Cheaper healthcare in Canada?

[DeadPoolX 9]

Well, I've always been told that healthcare (and prescription medication) is less expensive in Canada. Many here have also sung the praises of government-run healthcare in Canada. Well... I'm here to say that I not only find it far more costly than in the U.S., but run extremely unprofessionally.

Allow me to elaborate: I take asthma medication. In the U.S., this cost me $10 per month. In Canada, I got two months worth (which should be roughly $20 USD), but here it cost around $120 CAD. I've also needed some antibiotics. Naturally, these would be more expensive, but $63 CAD? In the U.S., that would've cost me half as much!

Now... let's get to the clinics. Every clinic here uses a number system. You walk up, pull a number and then they call you. Once they call you, you give them your info or you get it retrieved from their computers. After that, you sit back down and wait for the doctor to see you. I've only seen this procedure done before in terribly inefficient places, such as the Texas Department of Public Safety (usually called the DMV in other states).

That doesn't sound too complicated, right? Well, it's not. However, the last time I went to a clinic here (and that was last week), it cost me over $60 CAD to see a doctor. I could possibly deal with that (even though it'd only cost me $20 USD to see a physician in the U.S.), but what really pissed me off was the three hour wait! Not only did I have to wait three hours, but once I got into the doctor's examining room, I had to wait another half hour and then finally saw the doctor for about five to eight minutes, at most. I should note that I have never had to wait more than 15 minutes to see a doctor in the United States.

I went to a lab today to get some work done. Well, this was an interesting experience. After the lady called me up (once again, it had the number system), she proceeded to misspell my name several times and then have no idea how much the tests cost. After she called her manager, she found out that the two tests I needed -- a breath test and a stool sample -- would cost over $160 CAD. I wasn't pleased, but what else could I do?

So after I waited an hour (I had arrived just as the clinic opened up -- I can't imagine how long I would've had to wait if I had arrived later), they called me back. The nurse asked me what medications I'm on and I told her, having to spell each one out as she had no idea what they were for. After that, I did the breath test and then the nurse told me to drink some liquid in a container that looked a lot like a urine specimen cup. I asked her what's in it. She had no clue and responded, "Oh, I don't know. Some chemicals or something."

I was shocked. She's telling me to drink something and she doesn't even know what it is!? Needless to say, I refused until she found out or could find someone else who'd know. The nurse finally found out that it was safe to drink (not that I thought it was poison, but some chemicals can affect me adversely). Then I was told to go into the waiting room and wait another 30 minutes and then they'll call me back. So I waited and eventually someone called my name from the back in a voice so timid and quiet, I barely heard it. I went back there and did the breath test a second time, as previously instructed.

That's not all! Next, I was given two stool sample specimen jars. I had imagined they'd want me to do it there in their clinic. Not so! I was told to bring it home and use a cup of some sort to collect it on different days. After the stool was gathered, I'd take the impossibly tiny spoon (it made Baskin & Robbins ice cream spoons like enormous by comparison) and scoop out some to put into the container filled with liquid to preserve it.

Did I mention I had to pay for the opportunity to collect my own feces and then bring it back to them, thereby costing me even more?

As you all can plainly see, I am not particularly happy with the oh-so-wonderful Canadian healthcare system. I much prefer the U.S. version, where the staff are knowledgeable and the process is both timely and efficient. In addition, the cost for seeing a physician and obtaining medication is much, much less in the U.S. than in Canada, the supposed home of "cheap drugs."

I can't wait to see what other idiocy springs up from this joke of a healthcare system.

[xtinab 0]

Wow, thats absolutely horrible :s Where in Canada are you? I've never had an experience like that before. Even at the handfuls of walk in clinics I've been to throughout the GTA were fast efficient and very personable. Have you tried looking for a Family Physician taking on new patients?

[Emancipation 2]

There is a missing piece here, there has to be. Are you on provincial health care, and do you have supplemental medical insurance (ie. blue cross)?

