Canadian Health Clinics

Despite my avoidance of the Health Care Hype, I did watch Monday's installment of The Hour with Canada's (and my) boyfriend George Stroumboulopoulos, as I do every weeknight. That show included a discussion of the new US health care legislation with narcissist and maker of inflammatory documentary films, Michael Moore. While I still am not ready to get into the topic, their conversation did get me wanting to talk about Canada's socialized medicine, since Moore pointed out that Canada was always used as the big scary reason why Americans can't all have health insurance.

I think I'm in an unusual position, being an American who has also experienced the Canadian social health system. And truth be told, Canada is at least 900% better.*

I grew up on the American health care system. As a child, I always managed to get to the doctor when it was necessary, and my parents managed. In college, I was insured, but had to come up with an office visit co-pay and exorbitant full prescription costs every time I got sick. As a student, I couldn't always afford it, so I skipped the doctor unless something was really, really wrong.

Then I moved to British Columbia, where I was immediately required to sign up for a Canadian social insurance number. This came with a marginal premium -- I remember it being twelve bucks a month or so, based on their sliding scale using my income of meagre university stipends -- and full medical coverage. I never had to pay anything when I went to the clinic, and prescription medications were cheap enough that I never decided to pass on them, even as a poor grad student.

As a result, I went in once a year, right on schedule, for my annual physicals. If something was bothering me, even a little, I dropped into the clinic and had it checked out. I had an ongoing relationship with a primary care doctor, who referred me elsewhere as necessary. This was all covered by my small monthly premiums... and the taxes I paid, along with about 30 million other Canadians.

Once I came back to the States, I lost all that. My (now ex-)husband had to pay something like $250/month for me to be insured by his company, while I worked at low-paying uninsured jobs. When I finally got my own $60/month insurance, I still had to face co-pays and restrictions galore, none of which I could afford. I found a doctor I liked, and she moved out of network, costing me hundreds of dollars for a routine check-up. Now, I haven't had an annual exam for years, and I only go in when I'm in danger of dying or becoming completely incapacitated. That's partly to do with the cost, but also because of the regulations around who can be my doctor, which haven't allowed me to find anyone I want to see regularly.

See, Canada's system can be cheap, because everyone pays what they can afford, and it balances out to cover everyone equally. For those who don't like the national system, there are also private insurers available. A lot of companies set up supplementary insurance for their employees the same way that American companies do. And in general, Canadians are happy with the system. It encourages wellness. It's not perfect, but it works.

And the US system doesn't, new legislation or not. I don't want to put more blah-ba-dee-blah-blah out there into the world, so I won't. But the two pennies from me are this: Canadian social health is not the bad example. Americans should be so lucky.

*Percentage is pure hyperbole and was not mathematically derived, although the author will defend its accuracy against all enemies, foreign and domestic.