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Author Topic: Canadian Healthcare  (Read 34651 times)

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Offline bocker3

  • Member
  • Posts: 4,285
  • You gotta enjoy life......
Re: Canadian Healthcare
« Reply #100 on: July 22, 2009, 09:04:28 pm »
It never ceases to amaze me that people think things they were able to obtain, especially when healthy, through one means or another, should mean everyone can do it.  For, if I can, then all can, right?  What about people that aren't so lucky.

But, whoa, talk about health care, that Killfiole moved to Canada for, then watch out.  It should be a right.  And I think it should be, by the way, before someone jumps on me for that.

Edited to add:  I know of no college that grants pell grants for anything beyond a bachelor's degree nowadays.

There is a key difference -- healthcare is necessary for survival -- higher education, not so much.  Millions of people make it without a college degree.  Just because you want to be an RN, doesn't mean taxpayers should fund it.  However -- if you need medication to stay to alive, I think it should be funded by taxpayers.  There is the key difference that you don't seem to grasp -- if you want to be RN, find a way to be a RN and if you can't, well, then I guess you can't be an RN, kind of sucks, but that's life.  However, if you need to see a doctor, I think you have an absolute RIGHT to see a doctor, whether you can pay for it or not.  Society has an obligation to provide healthcare (in my perfect world, anyway -- let's see if it ever happens in the US).  And yes, if I could do it and others could do it -- so can you -- it might not be easy, but if you really want it, you can do it. (you isn't necessarily directed at you, BT65 -- it's a general "you")
People will use positions like this to start a horrible little "slippery slope" argument against universal healthcare.

Mike
(who tried to tie it in to healthcare -- hope I succeeded Ann -- but it is my last gasp here -- promise!)

Offline Dachshund

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Re: Canadian Healthcare
« Reply #101 on: July 22, 2009, 09:30:05 pm »
Higher education should be affordable, it just makes economic sense for our country. The cost of the  uneducated to society is tremendously expensive. Far more expensive than providing an education,  even if it was free.

Let's use my gal BT65 as an example. I don't know her circumstances, but I'm guessing she received financial aid for school. I doubt she could have afforded it otherwise. She's graduated and looking for work in her field. After that, she becomes a taxpayer, giving into the system. Now, would you rather your tax dollars help pay for her schooling for a few years or pay for her the rest of her life?

Without help, we all know the answer.

Offline Assurbanipal

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  • Taking a forums break, still see PM's
Re: Canadian Healthcare
« Reply #102 on: July 22, 2009, 09:47:48 pm »
Sorry for the hijack, but can anyone tell me why there is such a rush to push this through Congress, when we know that what Congress does, under artificially imposed deadlines, generally produces crap legislation.  Why can't they pass a frame work for health care reform and than take the time, to figure out how to do it, so we have results we can believe in.  All this fear mongering is just that.  You can find horror stories in any health care system, but the fact remains that without some major changes, medical costs will bring America to her knees.

I am at a loss as to why our Congress cannot get it's act together and pass some meaningful legislation for health care reform.  Health care reform is a process, not an event, so why the rush?

Well, the President said tonight “If you don’t set deadlines in this town, things don’t happen: The
 default position is inertia.”

The other thing that is not obvious if you don't spend a lot of time watching Congress, is how little time is left in the legislative calendar and how many things have to get done that must go through the bottleneck of the Senate and then a conference committee (the House has less to do and can do them faster) and the Senate also needs to get through a Supreme Court nomination, the energy bill and ...Stimulus II?  

Finally, realists know that whatever they produce, no matter how long they have to produce it,  will start as  a pile of c++p and get fixed in conference committee and then with "technical corrections" over the next few years.  That's how DC works and has for decades.  It is certainly the path Social Security took. But before you can fix it you need to have something to fix.
5/06 VL 1M+, CD4 22, 5% , pneumonia, thrush -- O2 support 2 months, 6/06 +Kaletra/Truvada
9/06 VL 3959 CD4 297 13.5% 12/06 VL <400 CD4 350 15.2% +Pravachol
2007 VL<400, 70, 50 CD4 408-729 16.0% -19.7%
2008 VL UD CD4 468 - 538 16.7% - 24.6% Osteoporosis 11/08 doubled Pravachol, +Calcium/D
02/09 VL 100 CD4 616 23.7% 03/09 VL 130 5/09 VL 100 CD4 540 28.4% +Actonel (osteoporosis) 7/09 VL 130
8/09  new regimen Isentress/Epzicom 9/09 VL UD CD4 621 32.7% 11/09 VL UD CD4 607 26.4% swap Isentress for Prezista/Norvir 12/09 (liver and muscle issues) VL 50
2010 VL UD CD4 573-680 26.1% - 30.9% 12/10 VL 20
2011 VL UD-20 CD4 568-673 24.7%-30.6%
2012 VL UD swap Prezista/Norvir for Reyataz drop statin CD4 768-828 26.7%-30.7%
2014 VL UD - 48
2015 VL 130 Moved to Triumeq

Offline bobino

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  • Posts: 264
Re: Canadian Healthcare
« Reply #103 on: July 22, 2009, 11:01:56 pm »
Actually, there's no "rush" on health care reform.  Health insurers and the Republicans would like you to think this is being "rushed," but that's just one of their talking points.  The fact of the matter is that health care reform has been under consideration for decades.  The difference is that right now, the political stars are sufficiently well aligned that Congress may finally be able to do something about it.  But only if the special interests don't manage to convince people that things are "going too fast."

