71–80 of 215 posts
Our basketcase of a healthcare system kills 45,000 people per year. That's a 9/11 every 24 days. It's inexcusable.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Chemo is most definitely covered for me.. just as everything else that would be medically required. http://www.health.gov.bc.ca/msp/infoben/benefits.html#notcov... Nothing you have commented with is based on fact. Edit: OP added a ninja-edit to his comment that included the part about teeth-pain... as my link explains, non-emergency dentalcare is not covered by default.
You linked to a provincial health service for B.C. residents. That's not Canadian coverage and I don't see where it says that medication is covered. Most citizens in Canada don't have free (or reduced cost) medication unless they are below the poverty line. I came out of the hospital with an $800/month medication bill after a diagnosis of colitis, after missing 2 months of work being bed-ridden, while self-employed w…
Your profile says your in Toronto did you recently move from the states? The Canadian constitution divided healthcare into a the provincial area of responsibility.[1]
> Most citizens in Canada don't have free (or reduced cost) medication unless they are below the poverty line. Might not appear so to you but most are a reduced price. Relevant quote "A Canadian law authorizes a review board to order a price reduction whenever the price of a drug exceeds the median of the prices in six European countries plus the United States."[2]
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_healthcare [2] http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/20...
I happened to have an appointment schedule. I went into the clinic and, since it was my first time there, I filled out a stack of paperwork. And then they told me my insurance was inactive.
So I figured, whatever, I'll pay it out of pocket and file for reimbursement. I asked how much the specific service I was requesting would cost. And they had no idea. They refused to tell me, other than to say "well, we charge a hundred dollars up front and then you pay the rest of the bill after you are done".
I ask to see their cash price list, because every sane facility I've ever been to has a cash price list with prices that are 1/2 to 1/4 of the insurance price. And they don't have one.
So I ended up leaving. It's amazing just how perverse health insurance has become, that it can so affect the delivery of medical care that the facility cant/wont give an up front estimate.
I wasnt even there for anything complex - just a standard glucose diabetes test. They probably do ten a day.
As a Canadian, I couldn't imagine having to decide between money and healthcare. I don't know how you guys do it... Relevant reading: http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/07/12/how-i-lost-...
My wife is Canadian. She was just as fearful hearing the stories, and loved Canada's health care. Until we needed it, and it failed our son.
He got more help in the first 2 weeks here in Pennsylvania then he got in Canada after more than a year of fighting to get every bit of care he could get. Do you know what it was like being told of the additional challenges he would face because he didn't get help when he was first diagnosed (1 1/2 years). Now my second son is getting tested, as he might be autistic as well. But the process is massively different. He will do much better, and the system is already working for him. The cost to us? Nothing. Not a dime, and not because I have insurance. It's provided, by the state. I pay less now then I was paying before for my health care. Sorry, but the taxes in Quebec are steep, and everything gets taxed.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: it was nothing more than child abuse. My son suffered because the system failed him willingly. Knowingly. They knowingly harmed him, and others like him (I kid you not, the government mandated what effectively is abuse).
If you choose to have children in Quebec, good luck. If they have special needs, flee. Do not wait and try to work with the system. Leave as soon as you can. Do not wait. I wish someone had told me that.
Edit: At the time (and I imagine it's still the case) the law required he be given help within 3 months. This couldn't happen, because of budget issues we were told. These budget issues were set by the government, in part, because they don't believe in science. The politicians voted to limit the budget for autism cases to, iirc, around $20 million. This is despite the fact that all the research points to early intervention being critical. If he'd gotten help at 1 1/2 years old, or at least within the time dictated by the law, he would be far more along then he is now.
