Reaver

Okay, so in the UK we have the NHS, which means if you're ill you can go to the doctor/hospital and eventually, after you have bled to death someone will see you and give you some aspirin or tictacs or something, and you can get on with your life.

In America they have insurance, dont know too much about it, but from what I understand you pay large chunks of your hard earned cash, and in return, if you're ill you can expect a reasonable standard of healthcare providing your insurance covers it. (Feel free to correct me if Im wrong.)

So what about Canada? What system do they use there? What are the pluses and negatives to this system?

pdarwin

In a nutshell, each province has its own NHS-type coverage for the basic and emergency requirements. Here in Ontario it's called OHIP.
Dental work and drug prescriptions are not usually covered and you can either pay full cost of those yourself (can be very expensive) or take out additional insurance with a private provider (can also be very expensive) or work for a company that offers to pay for this extended insurance. You may still have to pay something towards the insurance and also to make up what they don't cover, depending on how cheap the company you work for is.
There are more than a few people here who's teeth are rotting simply because they cannot afford treatment or insurance. Like the NHS, there are many shortcomings in the system.

TheThornes

Pretty much agree with what pdarwin has said. Also, I think I'm correct in saying this (and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong) but in some Provinces, you have to be resident for a certain period (commonly 3 months I believe) before being entitled to provincial health care whereas others, such as Alberta for instance, you're entitled to it as soon as you take up residence.

AdrianR

FYI
In most US cities they have County hospitals and in an emergency, you can go there and they operate like the NHS - ie:not too well, but then, can't complain, eh?

Novocastrian

This is true for the time being. I wouldn't bet on the free-at-point-of-treatment system still being around in 3 years though.

dave2003

Unlike the U.K, with its dual private / public system, in Canada, doctors providing medically necessary treatment operate within the government health systems-there is little or no private care or hospitals. Doctors choosing to practice outside the government system cannot charge more for the treatment than the various provincial health care plans will pay.

For life threatening and serious illness and accident, the system is good, but if you have an ailment that affects your quality of life, unfortunately you may find yourself on a waiting list. Those of us who protest this are assumed to be rabid right wingers, and told, though not in so many words, to go elsewhere (usually the U.S.), and stop trying to jump the queue.

As I have posted on this site before, there appears to be a circle the wagons mentality around government funded care in Canada, with those proponents of exclusive government care apparently unable to grasp that other countries, especially, E.U. countries, some with smaller populations than Canada's, operate excellent dual / private systems, with very much less of the complaints that arise in Canada around our single payer system.

In France and Holland, the medical service is excellent, but people in those countries have a choice-we don't. Another factor in the ongoing debate here is that citizens of the E.U. are thought not to pay premiums to the state. Not true. I have a friend staying with me from the Netherlands, and he and his family pay 600 euros per month for coverage. But they are not complaining, and expressed their amazement that Canadians would put up with the unsatisfactory system here. One of my sisters' is an M.D. in France, and she too expresses much the same sentiment.

There is no free lunch, sooner or later, someone has to pay for medical treatment.

dbd33

If there are fewer complaints in other countries then doesn't that suggest a national disposition against complaining rather than a difference in healthcare? Can you show that, in some facet, or perhaps overall, the healthcare systems of small population EU countries are better than those in Canada; how long does it take, for example, to get an abortion in Italy or a CAT scan in Portugal? Is the life expectancy in Spain markedly better than that in Ontario?

Novocastrian

The French system of health coverage is pretty much the same as Canada's (but better) except that CPAM covers only about 80% of cost of treatment and folk need a supplementary policy to cover the rest. However there is also a long list of conditions (debilitating ones) which are covered 100%, as are drugs.

One difference is that MDs aren't stinking rich, which might explain your sister's attitude.

In Holland the only difference is that there is a specific tax to cover part of the healthcare system. Until recently in Canada ( and perhaps still in some provinces) it's lumped in with general taxation.

And of course someone has to pay for medical treatment: the question is should it be the person needing it (irrespective of their ability to pay), or the wider community?

London Mike

I don't think so Novo, whatever else Captain Harper gets up to. Just too risky after this election for him to ***** about with universal healthcare, in the sense that we we have it.

Novocastrian

Oh no it's not. Just wait and see. I'm buggering off to France.

dave2003

The entire rationale for insurance, any insurance, either state provided, or privately paid, is that the many pay for the few. Precious few of us could afford the cost of major medical treatment, ergo, we have insurance, and I cannot think of any compassionate society wanting it any other way.

The debate therefore is how we will fund the provision of a single payer state mandated system. The budget is limited, and if we are to maintain the Canada Health Act, we must make monetary provisions now, we must have political leadership that does not dance attendance on the sensibilities of purists who will brook no private involvement in the provision of health care under the the Canada Health Act.

Complaints in Canada about the health care service arise not from the quality of service, but the lack of choice in getting treatment for aggravating but non-threatening ailments, to which countless numbers can attest. At best this is patronizing.

We create a moral hazard when we continue to download costs on to the younger and future generations because of this present generation's refusal to deal with the issue in a non-political way-difficult as that may be.

Novocastrian

The difference though is that the with private insurance, the many pay for the few plus a tidy profit for the insurance provider. Moreover under e.g. the US system the insurer also determines what treatment(s) will be available and uses financial criteria, not medical ones, in their determination.


I disagree. The main complaint I hear (and there will always be complaints) is about the difficulty in finding a GP in many places. I would point out that General Practices (although recompensed by the provinces) are private organizations and are the weakest link in the existing system precisely because of this fact.

LinsyPinsy

I want to know what ***** means
I know many 4 letter sweary words like **** and **** and ****.....but not *****.
lns

Novocastrian

Linsy I should think.

Steve_P

That's easy.

"Screw" but I'm not sure why the asterisks.