From: gld@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Gary L Dare)
Subject: Re: Canadian vs US health care (was "ACM downgrades Catastrophe Medical Insurance")
Reply-To: gld@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Gary L Dare)
Organization: The Bates Motel
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 01:11:49 GMT

In article <BvGnI1.FKB.1@cs.cmu.edu> clamen+@CS.CMU.EDU writes:
>
>A few weeks ago, we were told the following horrific tale:
>
>In article <jwtnrdm.lmb@netcom.com> lmb@netcom.com (Larry Blair) writes:
>
>   If you want to live with inferior care supported with your taxes,
>   move to Canada.  The last thing I need is no alternative to
>   `California Care'.  Canadian care is not inferior, I hear you say?

Actually, what first hit me about that article was that it made the
assumption that we have a National Health Service a la Britain ...
not so.   Just health insurance paying out to private doctors and
hospital ... and important point to keep in mind for later ...

>   There is *1* MRI machine in Montreal and it was booked for the
>   next 6 months.  She ended up having to go to New York, at her
>   expense, for the test.

>I had the opportunity to speak with an old friend of mine while we
>were both home in Montreal earlier this week.  He's a neuro-surgery
>resident in T.O., on rotation at Sick Kids this season...

By the way, folks, "T.O." is Toronto, Ontario (the setting for the
show "Forever Knight" on CBS latenight); it is not in the province
of Quebec, although I think that Stewart's friend is from Montreal
originally.

>He can name two MRI machines in Montreal.  He thinks it likely that
>there is at least one more in the province.
                                   !!!!!!!!

If that is the case (I'm still waiting to hear from my source who is
doing a study in Quebec), that would be lower than the 1 MRI unit per
Million population in other parts of Canada (at least 2 in Manitoba
and Saskatchewan (one public, one private respectively); and, 7 MRI
*centres* in Ontario according to the U.S. GAO).

>   After this, and many other, problems with the Canadian health care
>   system my sister and her family have opted out of the government
>   system and bought private health insurance.  Not that they still
>   don't have to pay taxes that you would find appauling.

For those of you who followed this weeks ago, without wanting to cast
doubt on Larry there is no such a thing as "opting out" except to not
spend your health insurance benefits willingly.  His sister would have
had to buy American private insurance across the border, a single plan
while carrying a pre-existing condition ... 

>The "waiting list" for MRIs in Toronto IS 6 months.  However, even in
>non-emergency situations, he can get someone in within a week.  He can
>get emergency ones anytime during the day, but not at night (since the
>hospitals do not have their MRI machines charged up at night...).

Whoa ... can anybody who knows more about queueing theory figure out
an activity that takes 7 time units for packets of high priority with
and average queue time of 180 time units?  Although a large private
hospital like Sick Children would undoubtedly have its own unit, I'd
wonder if the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons (provincial
arm of the CMA there) is cooking the books for the next resetting of
the fee schedule ...

As I have pointed out in the beginning of my follow-up, our doctors
are private and Canada has no actual system beyond the insurance;
and there, nobody in the government can tell people how to spend
their benefits ...

I'll be back with a follow-up from my source who went up to Quebec
(city and province) ...

gld
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Je me souviens ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gary L. Dare				
> gld@cunixB.cc.columbia.EDU		Oct 26/92: Just say "OUI!"
> gld@cunixc.BITNET			(Let's worry about the economy!)
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