[giraffemd 0]

Well, I've always been told that healthcare (and prescription medication) is less expensive in Canada. Many here have also sung the praises of government-run healthcare in Canada. Well... I'm here to say that I not only find it far more costly than in the U.S., but run extremely unprofessionally.

Allow me to elaborate: I take asthma medication. In the U.S., this cost me $10 per month. In Canada, I got two months worth (which should be roughly $20 USD), but here it cost around $120 CAD. I've also needed some antibiotics. Naturally, these would be more expensive, but $63 CAD? In the U.S., that would've cost me half as much!

Now... let's get to the clinics. Every clinic here uses a number system. You walk up, pull a number and then they call you. Once they call you, you give them your info or you get it retrieved from their computers. After that, you sit back down and wait for the doctor to see you. I've only seen this procedure done before in terribly inefficient places, such as the Texas Department of Public Safety (usually called the DMV in other states).

That doesn't sound too complicated, right? Well, it's not. However, the last time I went to a clinic here (and that was last week), it cost me over $60 CAD to see a doctor. I could possibly deal with that (even though it'd only cost me $20 USD to see a physician in the U.S.), but what really pissed me off was the three hour wait! Not only did I have to wait three hours, but once I got into the doctor's examining room, I had to wait another half hour and then finally saw the doctor for about five to eight minutes, at most. I should note that I have never had to wait more than 15 minutes to see a doctor in the United States.

I went to a lab today to get some work done. Well, this was an interesting experience. After the lady called me up (once again, it had the number system), she proceeded to misspell my name several times and then have no idea how much the tests cost. After she called her manager, she found out that the two tests I needed -- a breath test and a stool sample -- would cost over $160 CAD. I wasn't pleased, but what else could I do?

So after I waited an hour (I had arrived just as the clinic opened up -- I can't imagine how long I would've had to wait if I had arrived later), they called me back. The nurse asked me what medications I'm on and I told her, having to spell each one out as she had no idea what they were for. After that, I did the breath test and then the nurse told me to drink some liquid in a container that looked a lot like a urine specimen cup. I asked her what's in it. She had no clue and responded, "Oh, I don't know. Some chemicals or something."

I was shocked. She's telling me to drink something and she doesn't even know what it is!? Needless to say, I refused until she found out or could find someone else who'd know. The nurse finally found out that it was safe to drink (not that I thought it was poison, but some chemicals can affect me adversely). Then I was told to go into the waiting room and wait another 30 minutes and then they'll call me back. So I waited and eventually someone called my name from the back in a voice so timid and quiet, I barely heard it. I went back there and did the breath test a second time, as previously instructed.

That's not all! Next, I was given two stool sample specimen jars. I had imagined they'd want me to do it there in their clinic. Not so! I was told to bring it home and use a cup of some sort to collect it on different days. After the stool was gathered, I'd take the impossibly tiny spoon (it made Baskin & Robbins ice cream spoons like enormous by comparison) and scoop out some to put into the container filled with liquid to preserve it.

Did I mention I had to pay for the opportunity to collect my own feces and then bring it back to them, thereby costing me even more?

As you all can plainly see, I am not particularly happy with the oh-so-wonderful Canadian healthcare system. I much prefer the U.S. version, where the staff are knowledgeable and the process is both timely and efficient. In addition, the cost for seeing a physician and obtaining medication is much, much less in the U.S. than in Canada, the supposed home of "cheap drugs."

I can't wait to see what other idiocy springs up from this joke of a healthcare system.

What province do you live in? Are your health care expenses covered by your Provincial health care premiums that you pay? What is your status in Canada, and how long have you lived there? Honestly I lived in Canada for 55 years and never once experienced the situation that you are describing.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Neither did I. Lived in AB and SK and the health care was way better than here. Paid premiums in AB but they were actually paid by the college I taught in. Never paid a cent for labs.