So no. No respect for a government that places government mandated culture ahead of the health and well being of its citizenry.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Having experienced emergency care in both Denmark and the U.S., this is also the main reason I won't relocate to the U.S. until this is sorted out. I had what was thought to be a broken ankle in Denmark thanks to icy conditions and I was so well looked after, and charged nothing, I was awe inspired and wish there had been some way to pay it back. I sliced a finger in the U.S. and was made to feel like a statistic, wi…
It's not fair, and not right, but it is a fact that for the most part, most of us here don't have to worry about that. If you're a software engineer or systems administrator or similar type of professional earning a fair living it's not at all uncommon to have completely free health insurance for yourself, and affordable options to cover your family. I haven't worked for a place with an individual premium in 5 years.…
It's more broken if you're middle-class-or-below (as you mention) or an entrepreneur who isn't either early-20s-and-healthy or raking in huge piles of cash. The part that seems most out of keeping with the American ethos is how anti-entrepreneur it is: you get good collectivized coverage if you work for IBM or Microsoft or Google (because it's socialized across their employee base), but if you start your own company or are trying to buy insurance for a 10-person company's employees, well then you're screwed.
Where is the outrage over this price? What part of PPACA does ANYTHING to reduce this cost? PPACA does essentially 2 things: 1) It makes insurance "affordable" for people who previously couldn't obtain it at all. 2) Drastically increases demand for health care, without adding to supply or controlling costs any other way.
Insurance is simply a distribution of cost over a risk pool. If relatively mundane life happenings cost $24k, and nothing is being done to fix that, we're in real trouble, and I think we are.
Nothing done to increase the pool of doctors. Nothing done to control medical lawsuit costs, which transfer money from the insurance pool to individuals. Nothing done to control the cost of drugs (and in some cases, aggravated by making more expensive drugs "free").
Bring the cost down to $2,400 and "wiping people out" isn't as big a concern.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You linked to a provincial health service for B.C. residents. That's not Canadian coverage and I don't see where it says that medication is covered. Most citizens in Canada don't have free (or reduced cost) medication unless they are below the poverty line. I came out of the hospital with an $800/month medication bill after a diagnosis of colitis, after missing 2 months of work being bed-ridden, while self-employed w…
> You linked to a provincial health service for B.C. residents. That's not Canadian coverage and I don't see where it says that medication is covered. Your profile says your in Toronto did you recently move from the states? The Canadian constitution divided healthcare into a the provincial area of responsibility.[1] > Most citizens in Canada don't have free (or reduced cost) medication unless they are below the pover…
Price control for medication != free medication for Canadians or the removal of the burden of paying for medication for people with a serious health condition, which can still be significant. Which was the original point of the OP (in addition to the cost of dental work).
Even though I've been researching with interest, so far I haven't run across much in the American healthcare system that makes me question my decision (as an American) to move to Denmark. My taxes are higher, but my costs are very predictable, and by design cannot ever bankrupt me: I pay a flat 8% of my income to support the national healthcare system. I won't end up with a charge equal to 20% or 50% or 500% of my in…
Having experienced emergency care in both Denmark and the U.S., this is also the main reason I won't relocate to the U.S. until this is sorted out. I had what was thought to be a broken ankle in Denmark thanks to icy conditions and I was so well looked after, and charged nothing, I was awe inspired and wish there had been some way to pay it back. I sliced a finger in the U.S. and was made to feel like a statistic, wi…
LOL. Go to the emergency room now in the US, with a real emergency, wait for hours. After this is sorted? Wait for days, maybe?
Our health system is completely broken in every way, and building up more bureaucracy is just going to make it worse.
I am counting on hospital visits not even being an option in the future, in the US.
This is putting things exactly backwards. The argument is roughly "Treating a minor condition cost $24k, which could wipe people out financially, therefore PPACA is important." Where is the outrage over this price? What part of PPACA does ANYTHING to reduce this cost? PPACA does essentially 2 things: 1) It makes insurance "affordable" for people who previously couldn't obtain it at all. 2) Drastically increases deman…
Disclaimer: I'm not arguing for PPACA in any way but if you are going to base you argument on billing for a "minor" condition then make sure it's actually a minor condition.
As a Canadian, I couldn't imagine having to decide between money and healthcare. I don't know how you guys do it... Relevant reading: http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/07/12/how-i-lost-...
I'm a Canadian who owes tens of thousands because I had an emergency operation in a different province (BC) from where I have my health card (Ontario).
My thought is the situation is analogous to each US state and their safety net medical programs. Means based? Is this correct?