Health Care in Toronto, Canada

Wait times for minor surgery like cataracts is long. Waited eighteen months to have surgery in a hospital setting but most cataract surgeries are being done in "MacDonald Style Facilities". In and out in two hours. I had a major brain injury from a fall in June of 2014 and needed the eye surgery over the spot where I had the brain surgery. I did not want to go to a fast clinic in a shopping center. I had spent four months in Sunnybrook Medical Center in Toronto and at Bridgepoint Medical in 2014. I nearly died many times and to go to a fast clinic to even have minor eye surgery made me very questioning of the new system. I winter in Florida and after waiting a year and a half for surgery in Toronto I had the eye surgery done on December 19th, 2016 in Palm Beach Gardens Florida in a hospital setting in a special eye hospital. The Doctor was so so amazing and in fact my wife is going to have both eyes done down here in February and March, 2017. Granted one has to pay for this service but at least it is done in a proper manner. By the way for your information 30% of this Doctor's patients are Canadians who are not getting proper treatment at home in Canada.
Our family doctor gives us 7 minutes of his time and calls his appointment a physical. My wife had a physical at a former Canadian Doctor's office here last week. For $175 she had the best physical she even had in her life and she is 70 years of age. Blood work was performed in a lab in the medical building by appointment booked in advance on the computer. The results where in our doctor's office 48 hours later. The doctor booked off one half hour for her visit and his assistant took an electrocardiograph and updated her medicines on the computer even before the doctor walked in to see her and gave her a full check up. She left his office with a full set of reports and highlights of items that needed attention. In her case her sugar was a little high so he adjusted her metformin medication. She left his office feeling well looked after and not treated like a 70 year old patient. By the way she has had cancer three times in her life and when she goes to a doctor she want to know that she do not have a re-occurance. The Canadian health care is a sham and since she is still working at the age of 70. We have paid into health care for many many years. I after my fall had to give up practice as a prominent architect in Toronto and I am thankful to be alive but to have to wait for cataract surgery for over a year in Toronto is a crime. I now needs a knee replacement and would not trust the doctors in Toronto to do surgery. It will be done down in Palm Beach Florida where the doctors are compassionate and have time for patients - even people over 70 years of age.

I agree with comment by #pete on Jul 04, 2013 . The system needs lots of improvement to match with the ground reality. It is designed for a previous era. Incremental population, high taxes and increasing unemployment / low income category, this system cannot survive for long.

I have an employer sponsored plan that covers costs of prescription. Waiting in emergency room takes hours unless it is a real emergency - my wife took a cab to the emergency room feeling chest pain. She was treated immediately and then whisked out to a more specialized hospital. The service was perfect.