Re: Healthcare in Canada

"Marc Schneiderman" <garbaron@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:r5vmn3p0sqjtqbiq9nu7m4nmkehoooh1gm@xxxxxxxxxx
On Wed, 02 Jan 2008 03:34:49 GMT, "Michael Barrett" <kalu@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

"
There are many horror stories of Canadians who don't have supplemental
insurance and have a heart attack or stroke in the USoA and get stuck
with a $100,000 bill.

Nobody here gets a $100,000 bill for surgery but it's always instructive
to
see how many tourists from the USA skip out without paying a cent if they
get medical treatment here.

Ahem, Bob, I'd advise you to look into your reality ball. Typical
cardiac bypass will cost you about $60,000. And if you had an MI
prior to the bypass surgery, and need rehab after the bypass, the
total bill could surpass $150,000 or more. Those are real 2008
numbers.


No arguement Marc but I said "Nobody here gets a $100,000 bill for surgery".
I won't be paying $60k for a bypass or paying hospital costs for rehab -I
pay for health care as part of my taxes which are not (as you pointed out)
50% of my income. If I was living in the US and needed such care I could not
afford it just as millions (my guess at 2008 numbers) of your fellow
Americans can't afford it. The "horror stories" that you cite are just
that -stories- nobody is left to die for lack of treatment here, including
the tourists from the US who come here for treatment then skip out on their
bill. Yes, I suspect that at least some of the "horror stories" from "The
American Heartland" that we read about here (or see in Michael Moore
documentaries) or see on TV are equally apocryphal but there sure are a lot
of them.

Your point about Canadian tourists in the US getting bills for treatment not
covered by their basic health insurance is well taken. I feel for them if
they don't have supplementary insurance (as I do as part of my homeowner
policy) but if they can spend the bucks on a US vacation they should be able
to afford the $130/year to cover their extra medical.
Hardly a month goes by when we don't get a news report about some fire in an
apartment block or condo development that laments the plight of the
residents who "had no insurance". I don't have much in the way of regular
income any more but I do have enough to pay to protect my property and my
health- the point being that this might not be the case if I lived in a
"wealthier" country. Your previous mention of being able to wander in to
any local clinic for your immunizations and medications may work for you as
a moderately well-paid physician with good health insurance but it is
obviously NOT working for thousands (2008 numbers) of seniors from south of
our border bussing in for shots at our flu clinics and medications from our
drugstores. Heck, even an ASCer of out mutual acquaintance heads directly to
the drugstore whenever he visits here and he certainly isn't hurting for
income. Don't ask me to explain why the same drugs from the same US drug
companies made in the same US drug plants cost less in Canada. It 'bidness'.

--
Commander Bob


.

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