May 03, 2004

• If you decide to move up here, stay away from Alberta. We've got an alcoholic, obnoxious premier who's hell-bent on privatising our health care system.
• Universal health care is nice, but keep in mind that it doesn't cover everything, just the basic necessities. You still need supplemental health insurance for dental, vision, drugs etc. Still, it's good peace of mind to know that if you have an emergency, their fist question won't be, "are you insured?"
• Maine is in the process of enacting the first ever Universal Health Care Policy in the entire country - named Dirigo, it aims to insure all Maine residents. it's voluntary, it's cheap, and if it works out (as I hope it does), it has the potential to start spreading.
• Wow hamfisted, I guess that one story about sums up the whole Klein era in Alberta. Personally I don't mind the reformed-alcoholic old bloke (reformed following the incident linked above) and am excited for the future of our fine province seeing as how our provincial portion of the national debt will be paid off by 2005 And for those interested in ecinomic statistics [long PDF] I say come on over and enjoy the Province. As for health care well lets see where $X-millions of dollars goes when we no longer have to pay for debt interest payments.
• All I'm saying here is that Alberta has a bright looking future so if Canada is in the cards come on up to our neck of the woods.
• Canada rocks!!!!!!!!! If I wasn't currently happy here, I would definately live there. Other options are to get a really shitty paying job that keeps you at poverty level, then apply for state paid insurance. In the end, it sometimes seems to add up the same. :(
• by all means, check out the resources wherever you are looking at. in canada, universal health care, does not equal universal access. many communities are drastically underserviced in terms of available physicians and hospital care. nor is our universal plan as all-encompassing as it used to be. services are dropping off the roster or only paid for on a decreased schedule. family doctors tend to restrict their activities to very basic care and refer one on to others all over the place. specialists are fewer and farther apart due to 'brain drain'. we have an excellent medical program at the university here, where i live and a well-known teaching hospital. it's a great place for certain problems that the chosen few are doing research in. but their is no neurosurgeon left in town, right now. otherwise...welcome to canaduh.
• I'd skip alberta too. It ain't cause of their leader, it's the followers that get me. Ugg. I've seen both systems in action. My family doctor, out in the sticks, hasn't restricted his care to just "basic care." I've waited for specialists. Waited. Rural, poor northern Canada. Of course I have also waited for hours in an American hospital. Bleeding. I was insured. The sign on the window says triage for a reason. The medical system in the states fails on so many levels, for so many people. Universal health, by my definition means access regardless of income. Try living without it.
• Universal health, by my definition means access regardless of income. absolutely, zenon. of course, now we are considering one's legal status as a potential barrier to access. /i'd link to the story, but i'm simply too lazy this morning. i think sometimes people assume that universal health care also brings the guarantee of quality of care....not the basic reality of an access to care. we won't let you die of neglect or suffer too much, with even those definitions being eroded over the years. we're good, but not that good.
• Again, I reiterate the Maine option - legal status won't matter because you won't be immigrating. And besides, Lobster!
• dxlifer: I've been living in the States - and have my health care from a wellknown and highly respected university's medical school and hospital. Canadians have it good - real good. So far two of my friends have been denied treatment by the hospital or university, both of whom were students and so had insurance (it's required). One was passing a kidney stone, and was told that because he didn't go to the campus medical centre first but straight to the hospital they didn't know what to do with him. The other had an infection in his foot, but was told he couldn't see the podiatrist for the simple surgery yet - and he was already feeling sick from blood poinsoning. So he paid the doctor privately (he had third party insurance) and saw him that week. I have never been denied treatment I needed in Canada - when I had an eye condition that threatened by sight, I was in the specialist's office in an hour (which was the time of the bus trip down the road). Now, I was in Toronto, and that makes me lucky. I do worry about rural Canada, but I can't see how its any worse than rural US, except that, oh yeah, if you're in an accident, you aren't bankrupted. I have another friend whose mother was in a serious car accident, breaking multiple bones, months in the hospital and therapy. Her hospital bill was 1.7 million dollars - she was insured, but insurance apparently maxes out at only a million. So far the hospital hasn't been calling for the rest, but if they did, she could loose her house and everything. People are loosing their houses around here from the hospital's credit department, just from small bills, like having a baby. Even going to the doctor for a checkup is a big deal - I have yet another friend (you hear lots of health horror stories here, something that rarely happens in Canada) whose father was self-employed and so they only went to the doctor when it was abslutely dire. Now I just hate going to the doctor in general, but you have to feel like you can go when it's serious. I get my healthcare here paid for by the university and my scholarship - otherwise it would be something like $2000 a year, or no healthcare (much more likely for someone of my income). It's the third world down here in health care. This has all scared me enough that I have decided I can't stay. I like Americans, but their health care system scares me. Go Maine!