[reeses16 8]

May be it was just a really bad clinic? In the US, some doctors offices and clinics are well run and others are...well just like the experience you described.

I hope it was just a bad clinic. As a US citizen, you're dashing my fantasies of the Canadian system. lol.

[J&K 0]

Both of my parents have illnesses that require medical attention either weekly or monthly (my mom has COPD and on oxygen) and my dad has a plethora of illness (diabetes, high blood pressure, blindness, etc) and have never had an experience like that.

Even when they didn't have a family doctor and had to use the walk in clinic for a few months.

There must be something missing here, because I have never had to pay for any tests, or doctor's visits. Prescriptions yes, but that was only because I didn't have secondary insurance.

I agree that the Canadian health care system isn't perfect, but neither is the US. Which would I prefer? The Canadian hands down. Even with the above experience. My personal and family experiences far outweigh what the OP has had happen.

[giraffemd 0]

Neither did I. Lived in AB and SK and the health care was way better than here. Paid premiums in AB but they were actually paid by the college I taught in. Never paid a cent for labs.

I lived in BC and paid 38.00 a month for family premium. Covered everything with no crazy *co-pays* or other nonsense......I never had to wait for anything, always got into my Dr. and nothing was *not covered* under medical insurance....sure wish I could say the same for here. I pay $400 a month for family insurance through my work (Blue Cross) and my husband had to pay $1200 for an untrasound on his knee that the insurance would not cover..

I don't know one person who lost their home because they had the misfortune to get sick.

hmmmm....wonder which system is better????

[TheATeam 0]

Yeah, I'm very surprised that you had to pay to see a doctor and pay to get your labs done. I'd also like to know what province you're in and whether you're under provincial health care or not. I could possibly see these expenses if you weren't under provincial healthcare, but not otherwise.

[Ontarkie 13,975]

I was thinking the same thing about weather the provential plans kicked in yet, i think its 6 months before the Provincial health care kicks in for Ontario. But I can relate on the asthmas meds they can be expensive for the steroids. but I have learned they arent cheaper here plus now they no longer have albuterol (is the generic name in the States its the same as Salbutamol (sp) generic in Canada) in the US they took it off the market that one is not ozone friendly, so you can only get the bran name so with insurance it still cost more 60$ for 1 month in the States for me anyways. Not sure what your inhalers are and what drug store you are using cause some do charge a higher dispencing fee. I think Shoppers was at 10$ just for the dispensing fees. Oh ya if the doctor give you say Salbutamol as a 2pack its alot cheaper then getting 2 inhalers seperate.

Now as for long waits in the doctors office i sure know whats thats like, crappy attitudes with some nurses yup been there too. But I also know what they are dealing with so i don't let it bother me. I spent alot of years with no doctor so i spent hours in those dam walk in clinics and yes the one i could go to sucked big time 7 hours i waited with 4 kids to get antiboitics for strep throat. So I am liking this getting in and out of the doctors office alot and so far all the doctors i have met here in Arkansas are great. But I'm told its cause we are in the centre of it all.

Sending hugs it will get better

Back in Canada I didnt live anywhere near the big Cities. We lived in Sault Ste Marie. The Sault strugles daily to keep its ER open and the walk-in clinic close on a regular basis. Lack of Doctors are causing lots of problems. So hopefully you didnt move there, its a 10yr waiting list to get a doctor in the Sault.

Edited November 17, 2008 by Ontarkie

[Emancipation 2]

I have asthma and I've never paid more than $20.00 for an inhaler.. with blue cross it was very very inexpensive. I think before I left I filled all my asthma meds and my b/c pills for a year and it was less than a 60$

[MrsCat 6]

Well DPX, the only thing I can say is back home in Canada, I had Alberta Healthcare Coverage and other than the usual 3 hours wait, I've never had that experience. For my typically the three hour wait puts me in a crappy crappy mood. Its a miserable experience to wait like that with others coughing all over you.

