With all of the comments running around and all of the people giving their own opinions, I thought I would try to find what other people think about their own health care.
It is difficult to wallow through all of the propaganda on both sides of this discussion. I wanted to find studies done in the relevant nations concerning their feelings of their health care system.
Here is what I have found so far. If you know of relevant studies done in Britain, Canada, Sweden, or some other nation that has a public health care system, please provide me with links to the relevant information.
Canadian Press Harris-Decima did a survey. In it they said that 82% of Canadians believe their system is better than the American system. That means that there is up to 18% of the Canadian population out there to provide propaganda stories against the Canadian health care system. And those stories have been paraded around, but on the whole the Canadians have a positive perception of their health care.
70% of Canadians "think their health care system is working well or very well."
Another interesting quote was stated in the story: "Fifty-five per cent [of Canadians] thought it should be more public, only 12 per cent thought it should be private, and the rest thought Canada has struck the right balance between the two options."
One of the statements that I have heard is that Canadians have to wait in lines for health care. According to the British Columbia Ministry of Health Services website "an individual who needs emergency surgery does not go on a waitlist; they receive treatment without delay. " There is a 26.5 day wait for cardiac surgery. I do not know how long of a wait that is in comparison to America.
On cancer, which I know the wait for, it took me nearly two months from the time of the first mole removal and the discovery of melanoma until the second surgery to remove the area around the cancerous area. Mine was a little longer because it was on the face where I needed plastic surgery and I had insurance coverage issues, but it still was one of the fastest spreading forms of cancer that the doctors seem to be very quick to deal with. My dermatologist will "rush" me in (it will only take a week or two) if I notice a strange spot and mention melanoma on the phone rather than the two month wait that her patients normally have. Unfortunately, I could not find a time for the wait for cancer surgery in Canada once the cancer is detected. In Canada, there is no wait for chemotherapy and only a eight day wait for radiation treatments. That seems faster than what I have heard from family members and other people in the community who have needed those treatments. Those waiting times sound faster than the American system, but again, I only have stories of the American system and no solid studies of American wait times.
I could not find a good study showing what other nations think of their health care. I will continue to look up more as I try to figure out what my view is.
Other articles I ran across while studying:
How Canadians Feel About Their Health Care
Britain Says Health Care is Splendid
U.S. Trails Other in Health Care Satisfaction
