“病魔”和“破产”在美国中产阶级生活中可以说是密切相关，哈弗大学和俄亥俄大学曾经进行详细联合研究，2009年在美国医学杂志(American Journal of Medicine August 2009 Vol.122 No.8)就此发表文章，它的结论指出:“病和医疗费已经成为60%美国人申请破产的原因，而且这比率将会逐渐增加。“这些破产者之中92%有超过5000元的医疗债务，等于他们税前10%的收入。(1)”
老木， It varies (by city, by hospital, by specialty). I certainly have had my share of delays. The issue is, because you cannot “buy“ it (medical service, that is), you’re not in control. In a democracy we always tell the taxpayer he is the “boss”, so the boss doesn’t like waiting for someone else (the doctor, the hospital) who IS in charge. And because it is government-funded (which means taxpayer-funded), the service is prioritized. But again, by and large, those in charge usually have their priorities right. Also if an urgent treatment is not available in Canada, quite often the government insurance will pay for out-of-country treatment, though that is not automatic.
When I lived in Canada, my feeling was that it takes a long time to see a doctor, seeing a specialist takes months (appt. is very far)... is it still like that?
老木， Big sofa and so far nobody here except you, so feel free to lie down and relax. Lots of beer here. Also, since I could be holding a "dissenting view", I thought it best to express it in my "own" space.
