The Great Canadian Free Health Care Plan

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[url="http://www.syracuse.com/crime/index.ssf?/base/policeblotter-1/1237539550204790.xml&coll=1&thispage=3"]http://www.syracuse.com/crime/index.ssf?/b...&thispage=3[/url]

A woman whose husband was dying of liver failure wired $70,000 to a overseas bank to pay for a life-saving transplant in the Philippines.

what happened to The great Canadian free health care plan coverage ?

[Lounge Daddy]

There are a lot of people who come here to Grand Rapids for medical care that they could get for "free" in Canada. But they don't want to wait for it. They would rather go to Grand Rapids where they can pay to have medical care now.

I know that many Canadians vacation in Florida annually, and they schedule their medical appointments in Florida. They have to wait for their Florida vacation. But many times, they claim, it's still less of a wait.

[Jesus_lol]

doesnt the USA have a lot of outsourced surgery as well?

i have never had to wait very long for anything. even with non serious stuff.

Edited March 21, 2009 by Jesus_lol

[Lounge Daddy]

I think Mike Moore goes to Cuba or something. Doesn't he?

[Ash Wednesday]

You get what you pay for, I guess. I've seen the worst from both sides of the coin. When you're self-employed in the U.S., you get screwed. I know a guy who is an auto mechanic and is deep in debt from getting heart surgery and gets hounded by creditors, and another friend who is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy and can no longer afford health insurance. Insurance companies also try to screw people over and get out of paying for what people need.

On the flip side, I know of someone in Britain who had to wait in line to see a specialist, and by the time it was their turn, the doctor had died, so they were back to square one and had to get another referral. The referral probably got some priority but it's still pretty slow.

As someone who has been self-employed and has had to both pay ridiculous prices for prescription medications and doctor's visits in the U.S. and ALSO wait ridiculous periods of time for mediocre service under the NHS in the U.K..... the jury is still out on how I feel about the whole thing.
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Lounge Daddy, I'm dying of laughter from that Optimus Prime poster. That's one of the greatest avatars ever.[/b]

[Nihil Obstat]

I didn't read the article, but it probably has to do with wait times.

That's the biggest downside to socialized healthcare. No competition means they can get away with that.

[Jesus_lol]

or it just means that there are more people who are able to use the healthcare system, so it gets overloaded

[Archaeology cat]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' post='1813291' date='Mar 21 2009, 05:27 PM']That's the biggest downside to socialized healthcare. No competition means they can get away with that.[/quote]
Does Canada have a private health sector as well, like they do in England? I mean, I could get private insurance here if I wanted to do so, but so far I like the NHS. At least, I've never had a problem with it.

[cmotherofpirl]

[quote name='Ash Wednesday' post='1813259' date='Mar 21 2009, 12:56 PM']You get what you pay for, I guess. I've seen the worst from both sides of the coin. When you're self-employed in the U.S., you get screwed. I know a guy who is an auto mechanic and is deep in debt from getting heart surgery and gets hounded by creditors, and another friend who is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy and can no longer afford health insurance.[/quote]
For your friend haressed by creditiors - he need only pay each creditor $5 a month to show he is trying to pay and they have to accept it and they CANNOT harass them. If they refuse the money, the entire debt can conceivably be cancelled. My friend has been paying her deceased daughter's medical bills like this for 20 years.

[CatherineM]

Some people who go to another country for organ transplants aren't doing it because of the wait time. They are doing it because they can't find a donor. Overseas you can pay a donor for their organ, so for something like a kidney or liver where you can use a live donor, it's faster, but not because there is anything wrong with the medical system at home. People from the US go to India for the same reason.

It is amazing how quickly things can get overloaded when everyone has access to affordable health care. It would be much easier on the system if poor people would just go ahead and die and "decrease the surplus population."

[cmotherofpirl]

[quote name='CatherineM' post='1813326' date='Mar 21 2009, 03:57 PM']Some people who go to another country for organ transplants aren't doing it because of the wait time. They are doing it because they can't find a donor. Overseas you can pay a donor for their organ, so for something like a kidney or liver where you can use a live donor, it's faster, but not because there is anything wrong with the medical system at home. People from the US go to India for the same reason.

It is amazing how quickly things can get overloaded when everyone has access to affordable health care. It would be much easier on the system if poor people would just go ahead and die and "decrease the surplus population."[/quote]
Don't worry thats coming soon to a hospital near you.

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='Archaeology cat' post='1813303' date='Mar 21 2009, 01:14 PM']Does Canada have a private health sector as well, like they do in England? I mean, I could get private insurance here if I wanted to do so, but so far I like the NHS. At least, I've never had a problem with it.[/quote]
It's extremely limited. Only some services are privatized. Generally 'nonessential' health care. Chiropractic and physiotherapy, cosmetic surgery and orthodontics, acupuncture, stuff like that.
So you can get insurance to cover stuff like that. Often companies will have healthcare plans for dentistry.

Of course it also varies province to province- healthcare is a provincial thing.

[Archaeology cat]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' post='1813431' date='Mar 21 2009, 09:46 PM']It's extremely limited. Only some services are privatized. Generally 'nonessential' health care. Chiropractic and physiotherapy, cosmetic surgery and orthodontics, acupuncture, stuff like that.
So you can get insurance to cover stuff like that. Often companies will have healthcare plans for dentistry.

Of course it also varies province to province- healthcare is a provincial thing.[/quote]
Got it. There are some services here that are almost entirely privatised (like optical), but I know that physiotherapy is covered by the NHS, considering I was referred to a physio for my sciatic pain (which is thankfully gone). Dentistry can go both ways.

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='Archaeology cat' post='1813885' date='Mar 22 2009, 02:05 AM']Got it. There are some services here that are almost entirely privatised (like optical), but I know that physiotherapy is covered by the NHS, considering I was referred to a physio for my sciatic pain (which is thankfully gone). Dentistry can go both ways.[/quote]
I'm really not all that well informed as to what is socialized and what is privatized... but the bottom line, as far as I know, is that there is never any parallel system. If something is private, public never covers it, and likewise, if something is covered in the public plan, private competition isn't allowed.

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[quote name='Nihil Obstat' post='1813291' date='Mar 21 2009, 02:27 PM']I didn't read the article, but it probably has to do with wait times.

That's the biggest downside to socialized healthcare. No competition means they can get away with that.[/quote]
The article is about a Canada man and wife whose husband dies in the Philippines tying to get life saving surgery. The doctor was a scammer who took 70K disappeared.
I’ve heard that hospitals all over Canada are closing because of the low pay grade, staffing is impossible. Also private (paid) health care is growing rapidly to take up the slack.
Conclusion, nothing worthwhile is free. Thank God for the excellent and plentiful healthcare in America. It is worth every cent!