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My experience with "free" Canadian health care.....No, its not free, our higher taxes on everything pay for it.....

I am 58 years old, have lived here my whole life.....I have never had a problem seeing my doctor......Longest time it ever took to get an appointment is a week.......This is for just regular check ups and such, so there is no big emergency.......If I had an emergency, its off to the ER or a walk in clinic, which are covered.

I am a pretty healthy guy, so have really never had many medical problems......I do have high blood pressure.........One time, I got stung by a bee and started to feel tightness in my throat, guess I was allergic.....Went to ER and they took me right in...no waiting......There were people in the waiting room with coughs, colds, scraped elbows etc....They seemed pissed when I went on through, but thats what they do...Another time, I had had a minor surgery for carpal tunnel and it started bleeding a bit from the stitches. I waited almost 4 hrs to see a doctor. Sure, I was pissed, but thinking back, not so much......If you are there for some dumb reason, you wait......BTW, this was in a medium sized town near Toronto.

People that live way out in the sticks, if they dont have a regular doctor could have a harder time.......I am finding that out...I moved 100 miles from the city 3 years ago...I still havent found a new doctor taking patients out here. Luckily, there is a small hospital in the town here and waiting times are short......I still go to my regular doctor back in the city for regular checkups etc....we make a day of it, wife and I both make our appointment together.

Biggest complaint about our system is that I think too many people abuse the right....They are at the doctor for any little thing and that bogs down the system. I think if it wasnt for these hypochondriacs, it would be a much better system

Also...Our health care system only covers health care....Drugs, dental and even ambulance rides are not covered...you need separate insurance for that stuff

poncho62 said:

My experience with "free" Canadian health care.....No, its not free, our higher taxes on everything pay for it.....

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Yeah, that goes without saying. Nothing is free. And you end up paying either way. In our case, we all pay higher premiums because so many people are operating outside the system. That increases our costs in two ways. First, the uninsured go without preventive healthcare, and wind up in emergency rooms when they get sick, and they can't pay. If they're chronically or terminally ill, they're in and out of the ER many times over (until it's over). We all pay for that. Second, we also have many healthy young people who have no healthcare insurance, and therefore don't pay premiums. It's easy to see how this increases costs for those who are in the system. If everybody is in the system, you get the lowest possible cost point.

poncho62 said:

Also...Our health care system only covers health care....Drugs, dental and even ambulance rides are not covered...you need separate insurance for that stuff

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Yeah, that was my understanding. We pay extra for dental also - most health plans do not cover dental. And ambulance rides are only covered in certain situations - in other situations you get a bill.

Bottom line. You cover all citizens. Your system costs are about half of ours (per capita). You rank higher in all important health measurements (satisfaction, life expectancy, infant mortality, avoidable mortality, quality-adjusted life years (QALY), disability-adjusted life years (DALY), etc. And you have ZERO personal bankruptcies due to health issues.

We have an election going on right now........The one party is accusing the other of wanting to get rid of health care, or at least make it more like the American system......It wont happen, but politicians are what they are, they will say anything to get votes.

Trouble is, we have had this system since 1939, I believe.......we are used to what we have and very few of us want to go to something different.....I think that same fear is in a lot of Americans minds....Change is always scary.

my boy is 28yrs old.Two yrs ago he had a good job driving a truck,just got his CDL.then a month later he developed heart problems and the doctor pulled his CDL and the company laid him off thus he lost his health insurance.he can't get his heart repaired because no hospital will do it w/o insurance,I buy his heart meds.Our president says everybody is manadated to carry health ins. or else face a fine!my question is how the h--l do you expect a person out of work with no money to buy health insurance and then say there going to be fined for not having it.what B.S.and then there is the problem of all the illegal aliens using ER's for themselfs and their children.I grew up in the 60s and saw what it took to make changes,believe me it can be done but it needs to be done by a whole lot of folks.the times they are a changing...russ

173abn said:

my boy is 28yrs old.Two yrs ago he had a good job driving a truck,just got his CDL.then a month later he developed heart problems and the doctor pulled his CDL and the company laid him off thus he lost his health insurance.he can't get his heart repaired because no hospital will do it w/o insurance,I buy his heart meds.Our president says everybody is manadated to carry health ins. or else face a fine!my question is how the h--l do you expect a person out of work with no money to buy health insurance and then say there going to be fined for not having it.

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This was the compromise, and it sucks. But one thing needs explaining. Once you demand that insurance carriers cover everyone, you can't allow people not to participate. If you did, then you'd have people signing up for health insurance only when they're sick. So If we're going to have guaranteed issue (everyone is covered and no one is denied), then we must have individual mandate (everyone must participate).

There are better systems, but it's tough to make such a radical switch (a little thing called politics gets in the way). In a single-payer system like Canada's National Health System (basically our Medicare) and England's "Beveridge" system (basically our VA system), it doesn't matter if you're working and paying into the system or not - you're still covered. In a "Bismark" system like Germany, France and Japan have, the government covers you while you're out of work. But if you're working, you have to pay in.

We can send men to the moon, but we can't provide basic health care to people in your son's situation? Especially when you served for all of us? It's just plain wrong.

mystreba said:

This was the compromise, and it sucks........

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Boy, you ain't kiddin.....I don't have health insurance because it's too expensive......$800 a month for me and my son, and it don't cover squat. (My woman got a deal at her work @$400/month. Still don't cover squat, but the kid's covered)

I don't not have HI just because it's cool, or the 'in thing to do'. I can't afford it, and I won't be able to afford it any more if they try and make me buy it. It's unconstitutional to force anyone to buy anything. Car insurance is one thing, you can choose to not drive. You don't HAve to have a car. But, unless you're dead, you HAVE to buy HI. Well, they can bill me in fines, and then throw me in the slammer when I refuse to pay them. I JUST DON'T HAVE THE MONEY FOR THIS CRAP.

Right on, BK...:thumbsup:

There was only a short chance for any type of actual health care... It was 'Single Payer' it was mentioned briefly and then the lobby $'s covered it up...
It is the only way that you will ever remove the graft from health care... unfortunately those with cash flow interests in the insurance side of things will spend whatever it takes to see that this will never happen... They have to. because with Single Payer there will be NO health care insurance... so when they step up to fight it they are always going to be all in...
All factions of our political structure are fed $ to stop any possibility... KennyV

KennyV said:

There was only a short chance for any type of actual health care... It was 'Single Payer' it was mentioned briefly and then the lobby $'s covered it up...
It is the only way that you will ever remove the graft from health care... unfortunately those with cash flow interests in the insurance side of things will spend whatever it takes to see that this will never happen... They have to. because with Single Payer there will be NO health care insurance... so when they step up to fight it they are always going to be all in...
All factions of our political structure are fed $ to stop any possibility... KennyV

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Right on, Kenny..:thumbsup: That's why I'd rather they repeal the whole thing and start over.......I do NOT like the idea of this Obamacare crap.....not one little bit. "We gotta pass it to see what's in it....". What HOOEY!!