The following is a response to my comments about the Canadian Health system
versus the US System. The lady in question is a Canadian working in the US.
Dear David,
I couldn't agree more! This time of year is when my California employer
holds "open enrollment" so that we can choose our health care plans for the
coming year. This year we have the choice of PPO or HMO. I find it
unbelievably complicated! The dental plan I had two years ago covered
everything. Last year a different plan wanted huge co-pays for even minor
work. I thought PPO plans were better because you could choose your
practitioner, but then I learned I'd be paying upwards of $200 a month more
for this option! It would take weeks of study to figure out what the
different choices really give you and it's always a worry that you could be
slapped with a $1,500+ co-pay for a hospital admission should you need one.
Complementary medicine (like acupuncture and chiropractic), when they're
covered, are so difficult to access that most people can't even get the
coverage and pay privately. Naturopathy is apparently not a recognized
profession in this state. The good doctors have no dealings whatsoever with
insurance and the others practise "defensive medicine" covering their backs,
pandering to drug companies and malpractice insurers and hospital
administrators and putting the needs of the patient at the very bottom of
their priorities. Even intelligent people get confused by all the options
and convolutions of the different plans and the administrative costs alone
would cover the health insurance for the entire population of BC!
I read recently that the Turks & Caicos Islands are revisiting the
possibility of some type of affiliation with Canada. If they do it, I'll be
"home" in a flash--imagine Canadian health care while you live on a tropical
island?!! I've always said that the only problem with Canada is that it
didn't have a Hawaii!
best wishes
CXXXXXXXXXX
---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: centapede at lists.centa.com
Reply-To: taxman at centa.com, centapede at lists.centa.com
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 2004 09:40:53 -0800
>This is personal and readers will have noticed that there were no Questions
and answers over the weekend.
>
>I started feeling a little pain in my left chest on Friday afternoon. The
week was full of stress and I thought i jut had a little angina. Even went
shopping at IKEA for the second time in my life on Friday Night.
>
>The pain wasn't bad on Saturday afternoon so , I went on to vote for Doug
Mackay-Dunn and Joan Gadsby (who did not win) in the North Van District
election. Took my 12 year old daughter with me to see the political process
and after voting, I was in enough pain that "Jane" is saying Dad, go to the
hospital. I thought of using the cell to call an ambulance, even though I
was just blocks from the hospital but I was breathing fine and drove myself
of course.
>
>Got to the hospital with no identification, no medical card, no money (I
had just run down to vote after all).
>
>They took my name, looked me up in the computer and had me plugged in right
away.
>
>7 1/2 hours later, they sent me home after a cat scan, 2 sets of X-Rays
blood tests, 2 ECG's, etc.
>
>Previously I had even got to see my heart valves opening and closing on
ultrasound and the blood rushing through my nice and clean carotid arteries
on Ultrasound.
>
>The Pain was caused by a touch of pleurisy on my lower left lung. The
prescription, antibiotics and Ibuprofen as a pain killer.
>
>My thanks to all the emergency room staff at Lion's Gate Hospital and Dr.
Long.
>
>My comment involves our Canadian health System.
>
>The biggest reason I have clients come back from the United States is that
they have run out of Health Insurance.
>
>Until the US brings in some sort of Universal Health Care, it will NEVER be
as good a country to live in as Canada.
>
>Thank you Tommy Douglas, the father of Medicare in Saskatchewan.
>
>david ingram
>
>
>
>
>
>
___________________________________________________________
$0 Web Hosting with up to 120MB web space, 1000 MB Transfer
10 Personalized POP and Web E-mail Accounts, and much more.
Signup at www.doteasy.com
---
Incoming mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.788 / Virus Database: 533 - Release Date: 11/1/04
---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.788 / Virus Database: 533 - Release Date: 11/1/04
What's Related