Health Care..what do you think?

[sherri_chickie]

I think my infection ( it was never discovered where it started but it was not in the incision) was an opportunistic sinus infection that was previously asymptomatic, but that is just my opinion.

I went to the hospital, in wicked pain, was seen immediately, given 2 CAT scans x-rays and a butt load of morphine ( morphine good!) My treatment in the hospital was amazing, the doctors were great and the nurses so caring. I saw my doctor more than I saw Shon's doc when he had his accident ( in the states: saw him once, he was not even the one to tell us he was brain dead)

The money in medicine is good in both countries, people go into medicine for altruistic reasons more than financial, for the most part, but of course there are exceptions.

[Smittie61984]

Originally Posted by Apoc

Congrats. You still pay monthly insurance fees for medical though, we dont.

Are you serious? Do you really feel like you aren't paying anything for your medical care?

Everyone from Canada argues that their doctors make a ton of cash, their equipment is top notch, they provide great care to people and somehow they do it for less than American's pay through private insurance companies who are competing for your hard earned money? All three of those things costs a shit ton of money. Doctors aren't going to work for free, top notch equipment (probably from America or Japan) isn't cheap, and the hospital staff isn't going to work hard if they aren't making that much. And just because the doctor makes a funny joke or the nurse gives you an extra special sponge bath doesn't mean it's a better system.

We argue day in and day out on here about how if you want a good quality motorcycle/tv/blowjob you have to pay for it. Why is healthcare any different and if Canada is as good as the US then who is paying for this great service that God himself condones???

[Fleck750]

Originally Posted by cbrchick

A

It's amazing what little first hand knowledge people have of our system and think it's inferior. Any American I've ever taken care of has been nothing but impressed with the care they received.

I personally don't feel it's inferior, just different. As stated somewhere above, Americans have an ingrained distrust of our gov't running things. The insurance system varies wildly now, Medicare is a nightmare, so throwing it in the hands of the idiots in Washington doesn't sit well with most of us.

[sherri_chickie]

Fleck750.. I can totally respect that, after all governments do have an innate ability to screw up almost anything they touch..lol

I have a friend who is Canadian but has been living in the states for 13 years or so. He has always had great insurance through work and has no problems with it, I think the problem starts when you don't have great insurance. I know some school divisions in the U.S won't pay for health benefits for teachers (found that out from a friend who moved from her state to texas to work because of that) My late husband always worked full time as an electrician and never had coverage through his work. That is where the problem lies, how do we cover those people?

[Fleck750]

Originally Posted by sherri_chickie

Fleck750.. I can totally respect that, after all governments do have an innate ability to screw up almost anything they touch..lol

I have a friend who is Canadian but has been living in the states for 13 years or so. He has always had great insurance through work and has no problems with it, I think the problem starts when you don't have great insurance. I know some school divisions in the U.S won't pay for health benefits for teachers (found that out from a friend who moved from her state to texas to work because of that) My late husband always worked full time as an electrician and never had coverage through his work. That is where the problem lies, how do we cover those people?

In all the places I've worked, I've had ONE place that I could actually afford the premiums. Most places were at least $40-$60 per week. Doesn't sound like much, but when you're only bringing home $300 a week, it's a lot.

I had no insurance when I had my m/c wreck. Total bill for 1.5 days stay, too many scans to count, 4 staples in my shin came to $27,000. Can I pay it? No. I tried to set a payment plan with them, but the hospital wanted it all paid in a year. Yeah. Right.

I would rather sit home and die before I'll go to a hospital again.

So, like 1/3 of all Americans, hospitals and doctors are something that is out of my reach.

[Smittie61984]

Originally Posted by sherri_chickie

My late husband always worked full time as an electrician and never had coverage through his work. That is where the problem lies, how do we cover those people?

My old job of moving pool tables I was 10-99d (and only grossing about 22k) which is basically like working for yourself and you pay your taxes at the end of the year since nothing is taken out. I bought private health insurance for $150 a month (single with major surgery history of a splenectomy). Sounds like a lot but a lot of people spend more than that on their cell phone bill or cigarettes (which tend to put people into hospitals). I don't believe I ever met someone who couldn't afford health insurance if they gave up some luxuries of life.

One problem is by buying my own private health insurance I wasn't allowed to deduct the cost like people who work for a company that provide it. Such as if your weekly paycheck was say $500 and they take out $50 a week for insurance, the government only makes you pay taxes on $450. Without the reduction that 50 a week is $2600 a year extra the government will tax you (which for some can move you from a lower tax bracket to the next one up). At lets say 15% on that 2600 you spend roughly $400 extra a year in taxes vs someone who is using a company. I could have made $500 weekly and spent 475 on health insurance and I'd still pay taxes as if I made $500 a week. That's our government's way of encouraging dependency. A great fix would have been letting people who don't have work healthcare deduct the health insurance costs from their taxes.

