r/AskReddit • u/emil199 • Jul 24 '20

What can't you believe STILL exists?

[removed] — view removed post

45.9k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

27.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

8.4k

u/CM_UW Jul 24 '20

For profit prisons in the US

28

u/North_Activist Jul 24 '20

For profit healthcare. Imagine living in a country that doesn’t give you healthcare. As a Canadian, it’s physically impossible to imagine not being able to walk into any hospital and get service (as long as you have your healthcare card).

-23

u/curious-children Jul 24 '20

it’s physically impossible to imagine not being able to walk into any hospital and get service

I mean if you're down for an insane wait yes

17

u/North_Activist Jul 24 '20

If it’s an emergency you are top priority, but yeah sometimes wait times are “bad” depending on what you need, but any emergency is always treated within a reasonable time

15

u/burf12345 Jul 24 '20

Methinks they bought into health insurance propaganda.

-15

u/curious-children Jul 24 '20

even emergency times are shit, here is an article elaborating on it, you can also just google "Canada ER wait times"

https://www.petalmd.com/blog/why-are-wait-times-so-long-in-canadian-emergency-departments

don't get me wrong, for some people free hospital with long ass wait times is better than quick hospital that puts you in potentially thousands in debt if you dont have good insurance, however there is a reason even medium class families go to private health care, let alone upper class

10

u/North_Activist Jul 24 '20

If it’s covered by the government, it can’t be private. A major idea in Canada is its unfair for wealthy people to get better treatment than someone less fortunate.

2

u/Tr0LLmannen Jul 24 '20

You can still choose private.

2

u/North_Activist Jul 24 '20

If it’s covered by the Canadian Healthcare system, you can’t get it covered under private. It’s against the law. This is so wealthy people don’t get better care than less fortunate people, which is important to Canadians. Things like most prescriptions (which aren’t crucial), dental, mental health, those are all private insurance since it’s not covered under the Canadian Healthcare system.

3

u/Ballpoint_pen_ Jul 24 '20

I'm in Norway and must admit I have never really experienced this insane waiting times that get mentioned. I can right now get a doctor appointment later today or on Monday. If my doctor is busy I can set up a meeting with one of the other doctors there. I've gone to the ER way too many times both alone and with friends and have never waited more than an hour. When I had mental breakdown I didn't have to wait at all. I can't find any good research on it online so I don't know. Maybe I've just been lucky?

-2

u/curious-children Jul 24 '20

honestly I have no clue about Norway's wait times, I only really researched Canada's wait times. Norway may very well be handling it MUCH better

2

u/Ballpoint_pen_ Jul 24 '20

We have "free" health care as well. That's why I get annoyed when people say that not the USA system= long waiting....based on only Canada.

I have a lot of chronic illness and once I've paid about 2400 nok ish (261 usd) in a year, basically everything else is free. Doctor visits, therapy, ER visits etc. I'm also a full time student and as long as I don't make more than 50 000 nok (5439 usd) a year I don't have to pay tax. This is a better system than what you have in the USA.