That's a funky one, and I'll be the first to say that America does have some very good cancer treatment clinics if you don't mind bankruptcy (although the same is true if you break your leg).
Part of that has to do with how cancer survival rates are measured and what role screening has in the various systems. This came up with Giuliani a while ago and is well described here [1]. tldr: The statistics are quite misleading as cancer survival is measured in 5-year survival rates, and the US has aggressive (sometimes medically unjustified) early screening programs. Early detection of some kinds of cancer, such as prostate cancer, doesn't change the mortality rate but it does change the 5-year survival rate as the disease is detected earlier.
If you have more data, or this isn't what you were referring to, I'd love to read it!
That's one people out of 36 million, making national news. You'll trip over a stack of them on your way to the news stand in the US. "I'm looking at having to sell my house for coverage of my medication" is practically America's national anthem.
Failures happen from time to time but they are the exception and not the norm. Numbers available here: [1] for the most part Canadians getting medical care in the US are "snowbirds" who live in Florida or California for half the year. This is utterly logical as Canadians don't usually have $100,000 to pay for a new hip.
If you dig into that specific situation, the issue was that Health Canada only gave conditional approval for Ibrance in early 2016. Broader approval was granted in mid/late 2017. This article was written in January of 2018 - between when Health Canada had approved Ibrance and when the British Columbia Ministry of Health had added it to it's list of covered drugs. That happened just 3 months after the article was published, in April of 2018.
This particular lady chose to travel to the US to obtain a drug that was not approved for sale in Canada at the time. That has since changed.
I don't think it's fair to indict the health system over this especially when not all health Canada approved drugs are fda approved and vv.
I'm just calling out that health care coverage in Canada isn't all peaches and cream. I've experienced both systems so I know what the pros/cons of each are.
People in pain (who can't work or even walk) waiting 2 or 3 years for hip replacement. A friend of my mom's in BC is 85, needs a new hip and the gov't said no. Not "no, maybe later" it was just "no, you're too old for it to be worthwhile".
Now don't get me wrong, this is why healthcare is Canada is way more affordable than the US. The Canadian system is just limited by budget - the provinces set the budget (based on support from the federal gov't) and then say "this is how many hip replacements we'll do this year". And if you're not a priority, you wait.
While in the US, if you're either poor (Medicaid), retired (Medicare) or have good insurance through your employer (majority), you'll get care pretty quickly. But that comes at a cost - a cost about double of healthcare costs in Canada.
Again, I'm not saying the US system is better. It's outrageously expensive system, leaves many without care and is unsustainable. But if you're a middle class person in the US, don't expect the Canadian system will give you the exact same care for free.
> I'm just calling out that health care coverage in Canada isn't all peaches and cream. I've experienced both systems so I know what the pros/cons of each are.
As have I.
The US system is also generally ranked below the Canadian system on every measure I've seen. That doesn't necessarily mean much, as being better than the worst isn't much to write home about.
One great example of this is the US is the only developed country in the world where mother's mortality rate is rising. It's 4X higher than any in Canada. There's real serious on-the-ground issues with US healthcare. [1]
Not if you’re giving birth apparently. People seem to say this as fact, because it’s a pay to play system (so if you pay more, you must get ... something; right) but I don’t think I’ve come across evidence to support your conclusions. Did you happen to have some data I could look at?
All the data I’ve seen ranks the Canadian system ahead of the American on outcomes.
Part of that has to do with how cancer survival rates are measured and what role screening has in the various systems. This came up with Giuliani a while ago and is well described here [1]. tldr: The statistics are quite misleading as cancer survival is measured in 5-year survival rates, and the US has aggressive (sometimes medically unjustified) early screening programs. Early detection of some kinds of cancer, such as prostate cancer, doesn't change the mortality rate but it does change the 5-year survival rate as the disease is detected earlier.
If you have more data, or this isn't what you were referring to, I'd love to read it!
[1] https://www.factcheck.org/2007/10/a-bogus-cancer-statistic/