Thucydides said:
On the other hand, My children routinely have to wait 6+ months to see an allergist, and after sustaining an injury in Sept of this year, I will finally have corrective surgery at the end of Feb 2008. This is hardly unusual, other members of my family have also had prolonged waiting times for medical treatment, as have people who I am in contact with on a day to day basis (both through work and socially).
"Work arounds" include sending me or other people needing treatment to other cities (and sometimes even the United States), since there were no doctors or treatment options available.
This *might* make sense if we lived in some third world nation, but since government spending on health care consumes such a vast portion of the provincial budget, I think the argument for inefficient bureaucracy seems to be pretty well established.
I'll agree with your last comment wholeheartedly. You are are victim of healthcare rationing.
There's no excuse for it. There are restrictions placed on specialists so they don't dent the budget. Sometimes it has nothing to do with shortages.
In a previous post I described the way the budgetary process needed to be changed.
As allergies have health effects beyond the symptoms - seeing an allergist sooner
rather than later might actually save money and time.
I had a relative in Calgary who desperately needed a CAT scan.
He was told to wait six weeks.
Since he had a rather aggresive cancer that seemed like a non-starter.
He paid for a scan to be done privaely. - $300
Here's the kicker - He wandered into the radiology department of his local
hospital one weekday afternoon. Not a soul around.
The scanners were just sitting there depreciating.
No scans were being done because that department had run out of money.
Since scans save time, money and lives......You can call this a case of mismanagement.
I've said it before - Private vs. public is a specious and incorrect arguement.
Change the management and budgetary process to suit the need.
In short, have healthcare run by people who actually have some
understanding of healthcare and some professional interest in
making the system work - instead of making the system "profitable".