Re: Words you'll never hear in the Canadian health care system
- From: Scotius <yodasbud@xxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:45:02 -0400
On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:21:09 -0700, sittingduck
<duck@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
As a Canadian I marvel at all of these terms that are so common to
Americans, but are virtually unknown to us.
Here's a partial list off the top of my head:
1. "Out of network"
There are no "networks" in Canada. Doctors and hospitals are not affiliated
with private insurance companies. Doctors are private business entities and
hospitals are usually run by non-profit boards or regional health
associations.
2. "COBRA"
Health coverage is NOT tied to your place of employment in any way. So any
COBRA-like scheme is unnecessary.
3. "Co-Pay"
The government pays 100% of basic care, 100% of the time. Drugs are not
covered, but are subsidized by government to a point. And because of mass
buys, discounts are obtained from the drug companies. That's why our prices
are so much lower. Most employers offer a drug plan that pays for 100% of
drug cost coverage.
4. "monthly premium\deductible"
Wazzat? We don't consider our health to be the same as our possessions.
5. "waiting for approval"
Doctors are the sole decision makers for health care. NOBODY influences or
delays their decisions, warns them of costs or prevents them from giving
treatment for any reason.
6. "Government interference"
The provincial government in each province PAYS for whatever services
doctors provide. No questions asked. Unless the procedure is experimental,
not medically necessary or unwarranted, doctors cannot deny basic care - by
law.
7. "Health insurance lobby"
There are NO insurance companies for basic care, only companies for
providing insurance for travelers. No money to be made here.
8. "bureaucracy"
When we visit a hospital or doctor's office, we walk in, get treated, walk
out. No "applications", "registrations" or any other kind of paperwork is
required. We NEVER have to talk to a single "government official" or wait
for a "judgment".
9. "PRE-EXISTING CONDITION"
This is such a foreign concept to us. A Canadian's usual reaction to the
explanation of this term is astonishment.
I'm glad to see that a sane health care system is within reach in America.
Fight for it. It's WORTH it.
http://tinyurl.com/lsp9as
The words you'll also never hear in Canada or in the US are
these:
"We have a pretty good medical system. Unfortunately, the
public has been misinformed. It isn't the salaries of doctors and
nurses that cause it to be so expensive, but the prices of the drugs.
While we have a "socialized" medical system, the drugs are
produced for-profit by companies that are also for-profit.
When you have pills that can cost up to several hundred
dollars each, there's no way without making sure that doesn't continue
to make the medical system somehow cost less.
The power of the pharmaceutical companies cannot be
overestimated either. In a time when we've had serious discussions
about wage caps for specialist physicians, and no one has even
mentioned the cost of drugs as THE prime reason why health care is so
expensive, you can easily see just how powerful the pharmaceutical
companies are."
.
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