Aa
Dont Knock our Health System
Canada's system is called Medicare, and is much like Medicare in the U.S. for over-65-year-olds, except that this one treats virtually the entire Canadian population of 33 million.Canadians are setting aside their criticisms of Medicare and rallying to its defense. The reason: Their system has been dragged into the debate over President Barack Obama's health care reform proposals by opponents who say Canada proves Obama is wrong — that Canadians endure long waits for critical procedures, medical rationing, scant resources and heavy-handed government interference.
http://www.the33tv.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-cn-canada-medicare-for-all,0,5821607.story
http://www.the33tv.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-cn-canada-medicare-for-all,0,5821607.story
Hiya Izzy, I assure you I think of you often too. :)
Tax free day is somewhere around beginning of July. I'll try and get a better answer for you. Employers pay a health tax - I think it's a percentage X the # of employees. I recall working out the figures years back when I had to do such things for the small business employer I worked for. So in essence, employers are providing a measure of healthcare for their employees here. Then there's benefits on top of that in some workplaces that cover the non-essentials but NOT things covered by healthcare.
Alot of this I answered in another thread and I don't want to take up alot more space so I'll try to nutshell your answers and still give them.
AFAIK, non-Canadians don't get to use the system for free, they pay fees for it. Can you imagine if we gave it away for free? We'd get flooded with immigrants even worse than we do now and we'd already be a mecca for people from the U.S. and we're not. Kind of the other way around, that Canadians who have to wait too long will go to the U.S. and pay for healthcare there.
Yes, a wait for elective procedures. Heck, a wait for non-elective procedures. In the months alot of the time but sometimes in the weeks also. Depends on the procedure.
You can only get a test if a doc orders one for you. If you want one and your doc agrees, he writes you an order. you can't get one without that. It keeps a control on it, considering the government pays for it.
You can't get 7 PCR's just because you want them. The government won't allow them and you can't pay for them on your own - you can't buy your own healthcare in this country and nobody is allowed to charge you for healthcare - the government will contract private healthcare practitioners but nobody is allowed to provide it directly at a fee to a citizen. Only two labs in Canada that process PCR's and they're both public health labs. The government has a set # and type of PCR's they'll pay for in a year - a certain # of quals and quants during treatment - one a year outside of treatment. There are exceptions I think, but that's the general rule of thumb. I was going to get mine done in NY because I wouldn't be able to get them done here as often as I wanted. The drug trial changed all that.
You'll hear complaints here. Sometimes I think the waiting is downright criminal. It's not perfect but I shudder to think what things would be like if your system was in place here.
Tax free day is somewhere around beginning of July. I'll try and get a better answer for you. Employers pay a health tax - I think it's a percentage X the # of employees. I recall working out the figures years back when I had to do such things for the small business employer I worked for. So in essence, employers are providing a measure of healthcare for their employees here. Then there's benefits on top of that in some workplaces that cover the non-essentials but NOT things covered by healthcare.
Alot of this I answered in another thread and I don't want to take up alot more space so I'll try to nutshell your answers and still give them.
AFAIK, non-Canadians don't get to use the system for free, they pay fees for it. Can you imagine if we gave it away for free? We'd get flooded with immigrants even worse than we do now and we'd already be a mecca for people from the U.S. and we're not. Kind of the other way around, that Canadians who have to wait too long will go to the U.S. and pay for healthcare there.
Yes, a wait for elective procedures. Heck, a wait for non-elective procedures. In the months alot of the time but sometimes in the weeks also. Depends on the procedure.
You can only get a test if a doc orders one for you. If you want one and your doc agrees, he writes you an order. you can't get one without that. It keeps a control on it, considering the government pays for it.
You can't get 7 PCR's just because you want them. The government won't allow them and you can't pay for them on your own - you can't buy your own healthcare in this country and nobody is allowed to charge you for healthcare - the government will contract private healthcare practitioners but nobody is allowed to provide it directly at a fee to a citizen. Only two labs in Canada that process PCR's and they're both public health labs. The government has a set # and type of PCR's they'll pay for in a year - a certain # of quals and quants during treatment - one a year outside of treatment. There are exceptions I think, but that's the general rule of thumb. I was going to get mine done in NY because I wouldn't be able to get them done here as often as I wanted. The drug trial changed all that.
