Our major medical is thru the roof. How about yours? How do you feel about national health insurance. Do they have it in Canada? How does it work? Is it a good deal?
Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
National Health Insurance will save the country lots of money! Most sick people will die before they finish the paperwork and wait for an appointment!
Wonderful examples of gov't run programs : 1 Motor Vehicle Dept. 2.City License Dept. 3.City Building Dept. 4.BLM & Dept of Forestry. 5.EPA, OSHA, AQMD, etc. 6.You add the rest.
Would you like to have these kind of Civil Servants in charge of helping you when you have a major illness, or emergency?
Posted by Murray MacDonald (Member # 3558) on :
Yes, we do have it in Canada & it the plans vary from Province to Province. Here in Northern Ontario it works well for us. All medical needs are met & funded. Murray just had a total knee replacement in January - on a waiting list for 18 months - our choice - to make the time for a three month recovery. All Dr., specialist, physio and drugs paid for, no bills or administration. We do probably pay more in provincial income tax to pay for it - but because the coverage is not income based it works well. We have a wonderful family doctor, but our community is about five GP's short. We are both healthy, but being self employed it is nice to have one less thing to worry about. Some people also purchase extended benefits from private companies that cover non-OHIP insured services ie drugs, dental, eye glasses. Larger employers may also provide these benefits. It works very well here, but waiting lists can be longer in some cities - especially in the Toronto area post SARS.
Posted by Alfred Toy (Member # 3844) on :
Yes we have a national health plan, but its not perfect, a big part of our income tax goes toward funding this program. As well I have extended benefits through my job with the federal gov't. Here is a link to how Health Coverage works in Saskatchewan.
I heard on a news show a few years back that the city of Philadelphia had more MRI machines than all of Canada. There is virtually no wait for an MRI in the states.
Posted by Alfred Toy (Member # 3844) on :
The reason for more MRI's in Boston, actually, is because they charge $500-$1,000 for a scan, and they are private clinics. We have a number or companies wanting to open MRI clinics in Canada because they are so lucrative. Cost of a full body MRI installation is $500,000 - $1 million. A smaller MRI that does extremities such as arm or leg are $250,000.
quote: Since M.R.I, scans cost about $1,000 each, their overuse and misuse wastes health care dollars, medical researchers said. "Too often, people try to use the M.R.I, to make a diagnosis," said Dr. John Froymeyer, director of the McClure Musculoskeletal Research Center at the University of Vermont. "It misleads you often enough that you perform unnecessary surgery, and the results are not very good."
'Temptation' for Doctors Moreover, Dr. Froymeyer said, Americans have almost 10 times more spinal disk operations than people in other Western countries far more neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons and orthopedic surgeons in the United States, and many times more M.R.I. machines. For example, he said, there are more M.R.I, machines in Boston than in all of Canada. Dr. Boyd attributed overuse of M.R.I.'s to "insecurity, threat of lawsuits, inexperience and the potential for economic gain."
Posted by Mike Pulskamp (Member # 3475) on :
Be carefull. There is a huge diference between health care and health insurance! If we(the USA) could do single payer health care, I would jump at the idea. WE ALL NEED HEATH CARE. Now if you ask me what the dumbest thing i could think of doing with huge chunks of tax money is, I would say paying for insurance on something I KNOW WE WILL ALL NEED! Do we take our grocery money to the race track? NO we know we need groceries so we buy groceries with that money. OK, You say MD.s will have less pay and less monetary reason to excel if the gov. is paying a flat price per treatment. IF WE CUT OUT THE INSURANCE COMPANIES DOCTORS COULD STILL MAKE GOOD MONEY. You say that you want to be able to choose an above average Dr. for yourself? The single payer plan would let you, You just have to pay for difference that the special "your above average "(you think) Dr. charges over the gov flat price for that treatment. I will need medical services. With the way things are set up now I am making an insurance company rich and they hope I quietly drop dead without cutting into the profits! No thanks to the insurence!
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