This has already
been happening in Canada for a long while. It came in effect gradually though,
almost without our noticing it. Three instances:
- Prescription
drugs are supposed to be free for seniors after the first 200$. But my mother
could not get a very expensive drug because it was not covered for seniors.
- My sister-in-law's
father has a blocked choledoc canal from the liver to the small intestine
and they refused to do the surgery because he also has Alzheimer's disease.
So, we expect him to be dead in a few days.
- My brother-in-law,
aged 65, needs a heart transplant. They won't even put him on a waiting
list for a donor because at his age, it is not cost effective.
I only started
noticing these things when it began happening close to home. Before, I was unaware
of it.
Rooms paid for by Medicare have from 4 to 6
beds. They are called wards. Men and women of any age, starting at 14,
may be put in the same room. You need your own insurance to get a semi-private
room. Private rooms are quite rare and more than a hundred dollars a day on
top of my insurance fees. But if your doctor decides that your need the extra
care given in a semi-private or private room, then you do not have to pay.
Last year, when I was hospitalized in Ottawa, I had a nice private room with
my own bathroom because my doctor ordered it. But I have seen my mother in a
mixed ward with five other patients and we had to spend the night sitting next
to her bed because she was afraid of the men. My parents could not afford private
insurance. I have seen young teens of 14 or 15, with very old, very sick, dying
patients, and these youngsters were petrified.
I have read in the newspapers that, from now on, when they build new hospitals,
they will not put in those wards because of the bad publicity. Those hospitals
that have them will not be changed. But they are not building many new hospitals
because of lack of funds.
Also, the time you spend in the hospital is very strictly regulated. For instance,
you get a day for having a baby. My daughter had her first baby at 9:00 p.m.
and she had to leave the hospital before nine the next morning because a new
sunrise counts as a new day. My sister had a pacemaker put in at one p.m. and
went home at four. Many, many surgeries that used to keep you in the hospital
for a few days are now one-day surgeries, so you go home at four, whether you
had your surgery at seven in the morning or at three in the afternoon. We have
what they call homecare, but before the paper-work is processed, it might take
three days before the nurse gets to your house.
Also, the waiting time in the emergency room is appalling. While I was waiting
to be admitted last summer, there was a 94-year old lady with an obviously broken
arm who had been waiting on a straight chair for 24 hours. Sometimes you wait
for 36 or 48 hours. Recently, a 64-year old in my area went to emergency with
severe pain indicating a possible infarctus. After waiting four hours
without having seen a doctor, he went home. Later, in the evening, he had a
severe heart attack at home and his wife called an ambulance. Then, he was treated
and admitted. That case, though, is being treated as negligence and the hospital
is apparently looking into the way the triage nurses are making decisions as
to who gets seen fast or not.
Sometimes, there are so many patients on stretchers in the hallways that the
technicians coming and going for X-rays, MRI's, etc., have trouble circulating.
The bigger the city, the worse it is.
Last Sunday, I had to wait only four hours for an abscessed tooth since I now
live in a more country-like area. I had to go to the hospital for that because
we don't have any emergency dental services and I don't have a dentist yet as
I just moved here. I also don't have a medical doctor yet. A very large number
of people do not have a family physician, and this is one of the reasons the
emergency rooms are so crowded.
We do not have enough doctors everywhere in Canada. When I was still living
in New Brunswick, my doctor retired and I was four years without a doctor.
The waiting list for surgeries may be more than a year, even for cancer.
For a colonoscopy in Ottawa, the waiting list is three years. My friend
had to wait three years for a very serious operation in her spine. Because the
wait was so long, she is now permanently handicapped.
All is not so rosy with Medicare. People who have money go the U.S. for surgeries
or treatment. Private clinics are not allowed here, even if you have
money to pay for what you need done.
Welcome to Canadian Medicare!
