Yeah see that makes no sense to me. And we have private and public ambulance services, same flat fee for everything. Our biggest issue is seniors who use ambulances like taxis… but no one sees a way out of that.
@HMSGoose - Ontario has the highest child care costs in Canada. Toronto is especially bad. You’re looking at a minimum of $1600 a month for childcare here. Lots of people end up staying home because the cost is just so damn high.
@jimp - distance issues and wait times for non-urgent issues aside, the Fraser Institute is known to have a right-wing “libertarian” bias with ties to the Koch brothers, take what they say with a large grain of salt.
For those who are not familiar with it, the Fraser Institute is a far-right, free-enterprise organization often described as libertarian. They absolutely hate anything socialist.
Those are some impressively precise estimates. At least they rounded to the nearest Canadian.
There are certainly problems with wait times for some non-emergency procedures, but I know several people who have had cancer, and who started treatment within a few days of their diagnosis.
People who can afford it do go elsewhere for faster or more deluxe treatment, but those who can’t at least know that they will get treatment, even if delayed. My dentist just recently got a quick hip replacement by going to a private clinic in Quebec.
While I appreciate your posting the article and the motivations for doing so, some of the negative reaction is occurring because (as the comments attest) the audience here at BoingBoing is already highly informed on the topic.
It’s not a big deal, but as a new Author you might want to do a quick scan of comments in previous threads to gauge how much is known by the commentariat here about a current affairs topic; that will allow you the rare pleasure of a writer on general-interest site to dispense with a lot of exposition and jump into the wonky details. Looking forward to your other articles.
My niece had a baby 3 years ago in California during the time her husband was laid off and they had no health insurance. They are still paying it off. The total bills came to $40K US, with the anesthetist bill alone being $5K.
Oh yes, no paid mat leave either.
That rumbling sound you hear in the near distance is your country swirling around the drain…
But seriously, you can’t take the FI’s word on anything without a very large grain of salt.
Are wait times and access to medical care in rural communities an issue? Of course they are! But that just means we need to fix our system and make it better, not scrap it altogether!
And if rich people want to get out of line and go to the US or other places for treatment, fine by me, let them pay for it themselves and make the wait-time for everyone else one person shorter. BUT they don’t get to bill the province after the fact just because they didn’t want to wait. One or the other dudes, you don’t get both!
Plus, how did those Canadians afford those procedures elsewhere? By having all their pre- and post- care in the Canadian system. That horrible, socialist system the Fraser Institute is decrying.
Oh, yeah. Same with me, moving from ON to BC. Except I sort of refused to pay on grounds of outrage (premiums, for the luvva…?!). I got the same special visit from HR. Though truth be told I wound up garnisheed for about $3,000 … which to be honest, covered nearly 20 years of premiums, 15 of which included a dependent child. So…
And during that ‘special period’ of garnisheement, I received several MRIs, saw four different neurologists, and eventually went on a $1,700/month injectable drug to treat MS. And, yeah, the cost was 0. Wait. I lie. I had to pay the dispensing fee for the drugs. Which was $5 every two months.
In BC we pay $100/family/month in provincial MSP (Medical Services Plan) premiums; many employers pay it as a benefit (my wife’s does). It’s considered taxable, just like your other income. If you are below the poverty line the premium is waived.
My wife has had gall bladder surgery, appendix surgery and 2 cancer surgeries plus radiation and 5 years of Tamoxifan. It didn’t cost us an extra cent.
I had lens implants to replace cataracts developing in both eyes. I paid $500 to have extra measurements so my implants would give me 20/20 vision. The surgeries and implants were at no extra cost and the procedures were done in a hospital with a special eye surgery suite. I had to pay to have anti-inflammatory and antibiotic drops prescriptions filled. After care was included in my health care.
America needs universal, government-funded health care. That’s a no-brainer. But contrary to what the “Medicare for All” advocates say, it’s not a foregone conclusion that the Canadian or UK health care models would be either (1) the best, period, or (2) the best for the United States. There are other types of government health care in the world, and demanding a Canadian system in America isn’t necessarily the starting point for this discussion.
Why not a French or German model, which integrates private companies into the system? I hope we can all accept as unrealistic the notion that, with the stroke of a pen, the U.S. government will put every private health insurance company out of business. In France, the government is a universal payer but not a universal provider. Not every doctor works for a national health service, as in the UK, but instead gets reimbursed by the government. Instead of a discussion about what kind of government health care model would work in this country, I find that the conversation instead proceeds directly to “it must be a Canadian/UK model” without explaining why that model in particular is the best for America.
The French or German models would make sense, except for the fact that the American health insurance slow AIs are simply not willing to give up any ground in regard to their prime directive (“continual growth in shareholder value is the most important thing in the world”). As a result, it becomes a zero-sum game, and “Medicare for all” becomes the only strategy left to progressives and liberals in the U.S. who want to join the rest of the civilised world.
I found this interview interesting to listen, too. It is for a Canadian audience but it would probably be appropriate for Americans, too. When Canadians get into conversations about the problems with Canadian health care we tend to get into a mindset that there are two possibilities, the current Canadian system and the current American system. Because of this we can’t seem to imagine how to deal with the problems we do have, as the majority of us go ‘yeah, it is failing here and there, but hell, we don’t want that clusterfuck that’s going on south of the border’. Or you have others, admittedly few, like the Frazer Institute which go ‘look a problem, the only solution is too nuke the whole system and bring in the free market.’
This interview was good about being able to talk about the failings in a reasonable way. I also like the way he described the ‘plural’ system as being neither public nor private, for example the way Canadian universities and hospitals are not really public entities nor private. Although, as someone who has worked in health NGOs I shuddered as he said they have a role to play in health care.
Edit: I originally started this post as a response to @gracchus, but then ended up changing the content, but forgot that I had started it as a reply. Hence, why it is a reply that doesn’t really respond to the original post.
It’s a worthwhile response both to my comment and the original article. Thanks for posting the link.
And yes, for Canadians (and others with single-payer universal systems) who want to improve their systems the whole “well, at least we’re not as screwed up as the Americans” mindset isn’t very helpful. I’m glad that the Libertarian elements in Canada are so weak and single-payer universal is so much a part of Canadian identity that even the Conservatives dare not touch that third rail.
Its funny too, cuz no one I know is paying as LITTLE as that for childcare.
More like $2000-$3000 a month. If they can find a spot, you quite literally have to get on waiting lists during your first trimester. Its bonkers. We need to nationalize it like Quebec did.
@Knome & @fitzador - I would LOVE a German model in Canada! UNGH! Please give to us!!