In truth, several committees in both houses of Congress have been working on this legislation since January.  That's hardly lightning speed.  It might well have been passed by now but for the ridiculous insistence by some Democrats that it be "bipartisan."  So folks like Max Baucus (who's been bought and paid for by the insurance industry) have spent months chasing the pipe dream of getting Republican votes for health care reform . . . which will never happen.  

And although I don't always agree with him, Obama is absolutely correct about the cost of waiting for health care reform.  Millions of Americans need health care now.  Not tomorrow, not next week, not next year, and not at whatever time Republicans can be made to feel they aren't being "rushed."  They need health care now.  
Suivons les rivières
Gardons les torrents
Restons en colère
Soyons vigilants

Offline Miss Philicia

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  • Posts: 24,793
  • celebrity poster, faker & poser
Re: Canadian Healthcare
« Reply #104 on: July 23, 2009, 01:19:54 am »
The cost of the  uneducated to society is tremendously expensive.

You mean like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Sq-VmBMHkw
"I’ve slept with enough men to know that I’m not gay"

Offline northernguy

  • Member
  • Posts: 1,347
Re: Canadian Healthcare
« Reply #105 on: July 23, 2009, 09:52:16 pm »
Out of curiosity, does anybody know how medical salaries - doctors, nurses, practitioners, techs, etc - compare in the US and Canada (and to the UK as well)?  I do have a Dr. in the family, but he's not in one of the 'big earning' specialties and is close to retiring, anyway!  ;)

A complete list of doctors practising in BC, and what they received in 2004/5 can be found here (scroll down to page 7).
http://www.health.gov.bc.ca/msp/legislation/pdf/bluebook2005.pdf
Of course that includes those who practice part-time.

From what I've heard, GP's can do better in Canada.   There are also fewer specialists in Canada, and the GP tends to play a larger part in healthcare.
Apr 28/06 cd4 600 vl 10,600 cd% 25
Nov 8/09 cd4 510 vl 49,5000 cd% 16
Jan 16/10 cd4 660 vl 54,309 cd% 16
Feb 17/10 Started Atripla
Mar 7/10 cd4 710 vl 1,076 cd% 21
Apr 18/10 cd4 920 vl 268 cd% 28
Jun 19/10 cd4 450 vl 60 cd% 25
Aug 15/10 cd4 680 vl 205 cd% 27
Apr 3/11 cd4 780 vl <40 cd% 30
Jul 17/11 cd4 960 vl <40 cd%33
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Offline GSOgymrat

  • Member
  • Posts: 5,122
  • HIV+ since 1993. Relentlessly gay.
Re: Canadian Healthcare
« Reply #106 on: July 24, 2009, 09:07:30 pm »
This is an interesting article addressing how the culture of different countries affects how they manage healthcare:  http://www.newsweek.com/id/207410

Excerpt:
America's undesigned system is also an expression of our culture at its best and its worst. Health care in America is innovative, entrepreneurial, expensive, litigious, and wasteful. It is decentralized, driven by self-interest, excellent at the high end, and increasingly unequal. It resists acknowledging trade-offs or limits and is characterized by shocking gaps in basic care. As we plunge into a long-overdue comprehensive overhaul, it's useful to think not just about how we can build on what works in this hodgepodge, but also about how to bring health care into better alignment with our own national identity.

Offline Dale Parker

  • Member
  • Posts: 267
Re: Canadian Healthcare
« Reply #107 on: August 03, 2009, 01:47:10 am »
Thanks to Inchlingblue for re posting my post on the Canadian medical coverage question.  I wrote that when I was first diagnosed and was very new to the health care system.  Although I still don't know all the in's and outs of the system I can tell you what I have since found out about Ontario's (a province in Canada) health care as it relates to myself.  Currently I am under the Trillium program which is provincially funded.  Although I don't pay the full cost I do pay a deductable. It is based on my previous years earnings.  For me this is a bummer. I made just under $60,000 last year but ended up unemployed. My earnings on unemployment insurance is $18,000.00 a year.   My deductable is based on the 60K figure meaning that I pay about $1900.00 a year.  Every 3 months I have to pay $470.00 for my drugs. One month I was absolutely flat broke and couldn't afford the deductible. I found out that Ontario Works (a fancy name for welfare) could give me emergency relief to pay for the drugs.
   Since my doctor does not want me to work until my immune system gets stronger I will have to go onto ODSP. ODSP stands for Ontario Disability Service Program. This program will replace the Trillum one for my drug insurance. Under this program I will receive almost $1300.00 a month after my unemployment runs out. More importantly they will cover my total drug bill with no deductable and have some dental and eye glass coverage as well.  If / when I am able to work again 50% of any money that I make will be taken off their payment to me but I will still have the drug coverage. i.e if I find a part time job paying $400.00 a month ODSP will only pay me $1100.00.
   Canada is a great country to live in but finding out all the ins and outs of money and drug insurance programs has been super stressfull.  Although the people that I talk to at the various programs (except Trillum) are very caring and helpfull the system is very confusing and difficult to understand.
    I'm only half jokeing when I say that finding government income and money to pay for the drugs will kill me long before the aids will.  Once I get fully approved for the ODSP my life will be a lot better.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2009, 01:50:29 am by Dale Parker »
Apr 09  CD4 21, CD4/CD8 ratio 0 VL 500,000+
July 09 CD4 158, CD4/CD812% VL 750
Oct 09 CD4 157 CD4/CD8 14% VL UD
Feb 10 CD4 197, CD4/CD8 11% VL UD
May 10  CD4 252 CD4/CD8 12% VL UD
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