What's right about our health-care system
- Thread starter #juan
- Start date
Toronto Distric School Board's got thier own psychologist. We were told he might be able to get a school assessment in grade three. He's on "the list".
I'd easily take him to Buffalo but Im not sure they would accept a US doc's assessment in our board.
It's confusing and frustrating, just like it was when I waited, bleeding profusely, for my hysterectomy for two months. Just like I had to pay out of pocket so I wouldnt have to be in a ward when I had my baby. Just like I have to book my doctor visits a month in advance or take my chances at the walk in clinic. Just like I have to book my lupus specialist a YEAR in advance and wait three months for a sleep lab assessment.
I may be the exception to the national rule, but Im pretty typical for Toronto. I just don't think that on a subject like healthcare you can make blanket statements about how well or poorly the sytems "works". I can only base my opinion on what has happened to me and my friends.
I would gladly come to Ottawa if that's a possibility. Will phone my docs.
Thanks for the idea!
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CHEO is a wonderful hospital, then there's the Royal Ottawa. Both are more than capable of assessing children. The Univeristy of Ottawa may be offer something as well. Remember the squeaky wheel thing too....Go Mother Bear all over thier asses! All you need is a referal! :lol:
Ontario Health Premium
The Ontario Health Premium is to be collected by the income tax system, and is effective July 1, 2004. The premium is based on taxable income, and ranges from no premium for those with taxable incomes under $20,000 to an annual premium of $900 for those with incomes over $200,000 in 2005 and later tax years. Ontario joins Alberta and British Columbia as the only provinces charging premiums to individuals for health insurance. Individual health care premiums were eliminated in Ontario 15 years ago and replaced with an employer health levy by which companies paid the health insurance premiums.
In B.C. we pay about $145 per month for both medical and dental. Eye care is included in the medical. We are seniors and I don't know if we get a break or not but Ontario can't be much different.
The Ontario Health Premium is to be collected by the income tax system, and is effective July 1, 2004. The premium is based on taxable income, and ranges from no premium for those with taxable incomes under $20,000 to an annual premium of $900 for those with incomes over $200,000 in 2005 and later tax years. Ontario joins Alberta and British Columbia as the only provinces charging premiums to individuals for health insurance. Individual health care premiums were eliminated in Ontario 15 years ago and replaced with an employer health levy by which companies paid the health insurance premiums.
In B.C. we pay about $145 per month for both medical and dental. Eye care is included in the medical. We are seniors and I don't know if we get a break or not but Ontario can't be much different.
We pay $600 a year and get no dental or eyes. We pay a top up plan at Ski's work for some eyes and almost full dental.
This is just a MsQuinty tax. It doesn't just go to healthcare. He just used HealthCare as an excuse for a new tax (actually its a levy since he "promised" no new taxes or tax increases to get elected (a lie of course)).
I know my question is going to be seen as a troll question...but I have to ask it and I'll try to do it without implying that I am being rude... I am only curious......
I thought Canadian Health Care was free - what is this monthly payment people keep discussing?
I remember I used to contribute through my paycheck in Canada - is that what you are talking about??
I thought Canadian Health Care was free - what is this monthly payment people keep discussing?
I remember I used to contribute through my paycheck in Canada - is that what you are talking about??
Yes it's the free healthcare we get after paying more taxes and paying a monthly provincial premium.
Canadian Health Care doesn't claim to be free. Canadian Health Care claims to be universal, and free at the point of use, but not free altogether.
Hi Karrie.....I believe only Ontario, Alberta, and B.C., charge any kind of premium. For the rest, it's paid out of taxes.
Kreskin/Karrie
Thanks - I guess I was just hung up on the words being used...
But that is the system I use except I pay to a Health Insurance company. There are a number of private ones and they compete for the public's membership, if one doesn't belong to a group membership through a large corporation or government or labor group. Because I am self-employed I utilize the smaller insurance group models. These vary from year to year and the prices vary as well but I use $100 a month with co-pays of $5. up to $20. for doctor visits, procedures and prescriptions.
This year I believe I am paying $90/month.
Thanks - I guess I was just hung up on the words being used...
But that is the system I use except I pay to a Health Insurance company. There are a number of private ones and they compete for the public's membership, if one doesn't belong to a group membership through a large corporation or government or labor group. Because I am self-employed I utilize the smaller insurance group models. These vary from year to year and the prices vary as well but I use $100 a month with co-pays of $5. up to $20. for doctor visits, procedures and prescriptions.
This year I believe I am paying $90/month.
A few years ago my wife's uncle and aunt traveled to the states from Ottawa heading for Florida. I think they were still in New York when the uncle became very ill. They stopped a hospital where a doctor examined him and found that he had brain tumour that was bleeding into his brain. The man was dead in a day and a half. The result of all this was that my wife's aunt got a bill for over ten thousand dollars. Nobody in the New York hospital thought it was out of the ordinary but aunt Grace was upset as hell and so would I be. The Canadian health care system doesn't prepare one for other systems.
I think this isn't really that complicated a system if we think about it. Being Private or Public doesnt' magically make more doctors pop out of thin air, and that is the critical limiter to health care.
What it does mean, is it increase the amount of people in line for health care. If you are wealthy enough to outbid people ahead of you in line, the US system is far superior.
The wait times are greater in Canada because the bus driver, the janitor and the homeless all get to have the same treatment as you, and you have to wait in line.
Unless you wish to go to the USA, where you can just pay more and get to a private clinic. Its great for the individual who can afford it, as long as the nation as a whole cannot afford it. If everyone in the USA could afford to go to the doctor, it would lose all benefits.