You'll hear complaints here. Sometimes I think the waiting is downright criminal. It's not perfect but I shudder to think what things would be like if your system was in place here.
Hi Trish,
Just want to start by sending ya some big ((((HUGS)))) and tell ya that I think of you often. I am curious about the Canadian system as we have heard so many comparisions lately.
What the tax rate is in Canada?
Do y'all have an issue with non-Canadian citizens using your system for free?
I realize every country has citizens that can't afford care and that is the reasoning behind taxes (pooled resources) and such....but is there a fee schedule for foreigners/non-citizens in Canada, or do they get free care also? And if so....is there a limit on them?
Is there a long wait for elective proceedures? Days, weeks or months?
Can you get tests ordered because YOU want them---not necessarily the docs? Like if you were on tx and wanted 7 PCRs.....could you get them and pay for them yourself-or have it for free?
Just curious because I have never heard any complaints from anyone in other countries about their care.....
Thanks for any insight,
Isobella
Just want to start by sending ya some big ((((HUGS)))) and tell ya that I think of you often. I am curious about the Canadian system as we have heard so many comparisions lately.
What the tax rate is in Canada?
Do y'all have an issue with non-Canadian citizens using your system for free?
I realize every country has citizens that can't afford care and that is the reasoning behind taxes (pooled resources) and such....but is there a fee schedule for foreigners/non-citizens in Canada, or do they get free care also? And if so....is there a limit on them?
Is there a long wait for elective proceedures? Days, weeks or months?
Can you get tests ordered because YOU want them---not necessarily the docs? Like if you were on tx and wanted 7 PCRs.....could you get them and pay for them yourself-or have it for free?
Just curious because I have never heard any complaints from anyone in other countries about their care.....
Thanks for any insight,
Isobella
"Question is who absorbs the cost of the people who can't pay?"
Another thought on that. It isn't always the money of the wealthy that pays for the poor. Take a case like me. If we're communally pooling money, then theoretically my money is going alot further than the money of someone who is wealthy and who's family has alot of health issues. I rarely get sick. Aside from my HCV, it's been a sinus cold a couple of times a year and that's about it. A couple of cystoscopies in my lifetime, a breast exam to check out a lump...tonsillectomy when I was 4. That's about it. Now, the dude in the "big house" in the wealthy neighbourhood a few blocks away from me with the fancy street lights and the silly speed bumps for people for drivers who just *might* go 60 and disrupt them while they're out walking their purebred dogs might just be taking a disproportionate amount of healthcare out of the system compared to what they put into it. Healthcare is a whole other animal than education or roads, etc.
Communal pooling of money means that it's there for those who need it and it's got nothing to do with income and everything to do with need, pure and simple.
Again.....tossing stuff out there for discussion.
Another thought on that. It isn't always the money of the wealthy that pays for the poor. Take a case like me. If we're communally pooling money, then theoretically my money is going alot further than the money of someone who is wealthy and who's family has alot of health issues. I rarely get sick. Aside from my HCV, it's been a sinus cold a couple of times a year and that's about it. A couple of cystoscopies in my lifetime, a breast exam to check out a lump...tonsillectomy when I was 4. That's about it. Now, the dude in the "big house" in the wealthy neighbourhood a few blocks away from me with the fancy street lights and the silly speed bumps for people for drivers who just *might* go 60 and disrupt them while they're out walking their purebred dogs might just be taking a disproportionate amount of healthcare out of the system compared to what they put into it. Healthcare is a whole other animal than education or roads, etc.
Communal pooling of money means that it's there for those who need it and it's got nothing to do with income and everything to do with need, pure and simple.
Again.....tossing stuff out there for discussion.
"Question is who absorbs the cost of the people who can't pay?"
Frankly, taxes are a communal absorbing. If you had to pay for the roads and education, etc. on your own, that would be a bloody nightmare. It's the collective pooling of money that makes it possible.
The question then becomes what do you want the communal pooling of money for healthcare to pay for? What should everyone have equal access to without question and what should the insurance companies be left to cover, IF anything?
At what point does someone stop deserving the same healthcare as everyone else? Ever?