• toronto may be fine, but if moving out of there, the wise should consider keeping their old doctor. there are many people here, in kingston, who drive hours, to toronto or ottawa, simply for general physician services. there are no family doctors who accept new patients here. so the legislation has spake. queens provide wonderful heart care and cancer servies. many other specialities are void or ho-hum. the doctors who briefly drop in and accept new patients are, to put it pol-rectly, not quite the top of the drawer. sure, we'll keep you alive, but whatcha you gonna then? i find that many people, myself included anymore , have a blurry concept of what universality actually means.
• Only one in 250 patients claiming on private insurance files for more than $50,000 a year. But these patients account for 20 per cent of insurance payouts. US health maintenance organisations (HMOs) and insurers have incentives to keep their customers healthy.....(but) their biggest incentive is to figure out who is likely to get really sick - and then to make sure they are insured by somebody else, or not at all.
• A Healthy New Year
• Universal Health Care Run by Hoodlums
• Happy New Year homunculus! And while I'm at it, the pediatrician for both of my children sent a letter stating that the office is dropping ALL insurance carriers except for one [of course, they dropped my carrier, but alas, my company also dropped the same carrier for the New Year] AND that full-payment must be made UP-FRONT as of 1/1/07 (claims with the insurance companies are now up to me - - greatttt!). Now, I have to make sure I have enough $$ stashed away just to pay for the doctor's visits, even though all the kids are fully-insured.... *sigh* And I think I have it rough... The state of healthcare in the US is going down the crapper fast. Hospitals in NYC are shutting down left and right because they are no longer financially viable (too many bills go unpaid, left to the collectors to squabble over). I could go on...
• My dental insurance recently reimbursed me $9.72 for a $250.00 procedure. My company offers a medical inurance plan that pays a lot more than the one I'm on, but there are only two doctors in the county who participate in the plan.
• Nice plan you have there, TUM! More *sighs* are in order...
• For Want of a Dentist: Boy Dies After Bacteria From Tooth Spread to Brain
• Thanks for making me cry, homunculus. The federal government requires states to provide oral health services to children through Medicaid programs, but the shortage of dentists who will treat indigent patients remains a major barrier to care, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. .
• That is the saddest thing ever. I was in Texas briefly last week and needed antibiotic eardrops. "Oh no, mah deah, y'all have to have a prescription for those! Where y'all from?" "Canada." "OMG you're so LUCKY!"
• Indeed. Except for the long waits. And the fact that dental and prescriptions aren't included (at least in my province).
• Weren't you two both in Texas at the same time? Or is one of you just a *gasp* SOCK PUPPET of Canadian propoganda???!!!
• I think plans vary, Koko, according to how much the employer and the worker care to invest. My plan covers both, but of course it takes a big bite out of my paycheque. And I got lucky with a doctor - usually get to see her within a week, same day in emergencies. Heaven, I'm in heaven ... I told you to move here! RTD - Miz K has been suffering the 'peg winter all along, but will soon have her revenge.
• I was talking about provincial health care; my employer offers good coverage (Great-West Life), which includes dental, vision (lucky for me), RX and other good stuff. Mr. K has the same plan, so we're both covered 100%! Plus Great-West is an absolute JOY to work with, nothing like the HMOs in the States. HOWEVER, waits for surgery and other hospital procedures is LONG in Manitoba -- I was told the other day I may be waiting 6-8 MONTHS for my ultrasound. Hoochie mama! Of course, in an emergency they can and do expedite. Also, it took me 6 years - years! - to get a GP. No one was taking new patients! 6 years! RTD, I have never been, nor will I ever be in Texas!
• sorry, Koko, somehow I mixed up yourself and fish tick, thought you had been the one y'alling. My mistake.
• Heyell, RTD - get 'er straight, eh? She's one of you-all, hunkering down in the tundra. I used to say I would never visit the USA, but then a Hawaii opportunity came along, and it was downhill ever after.
• Canadians: rate your doctor! Mine got a smiley face!
• Oh, I guess it works for the US too. Canadians, click on the maple leaf button!
• Mine got a smiley face, and a rating of 5. Only one submission, though. And not by me.
• I got a rock.
• My current doctor, whom I like and rated highly, had only twp previous comments. Mt prior doctor does not appear on the list! Perhaps I should be worried.
• Quite cool - thanks! Mine got lots of good ratings.
• What you need doctor for in Canada, when you have poutine.
• Most rated doctors: 10. Zhivago 9. Feelgood 8. No 7. McCoy 6. Watson 5. Hawkeye 4. Evil 3. Who 2. Scully 1. Suess
• Poutine is why we need doctor in Canada.
• I like on crackers. Poutine on the Ritz.
• /collapse
• Hey quid, Doc Jeckyll called. Said he and his friend want to meet you for a pint.
• Call a doctor quick! For fish tick. CPR? Anyone?
• Ten Little Doctors and How They Grew: 10. Doom 9. Detroit 8. Doolittle 7. Dobbs 6. Demento 5. Livingston 4. Strange 3. Bronner 2. McNinja 1. J
• In the alleyway. You know -- behind the pub.
• Koko and RTD, that be theee funniest thing i reed all day. Thanks be to you.
• Physicians get twisted knickers over rating site.
• Crybabies.