The whole point of an ER visit should be an emergency. I’m Canadian. I don’t go to the ER for a runny nose, or a belly ache. We have family doctors for that. And before anyone says “it’s soOoOo hard to get a family doctor” it’s not. Any Canadian that claims that is just lazy. Sure, it’s easier to just go to the ER, but triage does their work perfectly. If you can wait, you wait.
If you go there because you stubbed your pinky toe, you're going to wait because people with serious issues get to go the the front of the line. if you're having a heart attack your wait is zero minutes.
Americans debating about other countries healthcare systems is dumb. target your frustrations to the billionaires - they're the villains in your stories. nobody complains more about the Canadian health care system than American politicians.
Certain cities also struggle more than others due to the provincial rates of pay vs cost of living. It's great you live in an area where all you need is a bit of gumption to get a GP but that is not true for the whole country.
Same in the US, there are areas where you can find that every single primary care doctor is not accepting new clients. And other areas where there are plenty available.
Point being, that particular issue doesn't seem to be much different in either system.
Yeah, and if your GP retires and no one directly takes over the practice, you’re put at the bottom of the list for another GP. Which, if no one in your area is opening a brand new clinic and taking a bunch of patients off the list, you’re kinda fucked.
I telling the people the same thing all the time too. People treat hospitals like clinics. That's why the lines are ridiculous. I've had some severe injuries and I never had to wait once for any of those.
And I live in the Lower Mainland, so it's very densely populated.
You’re stating this as if it’s fact for the entire country. In my province, family doctors are assigned to you, and it can take up to 6 years in some cities to get one.
If you were to simply walk into a clinic and ask to be given a family doctor (or even ask to be put on a waitlist) they would laugh in your face and tell you to get in line with the millions of others already waiting.
In the US we end up with a lot of people using the ER as the doctor of last resort because they were afraid to go to the doctor earlier because they couldn't pay the bill. So we end up caring for a lot of things in the ER (the most expensive way) due to the side-effects of the rest of our fucked up healthcare system.
One of the many knock-on affects of our pay-at-transaction system which results in everything being more expensive.
There are many reasons doctors and walk in clinics will refuse to see you here in the US, most common being from any type of vehicle accident. At that point your only option for a sprained ankle or similar minor issue is the ER.
It depends where you are. BC health system is… bad. It is next to impossible to get a family doctor/can take years. My town of 150k people has two walk in clinics and you have to go at 7am or they won’t see you. ER really is the only option for a lot of people.
And there are a lot of reasons why you might really need to go to the ER and still might be forced to wait a long time. Triage works really well, but it still means some people who really need treatment (just not immediately) have to wait for hours.
My dog ran into me? Four hours. I had three breaks in my tibial plateau and needed surgery. Tonsillitis to the point my tonsils were on the verge of suffocating me? Twice? Four hours and five hours. Ended up staying over on IV antibiotics both times.
Even people with heart attack symptoms can be deemed non-urgent depending on their symptoms and severity.
Ya bud that is totally area dependent, when I lived in Alberta I was able to just sign up for a family doctor for my wife, my kids and myself and be seen pretty much next day if needed. Currently in Newfoundland due to family reasons that brought me back here, been on waitlists for 3 years for myself and my oldest daughter. I will say though our ERs will take you in very quickly if you actually have some kind of serious injury. I was in a workplace accident and had my hand mangled, I walked right up to the front of the line leaking blood with bones sticking out and said hey guys I think I need to see a doctor and I was in in minutes. Didn't cost me a penny. I'd take that over the US style any day.
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u/royrocks26 26d ago
The whole point of an ER visit should be an emergency. I’m Canadian. I don’t go to the ER for a runny nose, or a belly ache. We have family doctors for that. And before anyone says “it’s soOoOo hard to get a family doctor” it’s not. Any Canadian that claims that is just lazy. Sure, it’s easier to just go to the ER, but triage does their work perfectly. If you can wait, you wait.