Wednesday, October 19, 2005

1632 Seventeen plus weeks to see a doctor

Health care is improving in Canada--it now takes only 17.7 weeks for treatment after your first visit instead of 17.9 weeks. The drop is because Saskatchewan has improved to 25.5 weeks. At the coffee shop this morning Jim sounded just awful. Bronchitis he said. His wife is a doctor and she told him he needed to see a doctor, so he called today and has an appointment this afternoon. Just be glad you aren't Canadian, I said, and read him the stats from this morning's paper. I am, he said, because then I'd have to live in Canada.

I know Mr. Cloud will respond and tell us that it isn't really 17.7 weeks if you are really sick, that it is only for elective surgery like by-pass or transplants or wrinkles, prolly. The only "new" idea the Democrats have for 2008 is nationalized health care. Or, as I like to call it, FEMAized health care. Call us when you have a disaster.

2 comments:

Anvilcloud said...

It is a somewhat rationed system which sometimes has hiccoughs (and sometimes has hiccups). You know, "it isn't really 17.7 weeks if you are really sick, that it is only for elective surgery like by-pass or transplants or wrinkles." :) The turth is that I can see a doctor today if I really want/need to. But yeah, the wait can be really long for a hip replacement, for example. On the whole, I think you'll find that we are happy with the system, and it must work to some degree, for we do live somewhat longer up here. There are problems with all systems, however. Fer shore.

Norma said...

Maybe Canadians aren't as overweight, so they live longer?