But I had my first stool sample last week, coupled with a urine analysis and blood work. That would have cost $98, however since we have health insurance the cost was $0. The stool sample had to be taken home, scooped with the tiny spoon and brought back. I think that is just standard operating procedure for most places. Don't know, I'm certainly no expert on stool samples.

The doctor's appointment cost $125. However since we have insurance there was only a $20 co-pay. Got some antibiotics which were $40. But came to $5 dollars with co-pay.

I should add that while this only cost us $25 total, Chris and I pay $220/month for insurance. His employer pays the other half. So the total cost if you average it out per month for that appointment was really $245. Now that appointment would cost less if I go to the doctor more through this month with basic cost-averaging.

I rarely took medication back home, so I'm not sure about the cost difference between most medications. The only one I know is that my birth control here is $35/pack while back home it was $60/3pack.

Sorry that your first experience with Canadian health care didn't live up to the hype. As with most things in life, they rarely do.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Neither did I. Lived in AB and SK and the health care was way better than here. Paid premiums in AB but they were actually paid by the college I taught in. Never paid a cent for labs.

I lived in BC and paid 38.00 a month for family premium. Covered everything with no crazy *co-pays* or other nonsense......I never had to wait for anything, always got into my Dr. and nothing was *not covered* under medical insurance....sure wish I could say the same for here. I pay $400 a month for family insurance through my work (Blue Cross) and my husband had to pay $1200 for an untrasound on his knee that the insurance would not cover..

I don't know one person who lost their home because they had the misfortune to get sick.

hmmmm....wonder which system is better????

Sorry to tell you my dear friend, but your job coverage svcks. My college paid all my premiums and secondary insurance with no cap for prescriptions.

And people DO go bankrupt in the US because of medical bills. A LOT.

The Canadian system is better. Hands down. Tried them both and the US one absolutely svcks.

[SapphireDreams 71]

Well, I've always been told that healthcare (and prescription medication) is less expensive in Canada. Many here have also sung the praises of government-run healthcare in Canada. Well... I'm here to say that I not only find it far more costly than in the U.S., but run extremely unprofessionally.

Allow me to elaborate: I take asthma medication. In the U.S., this cost me $10 per month. In Canada, I got two months worth (which should be roughly $20 USD), but here it cost around $120 CAD. I've also needed some antibiotics. Naturally, these would be more expensive, but $63 CAD? In the U.S., that would've cost me half as much!

Do you have benefits or insurance coverage?

Now... let's get to the clinics. Every clinic here uses a number system. You walk up, pull a number and then they call you. Once they call you, you give them your info or you get it retrieved from their computers. After that, you sit back down and wait for the doctor to see you. I've only seen this procedure done before in terribly inefficient places, such as the Texas Department of Public Safety (usually called the DMV in other states).

I've never seen this done before and I've been to a lot of clinics - so you shouldn't blanket the whole country an inefficient. This varies from office to office.

That doesn't sound too complicated, right? Well, it's not. However, the last time I went to a clinic here (and that was last week), it cost me over $60 CAD to see a doctor. I could possibly deal with that (even though it'd only cost me $20 USD to see a physician in the U.S.), but what really pissed me off was the three hour wait! Not only did I have to wait three hours, but once I got into the doctor's examining room, I had to wait another half hour and then finally saw the doctor for about five to eight minutes, at most. I should note that I have never had to wait more than 15 minutes to see a doctor in the United States.

Not all clinics/offices have a wait. This varies also...I've waited in the past, but that's just a fact of life when it comes to healthcare in Canada. Sometimes you wait, sometimes you don't. I usually don't.

I went to a lab today to get some work done. Well, this was an interesting experience. After the lady called me up (once again, it had the number system), she proceeded to misspell my name several times and then have no idea how much the tests cost. After she called her manager, she found out that the two tests I needed -- a breath test and a stool sample -- would cost over $160 CAD. I wasn't pleased, but what else could I do?

