U.S. President Donald Trump says Canadians would have “much better” health coverage if Canada became the 51st state.
He made the remarks during a briefing in North Carolina, where he toured areas struck by Hurricane Helene on Friday.
“I would love to see Canada be the 51st state,” he said. “The Canadian citizens, if that happened, would get a very big tax cut – a tremendous tax cut – because they are very highly taxed.”
“They’d have much better health coverage. I think the people of Canada would like it,” said the president.
Wealthy people would have much better access to trivial / cosmetic medical procedures… Sure… I’ll grant that
He’s preying on some real issues with our system, such as the chronic lack of primary preventative care for the majority of the population in places like Montreal. When it takes months to see a doctor who rushes you, the private options prevalent in the US start sounding attractive.
So let’s make sure this fool has no leg to stand on by properly funding our public healthcare system, treating our healthcare workers right, and by reducing the barriers to the recognition of foreign healthcare workers’ credentials.
That just sounds exactly like the US system though but you have to pay for it. My girlfriend has been dealing with medical stuff lately and was being bounced around between places with a month or more waiting time between each one. And whenever something came up that she would want to ask her primary care provider about it would be a few months for an appointment. The US system as far as I can tell doesn’t really have much better wait times yet people still act like it’s better here when my experience is it very much isn’t.
Isn’t private healthcare still an option? Not that it should be the case, but I’d much rather pay a thousand a month (which is cheap) for my family to have prompt access to primary care and virtually nothing (?) for hospital trips, specialist etc.
I’m not sure how it works in places with UHC, and my job pays 100% of my insurance now, but a few years ago I was paying $1200 a month where my employer split the cost and still had to pay $300 for every doctor visit for me and about $50 for my son. Anytime any of us were in the hospital we had to ask at every step how much something would cost because we’ve ended up with a few hospital bills totaling up to crippling debt that we’ll never get out of.
Even with my insurance costing me nothing now I still pay ~$200 for every doctor visit because we never hit out deductible of ~$6000 which keeps getting raised every few months. We definitely could hit that deductable but we’d still end up owing money for every little thing. I avoid going to the doctors because we can’t afford it. We have to save for any tests/procedures at this point, I’ve been putting off an echo and stress test that I’m supposed to get every 6 months for about a year and a half, my heart medication just doubled in price, an ultrasound for my pregnant wife cost us $800 last month and for some reason it didn’t apply towards our deductible.
Paying 1k$ a month for doctors is completely ridiculous in Canada. I’m comfortable right now but that would completely break my budget.
It is an option I guess for the rich rich, but for the vast majority that’s just not a thing that we’d consider “reasonable”, much less “cheap”.
Employer health insurance covers dental, drugs, eyes though. So people that don’t have it struggle and that’s not nothing. Which is why the government just passed some limited coverage but it’s not universal as it should be.
So you see: completely different mindset.
Yeah, in BC when we used to have premiums it was only $75/mo and if I remember correctly it scaled up from $0 if you made below about $10000 to the full $75 around $30000.
Hey no fair, give it to the current citizens first
Better healthcare is easy, with a small loan of a million dollars.
Im Dead……lol
What is with the huge amount of idiots who would rather pay hundreds or thousands a month in insurance and healthcare costs just to save a couple hundred a year in taxes? Its actually unbelievably dumb.
Yank here. So, we don’t have broad public healthcare because it keeps middle class people terrified of losing their white collar jobs. It also appeals to American racism, putting barriers up for people of color and the working poor to get equal treatment. Many Americans would happily screw themselves over to ensure someone else (they hate) has it worse.
We have hours long lines at private urgent care, and seeing a general practice doc takes 3 to 6 months of wait time (if you’re lucky). Also, I’m queer. If The U.S. did have broad public healthcare, it would instantly be weaponized against all LGBTQ+ folks.
Tldl, in the States it’s mostly about keeping the middle class terrified of losing their jobs, and ensuring there are working-poor people to sneer at.
Yeah i get why the lobbyists want it. I dont get why the answer from so many citizens seems to be “i dont want my taxes to go up”. Like bro youre paying ten times the amount now that you would in any tax increase.
Dude the tax meme for American voters drives me insane.
A lot lf Americans just don’t think about it that way. There’s a multitude of reasons based more on sentiment and group social pressure than the obvious math.
