Canada healthcare?

Hi Don't know where you hear it is free Canadians pay taxes to pay for health care. lol gail

I live in Alberta and the health care system varies from province to province however no one in Canada has "free" healthcare and health care is different from insurance for meds and such...

With Alberta Health Care a family of 4 generally pays 88.00/month which covers all doctors trips including health specialists and eye doctors but NOT plastic/cosmetic surgeons nor does it cover trips to the dentist. This does NOT cover RX for medical including RX glasses, you have to have seperate insurance for that via Alberta Blue Cross or which ever insurance you or your spouse has from employment, neither of these insurances are free either and they vary alot in price...

In Saskatchewan the health care isn't "free" either, it gets paid via property taxes...so contrary to what many americans or other countries believe there is no free health care and we certainly do pay very high taxes on top of that.

:)

Canada's public health system is based on the principles of universality -- that is where the concept of free health care comes from. Canadians believe that access to health services are a basic human right, just like education. Just as we pay for education through taxation -- and so do you in America -- so too do we pay for health services through taxation.

The per capita costs of providing health services are cheaper than in the United States for many reasons, but I think the pressures from lobbyists in a private payer system has a lot to do with it. Ask yourself why on earth any government acting for the people would agree that it can't use its tremendous buying power to negotiate cheaper prices for drugs covered by the seniors medicare and medicaid. Seems to me that is a case of the government working for the pharmaceutical industry.

I think that is one of the factors that helps keep prices down in Canada. We have taken the for-profit motive out of much of the health care industry.

While some provinces, like Alberta and BC have introduced annual premiums for insured health services, other provinces have no barriers to access. If you are a permanent resident, you have access to health services whether you make $100,000 a year and pay $30,000 of that in taxation or whether you earn $10,000 a year and pay none.

We have huge discrepancies in wealth throughout our country, and poorer provinces could not provide the same level of health services to their citizens without subsidization. The federal government helps fund the cost of the public health system (which is delivered on a province by province basis) through an equalization formula that takes some of the money it collects from the richer provinces and distributes it to the poorer provinces.

It isn't a perfect system, but it is one of the most unifying aspects of Canadian culture -- perhaps one thing that we all agree that we must preserve.

FitzyK23 said...
Just curious- even though your tax funded health care does not cover prescriptions, is it correct that your prescriptions are a lot cheaper than in the US? In that case, can one afford the prescriptions without having RX insurance? Are they reasonably priced?

Well I pay 40.00 for 2 cans of cortifoam enema with insurance, without it I'd be paying 120.00 for 1 can so it's a huge difference not having RX insurance for sure.

In Alberta you can apply for a subsidy which goes by the amount of your household income, some people don't make enough money so they can get full subsidy on their ABHC but you must apply for it.  For others depending on their household income they may be able to pay less but still have to pay something.

Hospital visits likely vary from province to province as well, if you're in a ward then it's free, if you want a private or semi-private room you pay for it out of your pocket ABHC does not cover this...same with if you want a T.V or a telephone in your room, this is an extra cost to you.

In Alberta they are trying to bring in more private healthcare, meaning you pay out of pocket to get a hip surgery for example, within 1-2 months rather than go public and wait 1-2 years...this is a sore subject in Alberta because everyone (except government and very wealthy people) are afraid that public healthcare will become obsolete if we allow private in.

:)

pb4 commented about the wait time.   I'm not Canadian, so I always thought that was a big issue.  Sure the healthcare may be free/cheaper but you have to wait.  In the past, someone on here has commented about Australia...you have to go through certain things, and try different drugs before they will approve remicade for you.  Is it like that in Canada too?

Thanks pb4....You always "hear" things, and don't necessarily want to assume they are true.

I don't want to turn this into a political debate, but I would much rather pay than have "free"--and I use that term loosely because we know our taxes would go up--helathcare where I have to wait or a politician telling me what drugs I can take and when!

One thing that's important to note is that the wait times are generally longer for the less serious cases (or they try to keep it that way). For more serious cases the patient can get in to see a specialist much quicker.

I have seen specialists within a matter of a few days in the past. Other times, within a matter of about two months.

emergency rooms put the most serious cases first. There are times when there are many more people in emergency than the doctors on staff can handle in a timely fashion, so they may wait hours to be seen.

In regards to people dying in the emergency room or losing babies because of inadequate care, that doesn't happen every single day at every single hospital. It happens, but it's actually rare, considering the amount of people across Canada going to emergency on a daily basis. You don't hear about these things that often. When they do happen, the public is outraged. Rightly so.

Emergency room doctors in the US are busy too. It's a bustling atmosphere, and they can become overcrowded, especially on weekends.

Ok I have to give props to the Veterans Affairs system here. I live in the US and my healthcare is completely covered. I pay absolutely nothing unless I have to go outside of the system. Which has happened occasionally, but that is rare and they have covered 6 out of 8 times (and the other two are still in process).

Thank you Mr. Hoover.

I know what you mean about giving birth ...my best friend gave birth two years ago and they sent her home less then 3 hours later.

I gave birth in 93 too and I was 39 yrs old at the time .......Sent home the next day .....well had Cait at 3:19 am April 5th and was home by the next morning at 10 am ........they had me packed and basically pushing me out the Dang door

When I gave birth to my first son in 74 I was in hospital for 7 days and I all too remember getting the diapers ,bottles and everything you could imagine plus

Could not agree more pb4 ........Mom was in the ER hallway straight after being intubated waiting for airlift to larger hospital .......I found it to be very offensive and demeaning to my Mother.........she passed away the next day........

Take care all

Lyn

** pb4 out of interest did you follow the " Mike Cole ".Minister of Immigration"s reasons for having to resign from office and the Millions of monies that were handed out to ppl that had not even followed protocol or did applications for monies they received**

If interested check the Toronto Star Newsparper and I am sure you will see what I am talking about ......May and June of this yr....Cait was a Page at Legislation during this period .......It is totall disgusting and he was not charged and he still is paid his yrly salary** 

Take care all

Lyn

I agree that the US does have issues with its healthcare system now, but I don't think national healthcare is the answer. It is just one more thing they are wanting to control and are trying to take away from us. I want a choice in who insures me and where I can go. I don't want the government telling what, when, and where any more than they do all ready! I have an excellent trusting relationship with my drs. now and and I would like to keep it that way. :)