Just keep in mind that health issues can hit anyone at any time. It's no respecter of persons. Anyone can get cancer, get in a car accident...the numbers of people on here who worry about finding good medical care and the numbers of people on here who made mistakes in our youth that brought us to this place these many years later.
Yeah, you'd pass a drug test now. But the drugs we did when we were younger (in theory - just saying) are costing the healthcare system now, aren't they. Should that disqualify you for healthcare? Something to think about.
We've had the discussions here about people who get up on their horse about drinking alcohol in any quantity when you have HCV but are perfectly fine with shoving **** in their mouths. Just how granular do you want to get with this? Should smokers be denied healthcare? They sure create their own problems, don't they? Why should people pay for healthcare for smokers when they brought their own issues on themselves?
I'm just tossing out food for thought here. Remember...I'm from the land of equal access to healthcare for everyone and there are plenty of reasons why I like it that way.
Trish
Frankly, taxes are a communal absorbing. If you had to pay for the roads and education, etc. on your own, that would be a bloody nightmare. It's the collective pooling of money that makes it possible.
The question then becomes what do you want the communal pooling of money for healthcare to pay for? What should everyone have equal access to without question and what should the insurance companies be left to cover, IF anything?
At what point does someone stop deserving the same healthcare as everyone else? Ever?
Just keep in mind that health issues can hit anyone at any time. It's no respecter of persons. Anyone can get cancer, get in a car accident...the numbers of people on here who worry about finding good medical care and the numbers of people on here who made mistakes in our youth that brought us to this place these many years later.
Yeah, you'd pass a drug test now. But the drugs we did when we were younger (in theory - just saying) are costing the healthcare system now, aren't they. Should that disqualify you for healthcare? Something to think about.
We've had the discussions here about people who get up on their horse about drinking alcohol in any quantity when you have HCV but are perfectly fine with shoving **** in their mouths. Just how granular do you want to get with this? Should smokers be denied healthcare? They sure create their own problems, don't they? Why should people pay for healthcare for smokers when they brought their own issues on themselves?
I'm just tossing out food for thought here. Remember...I'm from the land of equal access to healthcare for everyone and there are plenty of reasons why I like it that way.
Trish
Mike, I also have a (few, 2 now 3) small companies and an employee and wish I could afford healthcare for him and my step dau + their 2 kids and the twins on the way. I know for a fact that our employee (son-in-law) could not afford the 2500.00 deductable + the whatever percentage myself + hubby have to pay. They somehow have state healthcare and we pay him 20.oo an hour, provide their second vechicle which is a plumbing van and to top it off they live in an apt that we own. I don't know what they do with their money, don't drink of do drugs. I wouldn't know what to do if someone helped me out like that and never expected to be paid back. Sorry that was so long :-)
Deb, I just said that we need to help us (americans) and was told that it is not what the bible says) Not my theory at all, the govt need sto help us who are trying and I agree to drug test the welfare .........
Denise
Deb, I just said that we need to help us (americans) and was told that it is not what the bible says) Not my theory at all, the govt need sto help us who are trying and I agree to drug test the welfare .........
Denise
From Nicholas Kristoff's recent NY Times op-ed:
"Health care reform may be defeated this year in part because so many Americans believe the government can’t do anything right and fear that a doctor will come to resemble an I.R.S. agent with a scalpel. Yet the part of America’s health care system that consumers like best is the government-run part.
Fifty-six to 60 percent of people in government-run Medicare rate it a 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale. In contrast, only 40 percent of those enrolled in private insurance rank their plans that high.
Multiple surveys back that up. For example, 68 percent of those in Medicare feel that their own interests are the priority, compared with only 48 percent of those enrolled in private insurance."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/opinion/03kristof.html
"Health care reform may be defeated this year in part because so many Americans believe the government can’t do anything right and fear that a doctor will come to resemble an I.R.S. agent with a scalpel. Yet the part of America’s health care system that consumers like best is the government-run part.
Fifty-six to 60 percent of people in government-run Medicare rate it a 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale. In contrast, only 40 percent of those enrolled in private insurance rank their plans that high.
Multiple surveys back that up. For example, 68 percent of those in Medicare feel that their own interests are the priority, compared with only 48 percent of those enrolled in private insurance."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/opinion/03kristof.html
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