Many Americans have a great deal of personal optimism to the tune of “well I’m not sick right now”. It’s a gamble that everyone loses, but in the short term you keep more money. It speaks to the belief that personal heath is a moral virtue (or failing), therefore a moral person shouldn’t have to pay for immoral people’s “bad choices”. And, if someone didn’t save enough money to invest in their own health, that’s also a moral failure.
There’s also terror of appearing too feminine. Care, either receiving it, or giving it to others, is feminine coded for a lot of Americans. So, paying into (and participating in) a broad public healthcare system becomes a crisis of masculine self (and group) identity. sarcasm You wouldn’t want people to think you’re a sissy right? sarcasm
Er, sorry for the wall of text.
Won’t you think of the poor healthcare execs? How will they afford their home in Aspen???
Canada dont believe the lie!
I spent thirty years in the States and seven years now in Canada. I can say with absolutely certainty that the US system is fucked. I’ve never paid a dime in Canada.
I got major surgery in Canada. I took out my wallet to show them photoID. Then I put it away.
My entire, full bill for surgery? I paid for parking.
Trump, and anyone giving him a platform, can go fuck themselves!
No thank you.
My wife went to the ER after hurting her foot, it was an hour wait and the only cost was $40 for a set of crutches.
I like our system.
In the US you’d have a 4 to 6 hour wait, $3000 to hospital for using the ER, $2000 for the doctor, and if there were scans and such a $$$$$ for using them! Oh also they will take months to bill you but also send it to debt collectors if you don’t pay it for a month so then all of your personal data is sold and you get harassed to pay your debt!
Here’s a fun one my wife got:
She picked an in network doctor for her treatment so insurance would cover it. She got a large bill anyway because the office that the doctor worked in was out of network.
It’s literally impossible to get insurance coverage. You can pick the doctor or building (I’ve read anesthesiologists can be separate too.) But you are going to pay a bill that insurance won’t cover.
She picked an in network doctor
Yet another thing that Canadians never have to concern ourselves with.
… if you’re lucky.
Agreed. My fiancee had some pregnancy complications that resulted in numerous visits to the ER, including one that then required ambulance transfer to a bigger hospital an hour away and a 2 week stay there. One of the weeks she had to share a room and I couldn’t stay overnight, but I was set up with a social worker who arranged a paid for hotel room for me a couple minutes away. Overall, I ended up paying $10 for parking at the big hospital (the social worker gave me a pass after I paid the first day), and maybe $20-30 on some really good Nanaimo bars from the lobby coffee shop. The family we shared the room with was in a similar situation, but since they lived further away they were flown in by air ambulance from their hospital, also at no cost.
Spring for the boot if it’s an option. Way better than crutches.
It was a sprain just before Christmas so they gave us crutches she needed for a week, she’s at probably 80% better now.
We can go on evening walks again, so it seems to be healing well.
Ah good to hear she’s on the mend. Well just to note for any future injuries, boots are way better. I used crutches for a day before adding the boot so I could go to work and stuff. They didn’t even give me the option initially and I’m not sure why. It was far more comfortable having it on and I never wanted to take it off!
That would make sense. I was wrapping her foot in a tensor bandage daily for a few weeks and the pressure really helped.
A lot of Canadians have to wait exorbitant amounts of time to see a doctor, it’s not always fast and effective service.
Oh you got cancer? That specialist can see you in 6 months when you’re already dead.
Don’t get me wrong free healthcare is great in that it’s free, but that doesn’t always guarantee it’s good or fast.
A lot of Canadians have to wait exorbitant amounts of time to see a doctor
As always, you hear more about the failures than the successes where everything works the way it is expected to.
Nobody would think of writing a headline saying “everything worked normally today”.
Well it wouldn’t be news if it wasn’t newsworthy :p
That’s not accurate, that is repeating the line private places want you to say about provincial or national care.
I had cancer. When test came back positive, they got me in the next week for surgery, then to the center to do the paperwork and scans and predental work. They then needed another week or two to have 3d scans used to define the radition paths for the machine, and set up hospital visits and chemo. I was done treatment in 2 months.
The six month wait seems like BS unless you have a source.
It was 4 months wait for myself but I have seen similar threads for people that had to wait 6.
