Hello, Canadians of Lemmy! Down in the USA there is a lot of conflicting information regarding the efficacy of y’alls healthcare systems. Without revealing my personal bias, I was hoping for some anecdotes or summaries from those whom actually live there.
Well I can share my experience. I moved to Canada in 2020, I lived in Toronto for a while. In Toronto I was able to get a GP assigned to me fairly quick. I never had to use the services. Around mid of last year I moved to Ottawa for work. I been on the wait-list to get a GP assigned to me.
In the meantime my wife is recently pregnant, and we been sending out contact information to all the local hospitals hoping to get a gynecologist assigned. She is also on the same boat as me with regards to GP, being on a wait-list. As of now we are going to a private clinic for imaging, and so far everything looks good. But yeah I don’t if it could be better, but it would help my anxiety if for her at-least they got the doctor assigned.
How much does private healthcare cost?
You gonna start on walk-in and plead that you need a family doctor and a Obs-Gyne because you are **mo pregnant. Some doctors will take you in specially because she needs pre-natal care. Then it’s easy to get a specialist first meeting.
Sometimes walk-ins will just refer you to Obs-gyne without taking you in as their patient. Another option is doctors would sometimes take families in as their patient even though their practice is full. Most specialist are referral base.
I almost forgot! Nurse practitioners would also take in patients as patient-family doctor relationship. Then they can refer you.