Well first, anyone could mispell a name, that's human nature. Second, I've never heard of paying for tests. In Ontario, we just give our health card and it's all covered. So your experience is not typical.

So after I waited an hour (I had arrived just as the clinic opened up -- I can't imagine how long I would've had to wait if I had arrived later), they called me back. The nurse asked me what medications I'm on and I told her, having to spell each one out as she had no idea what they were for. After that, I did the breath test and then the nurse told me to drink some liquid in a container that looked a lot like a urine specimen cup. I asked her what's in it. She had no clue and responded, "Oh, I don't know. Some chemicals or something."

Are you sure she was a nurse? Or a lab technician? She probably should've known either way, but I think this could happen anywhere, probably even the US.

I was shocked. She's telling me to drink something and she doesn't even know what it is!? Needless to say, I refused until she found out or could find someone else who'd know. The nurse finally found out that it was safe to drink (not that I thought it was poison, but some chemicals can affect me adversely). Then I was told to go into the waiting room and wait another 30 minutes and then they'll call me back. So I waited and eventually someone called my name from the back in a voice so timid and quiet, I barely heard it. I went back there and did the breath test a second time, as previously instructed.

That's not all! Next, I was given two stool sample specimen jars. I had imagined they'd want me to do it there in their clinic. Not so! I was told to bring it home and use a cup of some sort to collect it on different days. After the stool was gathered, I'd take the impossibly tiny spoon (it made Baskin & Robbins ice cream spoons like enormous by comparison) and scoop out some to put into the container filled with liquid to preserve it.

This is pretty much the standard way to collect stool. I've never heard of them doing it in the office. Is there a better way?

Did I mention I had to pay for the opportunity to collect my own feces and then bring it back to them, thereby costing me even more?

Again, not typical to pay for a specimen test.

As you all can plainly see, I am not particularly happy with the oh-so-wonderful Canadian healthcare system. I much prefer the U.S. version, where the staff are knowledgeable and the process is both timely and efficient. In addition, the cost for seeing a physician and obtaining medication is much, much less in the U.S. than in Canada, the supposed home of "cheap drugs."

I can't wait to see what other idiocy springs up from this joke of a healthcare system.

I think that you are judging your experience based on one bad experience that isn't necessarily common to Canada as a whole. There is no doubt the Canadian healthcare system is flawed, but the US system isn't perfect either. I'm sure your experience in the US would've been different if you didn't have insurance.

I think there's a misconception that we don't need insurance at all in Canada - we do for prescriptions and extras like semi-private hospital rooms etc. Our healthcare system is not perfect, but it provides the basics (and more in opinion) to everyone in the country.

[Carlawarla 1]

Wow, so sorry you've had such a bad experience. There are a lot of things I think we, as Canadians don't remember, or tend to forget, but I won't forget now that I'm here in the US, that yes, my prescription meds cost me $20.00 a month (generic), my doctor I have to pay $25.00 a visit, my Mammogram cost me a co-pay of $20.00 and my last specialist visit cost me $40.00 co-pay. Now, by and large I'd say...wow, that's a lot less than you DeadPoolX, but alas...not counting my co-pays, my husband pays $300.00 a month for insurance, while his employer pays the rest...$900.00 a month. So, in a year, whether we use it or not, we're paying $12,000.00 a year for health insurance.

I would hope you've talked to your wife about this? What kind of supplementary health insurance does she have? While things differ a bit from province to province, the only supplemental health I ever had was vision and dental insurance. I never paid anything for any other medical procedures.

Where the heck do you live anyway?? Maybe that has something to do with it? Get yourself a family doctor as well...forget about walk-in clinics unless you've got a broken limb and want to avoid the ER.

Don't know what else to say, I think you and Canadian citizens will argue till we're blue in the face, but the prices and procedures here while they may be a bit faster, have not been friendlier nor are they cheaper.