Today seems to be the day for Health Care diaries!
For a while now I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a diary on my own experience with universal health care but failed to see what I could add to the discussion that hasn’t already been said. Yes, Canada’s system is not perfect but it is a far cry from what many Americans expect it to be. It is most definitely NOT like the health insurance lobby wants you to think it is. So, in short, this diary is what the Canadian health care system has given me over the years.
My Dad:
My father was sick when I was a baby. He had heart problems that required major surgery when I was still a toddler. I have no memories of that time but I have plenty of my Dad. He didn’t have a great job when he got sick and the root cause of his problems dated back to his teens. I doubt there would have been an insurance company who would have taken him on as a client. But he had his surgery and years of follow-up care. He was living on borrowed time and he knew it. He worked until retirement and saw me graduate from high school. He died when I was 19 and I think would say he had a good life.
My Childhood:
As I said, I was just a baby when my dad got sick. Without universal health care we would have had a mountain of debt holding the family back from enjoying life. We didn’t lose our house and my Mom didn’t have to take on a second job to pay for his care. We took vacations and bought a summer home. My parents paid high taxes, for sure, but there was an understanding of why they did it. They were able to tuck enough away that I didn’t need student loans for my undergraduate degree.
My Mom:
I was in my 20's when she was diagnosed with cancer. They caught it early and within three weeks was home recovering from a mastectomy. Since then she gets a full work-up every year to watch for any sign of it returning and has now passed the 10 year mark of being cancer free. Her only complaint is it costs $2.00 to park at the local hospital and she thinks that is an outrage! Her social life is probably more active than my own.
My Peace of Mind:
A few years back we had a real rough time of it. My mom had an accident that laid her up for a few weeks and my Grandmother, well into her 90's, fell ill for the last time. Being the only care giver for both of them was exhausting and scary. I had one bed ridden at one house and one in the hospital. I’ll never forget the nurse who met the ambulance when we arrived. She placed her hand on my shoulder and said, "Dear..do you know where her health card is?". I didn’t and all she said was, "No problem. If you find it, bring it down to the desk". That was it. Not having to worry about all that crap meant I could concentrate on doing what needed to be done. My grandmother died on her own terms, having turned down all the treatment options the Doctors provided. Don’t we all wish we had that chance?
Freedom:
I can change jobs without worry and live wherever I want. I can have a child when I want (or not, as the case may be) based on where I am in life and not how much I have in the bank. I worry about getting sick all the time and, given my family history of cancer, how I’ll deal with it if it happens. But I don’t worry about how I’ll pay for it if it does. I play sports, hike and swim. I never worry about breaking a leg or arm beyond the "pain in the ass" factor it would create. Once, while visiting a friend in the US, I heard someone say they wouldn’t play a particular game because they had no health insurance and if they broke their arm them couldn’t afford to have it fixed. The thought of that took my breath away. How I live my life would be very different had I not have the security of guaranteed health care
Before I end this I wanted to expose the biggest lie that is trotted out about the Canadian health care system; wait times. Years back I needed to see an Ears, Nose and Throat specialist because I was getting occasional sinus headaches and my GP thought we should look to see if anything could be done. I waited about 5 months to see a very popular, admired specialist. A few years later I developed an ear infection that ruptured my eardrum. I ended up at my University walk-in clinic and saw not 1, but 3, different doctors in the course of maybe 30 minutes. They agreed that I needed to see a specialist and phoned the office of the Doctor I had seen years before. Sure, he said, send her down. I got into see him in the time it took me to walk to his office. Needs based health care does work.
Our system is not perfect and it will never be all that every patient needs. But it does its best and for the majority of Canadians, that’s all we ask.