Let me add to your anecdotes then, no one I know has waited more than a month. My family has some serious conditions including Crohn’s, Cushing’s, cancer and epilepsy. It’s like 5 people just in my family who haven’t waited for any of it. And the most expensive part in all of it has been the Crohn’s drugs coverage being shit on the provincial plans if you make too much money.
Thank you for your perspective. Yes I think people can find both extremes and everything inbetween depending on where they look, but I don’t think that necessarily represents a majority of the population. I do think more can probably be done to reduce waiting times for people on either side though.
Agreed let’s raise taxes and directly funnel it to healthcare. We don’t need to join or be American to do that.
Don’t forget Trudeau gave each province/territory billions in extra healthcare funding. Unfortunately none of the premiers would sign the agreement locking in that funding to healthcare alone … so they can spend it any way they want.
The following is from CancerCare Manitoba …
How long you will wait for cancer surgery depends on your treatment plan, where your cancer is located, and how far advanced it has become. source
I would also add you have to take into account the ‘health’ of the healthcare system in your location, ie: how many medical professionals are available for the population, how well healthcare is funded in your province, etc.
And keep in mind that a stage 2 brain cancer radiation or surgery would likely take precident over a stage 2 ovarian cancer treatment, so there would be instances when treatment times cannot be equated with each other.
Well Medicine is triage. The guy with leg chopped off gets priority over a broken ankle. Both need care, one more urgently.
Dude Americans pay more out of pocket for healthcare than any other country and get worse results.
Like, I have no idea what state you reside in but I have had months long wait times to see docs in the USA. Your made up example can be applied to the USA just the same except we’re just paying more money for the privilege.
Our system is absolutely fucked.
Yes I agree with everything you said.
Tired of this lie, tbh.
The waits are probably, on average, a little longer, sure. The “someone is waiting an absurd amount of time with an obvious visible problem and they’ve died while waiting” is pure privatization propaganda fueled by people going to the hospital for things like prescription refills and being shocked when they’re pushed to the bottom of the list over and over again while people come in with genuine, time sensitive problems.
I have a friend like this, goes to hospital and upset wait time for pulled muscle or rib bruising is ridiculous hours. I say make a doc or clinic appointment, but no, doesn’t want to wait a week for doc or half a day at walk in clinic… 2 weeks later still complaining. Well you could have been seen already. Lol
I had to wait 4 months to see a doctor for my uLMS, and I personally know of several others now with worse conditions that also had to wait months. If you search around online you will also find many more similar occurrences. Same for ER visits taking literally all day long.
In general I don’t think it is a lie, this IS happening.
How much it goes on, or how often it might be a made up occurrence, and how often that needs to happen for you to consider it a “lie”, might be a separate matter.
Meanwhile, in the US, every ER and urgent care visit that wasn’t at 3 AM was an all-day affair, and I’ve also had four-month waits to see specialists, all while paying out the nose.
Yes I think both situations are often not ideal. At least in US you have the option, if you have the money, to be able to go to an “out of network” facility that can see you much sooner and probably get a much better standard of care.
Probably doesn’t outweigh the cons for everyone else though.
No, it doesn’t, because even someone relatively well-off like me can’t afford the absolutely astronomical bills that would be incurred by going out-of-network.
Edit: downvotes from people who have never seen a $957,000 statement from a hospital
6 months? You think 6 months to see an oncologist is rare in the US?
Are you including the number of people who don’t seek any care until they end up in the ER with acute symptoms because they couldn’t go in to get regular screening or preventive care?
And before you say that should be covered by the ACA you are still ignoring that hospitals are open 9-5 and the people who can’t make it to the hospital are working the job they need for health insurance during those same hours, provided they have transportation and can take off more than an hour to wait for the primary care to visit them.
Not to mention, if the cancer hasn’t progressed to stage 3 or 4 by that point, the health insurance won’t likely be paying for the most effective treatment, they’ll be paying for the treatment “they have on record for effective treatment”.
And who’s to say you can even get into an oncologist familiar with your cancer? Then may feel more comfortable referring you to a John Hopkins, or Mayo Clinic, or one in California. So now you have to pay for transportation and living expenses in another state while you get treatment and don’t work. Some insurances might cover this. Most won’t. Some companies will foot the bill. Most will laugh at you.