We are also prohibited from buying insurance across state lines. I believe shitville actually has only 1 major health insurance provider because of some government hacks who set the system up for political favors. Let it be where I can say fuck you to an insurance company here in Georgia and buy insurance from somewhere in California then that insurance company I told to fuck off is going to work on ways to make their company more appealing to consumers who can take their money wherever they want.

And the private sector is making huge strides in providing cheap healthcare. Walmart and Krogers have $4 a month prescriptions on generic drugs. Don't kid yourself, Walmart is loosing money on those drugs but are making it up by having you wonder around and buying stuff. Which to me it seems like everybody wins there. Drug companies are happy, Walmart is happy, and you are happy about that new 52" LCD you just bought where you can watch that lesbian on MSNBC bitch about the cost of healthcare and how the government needs to do something about it.

Oh yeah, then you have the walk in clinics that are popping up everywhere, with many of them 24 hours and cheap which then frees up our ERs which makes hospitals happy becuase they tend to want to tend to the auto-accident people who are insured and WILL pay the hospital.

There are tons of solutions but the problem is trying to get hte government to give up power. Blood from a stone would be easier.

[goof2]

Originally Posted by Smittie61984

We are also prohibited from buying insurance across state lines. I believe shitville actually has only 1 major health insurance provider because of some government hacks who set the system up for political favors. Let it be where I can say fuck you to an insurance company here in Georgia and buy insurance from somewhere in California then that insurance company I told to fuck off is going to work on ways to make their company more appealing to consumers who can take their money wherever they want.

I agree with this 100% and listed it as one of the two things that healthcare reform must have if the politicians are actually serious in my earlier post. They keep bleating about how they only want a government option as a way to inject competition in to the health insurance market. At the same time they refuse to allow interstate purchasing of insurance. This single change would massively increase competition, it would be immediate, and wouldn't cost taxpayers a dime. Doing so would apparently be much too effective so the politicians want nothing to do with it.

As for comparing the American and Canadian systems, it is an interesting exercise, but ultimately means nothing in the context of healthcare reform in America. What is being proposed bears no resemblance to the system in Canada. Even if the bill gets passed as is the American system will still be closer to the old American system than Canada's system.

[Smittie61984]

Originally Posted by goof2

I agree with this 100% and listed it as one of the two things that healthcare reform must have if the politicians are actually serious in my earlier post.

The Republicans actually have a bill that would allow people to puchase health insurance across state lines. For some odd reason that's not making the news or more importantly any headway in congress.

Of course where was this bill when the Republicans actually had power?

[Amber Lamps]

Originally Posted by Apoc

Doctors here do damn well. So do nurses, and other areas of the medical field.

Unless you condsider 2-300k not that well for a doctor.

You guys can pretend our HC system is horrible if you want. The rest of us who live with it, know better.

And i've never been turned away or made wait any ridiculous time for any procedure. Its pretty much a myth that you people use to villify and validate your silly opinions with.

You would do well to notice the "?" after my words which denote that they are questions...

I'm not saying that Canadian health care is inferior, I am merely asking a question. Although, I do know for certain that there have been cases of Canadians coming down here to get procedures done. Oh and $300,000 (is that Canadian money btw?) is great money unless people just on the other side of the border make $500,000 for the same job. I personally don't care what they do in regards to health care.

[Amber Lamps]

Originally Posted by cbrchick

Are you kidding me? Infection is a common risk factor post surgery. Doesn't matter who or where you get surgery, people get infection. By that logic you could say my father had inferior treatment for his Cancer at one of the most well known cancer hospitals in the world located in Houston, TX. He had infection post surgery and his Cancer came back.

He had zero complications following his stint with CA for the 3rd time here in my little Canadian hospital.

I'd say 99.9% of people don't go into the medical field for the money. There are far better ways to make more money and actually have a life. And the best and the brightest go into fields that suit them - from palliative care to cardiac surgery - not into which that pay more...

It's amazing what little first hand knowledge people have of our system and think it's inferior. Any American I've ever taken care of has been nothing but impressed with the care they received.

Hello CANADA!!! There are these little items called question marks, they denote when the writer is asking a question. I could have sworn that you Canucks have them too... oh FUCK, I see what I did wrong. Let me try again.


''If you had your surgery here, would you have gotten the infection, EH? In other words, is Canadian health care inferior because all of the practitioners get paid less and the best/brightest choose other fields where the salary potential is better, EH?