What it does mean, is it increase the amount of people in line for health care. If you are wealthy enough to outbid people ahead of you in line, the US system is far superior.
The wait times are greater in Canada because the bus driver, the janitor and the homeless all get to have the same treatment as you, and you have to wait in line.
Unless you wish to go to the USA, where you can just pay more and get to a private clinic. Its great for the individual who can afford it, as long as the nation as a whole cannot afford it. If everyone in the USA could afford to go to the doctor, it would lose all benefits.
Juan
Many years ago I was in Utica New York and had occasion to require the seamstress abilities at a local hospital. I had a piece of metal puncture the large muscle bundle at the base of the thumb and it was bleeding like bejeepers...
I sat in the waiting room at "Emergency" for three hours while the "on-call" doctor came in off the golf course. He finally showed up...as mad as a wet hen that he had to show up for his "on-call" responsibilities. He was unnecessarily rude and physically rough with me while stiching the muscle back together. It was a very clean wound with no ragged edges and if I'd had the materials to sew it up myself I would have.
The doctor billed me $80.00 and the hospital billed me $60.00.
One hundred and forty bucks for six stitches....
Other than being in a VA hospital in Miami for a while (long long time ago)...this has been my only experience of the American "system"...from the first hand perspective.
I've found that anatomy is the same pretty much anywhere you go, similarly, sutures and antiseptic aren't prohibitively expensive so I'd have to conclude that the greater cost to the American system is the "for profit" side of the equation. I have no doubt that Canadian doctors who insist (the office I go to in London Ontario has a sign posted..."One thing at a time..") on requiring new appointments for everything....who can then bill OHIP for each visit...are doing exactly the same thing but in a much more underhanded way.
We don't have doctors any more, we have businessmen who wear white coats and who've never heard of the Hippocratic oath. The level of hospital spread infection in Canada is enormous with resistant bacterial and viral infections leaping from patient to patient...why?
Because "doctors" treating thirty patients one at a time don't bother to wash their hands between examinations...palpations etc. It would cut into the doctors billing time if he had to behave with some prudence...so instead Canadians run the risk of severe infections....
"Systems" of healthcare and hospital emergency rooms are and can only be as efficient and as sensitive to patient needs as the "doctors" who attend.
We don't have "doctors" anymore.
Many years ago I was in Utica New York and had occasion to require the seamstress abilities at a local hospital. I had a piece of metal puncture the large muscle bundle at the base of the thumb and it was bleeding like bejeepers...
I sat in the waiting room at "Emergency" for three hours while the "on-call" doctor came in off the golf course. He finally showed up...as mad as a wet hen that he had to show up for his "on-call" responsibilities. He was unnecessarily rude and physically rough with me while stiching the muscle back together. It was a very clean wound with no ragged edges and if I'd had the materials to sew it up myself I would have.
The doctor billed me $80.00 and the hospital billed me $60.00.
One hundred and forty bucks for six stitches....
Other than being in a VA hospital in Miami for a while (long long time ago)...this has been my only experience of the American "system"...from the first hand perspective.
I've found that anatomy is the same pretty much anywhere you go, similarly, sutures and antiseptic aren't prohibitively expensive so I'd have to conclude that the greater cost to the American system is the "for profit" side of the equation. I have no doubt that Canadian doctors who insist (the office I go to in London Ontario has a sign posted..."One thing at a time..") on requiring new appointments for everything....who can then bill OHIP for each visit...are doing exactly the same thing but in a much more underhanded way.
We don't have doctors any more, we have businessmen who wear white coats and who've never heard of the Hippocratic oath. The level of hospital spread infection in Canada is enormous with resistant bacterial and viral infections leaping from patient to patient...why?
Because "doctors" treating thirty patients one at a time don't bother to wash their hands between examinations...palpations etc. It would cut into the doctors billing time if he had to behave with some prudence...so instead Canadians run the risk of severe infections....
"Systems" of healthcare and hospital emergency rooms are and can only be as efficient and as sensitive to patient needs as the "doctors" who attend.
We don't have "doctors" anymore.
Hi Mikey
I'm sure the doctor had an agreement that he wouldn't get off his a$$ during his on call time for less than $80 dollars and the hospital likely had a minimum billing of $60 dollars. You probably would have got those same bills if you had needed twenty stitches instead of six.
In the case of my wife's uncle, it turned out that about five specialists were involved as well as the attending physician.
I'm sure the doctor had an agreement that he wouldn't get off his a$$ during his on call time for less than $80 dollars and the hospital likely had a minimum billing of $60 dollars. You probably would have got those same bills if you had needed twenty stitches instead of six.
In the case of my wife's uncle, it turned out that about five specialists were involved as well as the attending physician.
There was a study released this morning (heard about it on Global News Morning) that 2/3 of Canadians travelling out of province or out of country do not have the proper health insurance for the trip. The model here does discourage people from thinking it is the same everywhere.
P.S. My condolences for your loss.
Don't know about Ontario but in BC you're covered out of province/country for I believe 30 days. One has to pay up front but the plan would cover reasonable costs (similar to what it would be out if provided in BC) if receipts are sent to them. Plus the amount not covered can be claimed as a non-refundable medical tax credit. She should've got the majority of that cost back.
I think they do that in Ontario too. But they pay the lower of Ontario rates or the rate on the receipt. So you almost always wind up paying extra.
That's right, if they would normally allow billing from a provider in Ontario for say $6500 CDN but the US charged $10000 US (equivalent to say $12000 CDN at the time) one would be out $5500 unless the $5500 could be used as a tax credit. Then one would be about about 78% of the $5500.