OT FOR a report in college about healthcare.

Hi my name is dee I am doing a english paper and it has to be on micheal moores movie sicko. In the movie he say the healthcare is awesome in canada. You don't have long waits and you get your healthcare for free. I was wondering how true it was. I have a few questions about that. 1. how long does it take to see a dr. 2. are there any fees. 3. how long for a surgery simple or serious? 4. Do you think it is a good working system? any imput would be so great! thanks again dee

Hi, I can say from experience that on average the healthcare system is great. Hospital and doctors are free (paid for by our taxes). But there are significant wait-times for certain types of diagnostic and surgeries like orthopedic surgery (e.g. 2-3 years for hip and knee replacement) and weight-loss surgery (up to 5 years) or MRIs or bone densitometry. All those procedures are dubbed non-urgent by someone in power. I didn't have to wait long for my hysterectomy (2 months) or gallbladder surgery (6 months) or appendectomy (at once). To see a family Dr. is no problem, you could wait for a long time to see a specialist, depending on the urgency and the specialty up to a year or longer. I waited 2 years to see a chronic pain specialist. You still have to pay for your drugs, dental, glasses and paramedicals like physiotherapy or chiropractor or ambulance. I can compare it with healthcare in Germany with compulsory health insurance paid for by employer and employee (around 15% of income). That system is better but very costly. Overall I really like the Canadian system, at least everybody is getting the most needed care, mostly in a timely manner.