James Fallows has alot of good things to say about many things, including the recent debate about health care in the U.S. In this post,
On why I can’t get in to see my doctor, he quotes a writer from Nova Scotia, Parker Donham, who wrote:
I live in a tiny Nova Scotia community, about 45 minutes from the nearest small city. When I want to see my “good-but-normal” doctor (the same one I’ve had for 35 years), I don’t make an appointment. I call and ask what hours he will be in the office that day, then show up at a time convenient for me. I bring The Atlantic to read for the 10-20 minutes it takes to see him.
As we watch Americans debate the future of their health care system, it’s galling for Canadians to hear opponents of reform demonize our single-payer system with discredited tales of health care denied. I am in good health, and enjoy excellent medical care. A close relative whose serious congenital heart condition leads to frequent, sometimes grave emergencies and occasional surgical interventions likewise receives superb care.
I emphasized the line in bold because I feel exactly the same way. After a recent accident, I phoned up to see my doctor (who is in Toronto) for a checkup. It wasn’t an emergency, so it took me a few days to see her. (Somedays I have gotten in on the same day, but she is busy, so it usually takes me a day or two. And by the way, I have a harder time getting a haircut appointment or a plumber.) I had to get an X-ray and an ultrasound. I literally walked out the door to the office building 1 minute away and put my name down for both. They said the wait would be an hour. I went and had lunch and then got it done. I was called by the nurse with the results in two days. Total cost for all this care: $0.
Can our health care system be better? Certainly. I don’t think there is a country in the world that would not say that. But the nonsense and propaganda I read about our health care system by some American writers amounts to lying. I don’t see how that helps the debate in the U.S. or the health of Americans.
Smart People I Know 
We’ve got a similar discussion going on over on our blog site at the moment, where an American is dissing the NHS. Yeah, the NHS has its bad points – but it’s free. It provides a free service. Of course there’ll be waiting times; what do you expect? Obviously people are going to go for the free medical care above the private care (which is not really any more expensive than the rest of the world’s private care). I’ve just moved to SA from the UK and it’s a bit of a shock having to pay for contraception – in the UK, every form of contraception is free, including your GP check-ups and minor procedures like insertion and removal of IUD’s, as well as the cost of the contraception itself.
So true! I wish we could fix our system here in the US and get something better. To me, anyways, it sounds like the Canadians and the French, and the English…and well, most people have it much better than us.
BTW, don’t know if you remember my name, but I ended up getting a Zara suit. I like it very much. I also went to Saks 5th Ave. Departments store, and they had a bunch of suits for half off. I got a nice vestimenta suit for about $300. But yeah, diggin the Zara. Thanks again.
During a trip to the US earlier this summer, the first thing out of anyone’s mouth when they found out we were Canadian was ‘so, tell me about the healthcare’… and the most surprising thing was that these were really young people asking the questions (at a music festival, at a laundromat, selling us tickets to the aquarium!!!) It was great to see them taking an interest in what their gov’t was doing – this was in marked contrast to the same time last year (pre-election) when the apathy was so bad we were afraid for the future of some of those kids. We hope we made a convincing case for a more Canadian-like system!
Well, We have an excellent health care system in India, especially Bangalore.
If you are in urgent need of good quality health care, just fly to Bangalore.
Cardiac, Brain Surgery, Eye Surgery and best of all Ayurveda….
Cheers and Good Health to you
N Ram, thanks for the comment. It’s good to know that. Do you have any links on healthcare in India?
March 2010 update: I hurt my foot on the weekend. I called up my doctor’s office today. She is away this week, but they scheduled me for an appointment with another doctor for the next day. It could have been the same day, but with childcare, tomorrow was better for me.