I don't want to hijack your thread, Natasha, but in reading this story I realised that I am clueless about how the Canadian health care system works. I've always thought that the USA would benefit by a single payer system but when I hear the stories of my sisters to the North, I start to wonder.
My insurance works like this. I have a fee-for-service plan. I can see any doctor that will accept my insurance. If I'm not satisfied with a doctor, I find another doctor. My health records don't follow me unless I give written permission for one doctor to share information with another doctor(HIPPA privacy rights). If I see a doctor that says I have to wait 6 mos to a year for hormones, I keep seeing other doctors till I find one that agrees to prescribe and monitor my hormone therapy. There are treatment protocols, WPATH SOC for example, but no doctor is bound to follow them. They have great leeway when it comes to treatment decisions. This isn't true for everyone in the USA. Many people are in an HMO or PPO plans that limits the choice of doctors and may use financial inducements to doctors to get them to comply with treatment protocols.
If I sought HRT in Ontario or Quebec, how would I go about it?
