won't be seeing the same doctor after a few months. Main part is because we are not highly paid employees mostly, so we make do with what we have. As long as there's doctors to see us and medicine to help. For emergency cases the government do have immediate free service at the main hospitals.
I'm from Windsor, Ontario. My family doctor is only in his office at the clinic only one day a week. In October I had swollen tonsils and at that time it took me a week or longer to be able to get to see the doctor because I had to book an appointment via phone. Dental care is also weird, it's free for children up until before they turn 18 through a program here in Ontario. I had all my wisdom teeth removed in March 2020 and it costed maybe $1200 or more as I had the surgery done at the hospital. Braces are expensive too, I need them plus a tooth surgery with it but it costs over 8k which I don't have. Also about hospitals here, ambulances cost money. My city/town is small and everything it's 10 years behind time and so if you need a certain surgery and the hospital doesn't have the equipment, you have to travel to London to get it done. If a child goes to the hospital and needs certain medical care done, the hospital might not have the medical equipment, so the child will have to get transferred to the children's hospital in London where they have better medical care and equipment.
As same as China, but not free in China. We need get a certain medical care in a bigger city. And you will need a family or a friend to take care of you in hospital, cause the nurse will not to do that.
There is no such thing as a free lunch. 免费，还能立刻就有医疗服务，这个是不可能的，都是根据医疗紧急程度排队，急诊也一样，不是先到先看，谁紧急谁先看，也算合理科学。坐标大温三联市，也算Jared 的邻居，目前看家医一周就能预约，B超啊验血啊基本两周，核磁检查要几个月，如果不紧急。考虑到这些检查都是免费 不紧急，也不介意等。但是比较紧急的，比如我一次感觉胸口有压力，其他正常，是立刻给约了心电图还有心脏专科。有工作有extended benefits, 就更好一些。处方药，理疗按摩针灸，牙科，心理干预等等，都能cover 不少，在额度内都基本不用自己付钱。
Paying more in USA for PPO is definitely better, because waiting and getting referral truly sucks. Reminds me of HMO here, which is ok for young people though.
It's quite misleading. 1. It's not easy to change another family doctor in Toronto now as Family doctor is not enough. You can change whenever you want twenty years ago. 2. We have to pay for medicine in Toronto. May be it's free in other Province.
I wonder if the price of medical treatment in Canada is cost-based? One of the biggest causes behind the ridiculous “chargemaster” pricing in the US is that most of the health insurance companies and medical providers are privatized. As a result the charge is determined by both parties and the process is not transparent to the patients at all🤷🏻♀️
When I went to my family doctor and told her I want to do some regular health check "体检“. My doctor measured my weight and height and blood pressure. That's all she can do. That is why I want to order some blood tests to get a complete picture of my heath situation.
Canadian medical service is similar to Hong Kong in some way. But the waiting time is muuuch longer. For some non-emergency surgery (e.g. gallstone), it wait for 3 years.😝
Your dad is right 100% it is def not a perfect system but it works for most people in most cases. My grandfather was diagnosed with terminal cancer last year in Vancouver and it was a difficult time for our family. But the last thing that we had to worry about was bills which would totally be a different conversation in China. 癌症的治疗在国内基本经常会度治疗，如果不用XXX进口药就不能住院 不能继续住病房 我是真的听过的 。我觉得加拿大这里真的很注重dignity 和quality of life 。而在国内可能中国人对死亡的概念和欧美不同 所以治疗过程和目的还是有很大区别的。
We have a similar medical system. I think it is very good with free healthcare for every resident. Our government promotes voluntary self-insured medical care. Citizens with medical insurance would visit private doctors and hospitals to get faster services here in HK.
The severity that dictates priority is at the mercy and accuracy of a physician’s diagnosis. In certain areas misdiagnosed cases are rampant. Whether prescription drugs are free or not depend on insurance. Provincial’s does not cover a broad range as opposed to work place insurance. Many insurance do not cover ED medications such as Cialis. A friend of mine ended up having her surgery done for her ovary cancer in Malaysia due to the long wait in Canada. Heart attack will bump you up the priority list. Misdiagnosed cases include amputating the wrong arm which was horrible for an old lady.
The U.S. is pay to live and me being poor, i am very jealous of many other country's healthcare. I've been sick since mid May and still haven't been able to see the exact doctor i need. I got a stat referral weeks ago and still havent been able to get in (ive called and left messages after appropriate times too), this country and its systems are nightmares :/
As you father pointed out, medicine for most people, is not completely "free" because there is a fixed charge, like as in the UK. In many cases, that charge can be more than buying the drug over the counter if it's not a restricted one like aspirin. Certain people like pensioners, children, very poor on state support, and special long term illness sufferers qualify for exemption from charges or if dispensed by a hospital. But prescription charges have been steadily rising and putting people off taking their medicines. Such people such as those who can't qualify for state support and who are on low income.
Medicine is paid thru insurance. If you don't have insurance coverage, you need need to need to pay the bill. Medicine is not free if you are not hospitalized.
weird, I've never got the free prescription drugs, even for some basic antibiotics, there are generic ones, they are cheaper but not free, and also pharmacy will charge dispensing fee.
Yeah, sorry about that... We weren't specific enough on that. You're right. Basic prescriptions are reasonably cheap. If you're low income or a senior citizen you can also be eligible for free medication.
@@jaredfaa I'm pretty sure here in BC even seniors aren't eligible for free medications. Fair Pharmacare might provide a bit of subsidies for low income/seniors, but most of people are responsible for their own med bills after they retire.
Depends on how much one earns,the one earns more pay more, for the very poor ,no need to pay anything at all. For a middle income person, about one third of salary was deducted but that included government pension plans and company pension plan deduction, unemployment insurance apart from tax deduction
nothing is perfect. it's about balancing act and tradeoffs. tax is high, tickets to national parks are more expensive. go figure. you all are paying for it. in that sense, it's not free.
Canada's health care is free but very limited, and very bad. For my experience, to see my family doctor takes half month, to see a specialist takes half year. My family doctor is not even Canadian trained, so technically she is no more qualified than me to be a doctor. Lots of people I know from diagnosis to death took less than half year. So I just want to take my health into my own hands, and want to order some blood tests. But because I'm young and healthy, I'm not sure if my doctor will even order test for me. If family doctor won't, I will have to go through a naturopath doctor which is covered by work insurance. Maybe I should just pay out of my own pocket.
Where do you live? Most people I know usually get to see their (family and walk-ins) doctors within the same week or next. Not sure about specialists tho.
Strange... If I want to see my family doctor, I can just walk in and sit in the waiting room. It may take an hour or two, but not half a month. What area are you in? That said, we do have a shortage of Doctors here. Many are tempted to move across the border to the US for higher pay.
My family doctor's office is located on the main floor of a small house, which is old and crappy, thus makes me feel it's dirty. So when I wait in the office for my appointment (usually around half an hour), I just stand there and never use their chairs. When I first moved to my city Kitchener, she was the only doctor that accepting new patients. I'm constantly thinking of switching family doctor, but you need to provide a reason (basically it's like firing your doctor). I'm worried that even if I would tried to switch doctor, after two years of struggling, I still wouldn't be able to switch doctor, only end up pissing off my doctor that I couldn't switch.
@@aurorazhang3268 I'm in downtown Toronto. Unfortunately, my family doctors (They're a husband and wife couple) are retiring at the end of this year 😢... so hard to find another that is still taking new clients.