6 months? It’s a 5 month wait to get a new primary care provider here. Fuck your 6 month complaint.
It is not 6 months. I had cancer in Canada, I waited 2 weeks while they developed all the planning and radiation paths, and other related scheduling of hospital stuff. 2 months later I was finished treatment.
I was not talking about the US at all.
Thank you for your comments.
This thread is discussing Trump’s comments that joining the States would result in better health care for Canadians. Posting in a thread discussing this topic with a comment that does nothing but talk about the perceived failings of the Canadian health care system is implying that the American system is better because of the context in which the statements were made.
If you are “not talking about the US at all,” then what are you talking about? That’s the conversation: Canadian vs US health care.
My only point was in response to OP saying about Canada “I like our system”, and I was just pointing out that not everyone does, because there can be very long waiting periods and/or the care received may not be what you wanted.
And American can also have the same long wait times.
The main difference is Canada’s healthcare is paid through taxation, as it should be in every nation. Nobody should be avoiding seeing a Dr when they need to because it’s too expensive.
Canada has its failings, and our systems are not perfect, but it’s a hell of a lot better than America’s.
Yes I agree with your points.
In context, that is compared to the U.S. healthcare system. I also don’t mind waiting and having my taxes cover my health, instead of paying exorbitant prices in the states just for healthcare.
Would you rather reach in and pick an item from
Sack 1, which contains [rusty nails, angry scorpions, razor blades, one fun sized candy bar]
Sack 2, which contains [various candy bars, one rusty nail]
The US is sack 1 in this metaphor. People should improve the canadian system, but there’s no reasonable take that they’re at all similar
I wasn’t trying to imply anything about the US at all, or draw any similarities.
That’s hyperbolic, but in any case if I’m going to die from either country’s healthcare shortfalls I’d much prefer my family not be left with mortgage sized debt at the same time.
Horseshit.
Triage works well here once it kicks in. It can take a long time to see a specialist, but if you have a good GP who is concerned about life-threatening disease, the system goes into very high speed.
Chronic disease is another issue, but that is more a problem with philosophy than implementation.
My dad is pretty wealthy and he flies to Mexico to avoid waiting. US healthcare is way too expensive even for him.
I don’t have a good sense how long specialists can take but it seems to vary.
Funny, because I know plenty of people in Ohio who have gone to Canada specifically for better and more affordable medical treatment.
I know people in AZ and southern California who do the same thing but to Mexico
To be fair, I know people from Ontario who had to travel to Buffalo for diagnostics, because they had to wait for over 9 months in Ontario, and the cost of few thousand dollars was not that great to them.
and the cost of few thousand dollars was not that great to them.
How wonderful for them…
That’s basically it, right? Per person it treats, the US system is a lot less efficient. It works “better” by leaving some people outside to die so the rich don’t have to worry about waiting or sharing.
That is Doug Fords doing, he is purposely dismantling the system for his buddies when have private care setup
Eat shit orange rapist.
When he says, “They’d have much better health coverage” he’s talking about the rich people. Not normal people!
He doesn’t consider normal people, people.
The rich people won’t have any better coverage, either. I know someone who had his daughter flown to the Mayo Clinic for mono. Yes, her case was very bad, yes, they were Canadian, no, that’s not an option that is available to the majority of us, and no, being part of America won’t appreciably improve their options more than that.
The media needs to stop reporting ‘neutrally’ on this bullshit, and call it out as expansionist lies.
The owners of the media support Trump. When this shit is all over the oligarchs need to be in jail and their wealth given back to the people.
We all have to collectively stop thinking this way. The club is complete, and they aren’t taking new members. No one’s going to put the oligarchs in prison, because the only ones with the power to, are in the club or believe they can someday be in the club. Just like you are saying about the media; it’s all bought and owned, the entire country is. THE ONLY WAY any of this ends is through violence, and we will either wake up to this fact or perish.
Luigi Mangione might be the only sane American right now.
Eh. At that point you’re reading someone’s polemic. I find myself basically filtering out the opinion and adjectives again when I read those kinds of things, to get back just the facts.
I wouldn’t call it better in any way, but if you’re as rich as Trump I guess it might be. The article concludes with the average US health payment prominently in it’s own paragraph.
