Hey everyone,

I'm doing a 3000 word essay about Health Care: Public or Private? I live in Canada where health care is free, and personally I believe that everyone deserves free health care.

I've read a lot on this forum about people's financial issues relating to paying bills for therapy, housing, medication, etc...all related to mental/physical illness.

If anybody would like to post any stories involving your struggle with lack of health care, or perhaps how health care has really been a benefit to you, that'd be great. Also, even your opinions would be very appreciated. I'm trying to get as many opinions from around the globe as possible.

Thanks for reading!

[phipps88fan]

Hi, I'm thankful we have medical insurance. I'm on atlease 12 medications. Just for 3 of them with out insurance it cost $5500. My copay for those 3 is only $27. There is no way I could even attempt to come up with that kind of money. I have no clue what the price is on the rest because I get them filled at a military base.

[Timgt5]

I'm doing a 3000 word essay about Health Care: Public or Private? I live in Canada where health care is free, and personally I believe that everyone deserves free health care.

First of all "free" is a fallacy. There is no such thing as "free" The HC in Canada is paid for through taxes rather than private insurance. So giving everyone HC means it has to be paid for somehow. Doctors just do not work for free, medicines, Hospitals and equipment do not just magically pop out of the air. Every system has its advantages and its disadvantages. Canada's system works in Canada because of a relatively small population. There are limits though and rationing of medicines and treatments.

To try to expand SP it to the US would be very costly. There are of course major problems with the current system here, and they need to be addressed. So if you do your paper I urge you to do deep research, look at both sides. Anecdotal evidence while illustrative, should not be the foundation of your work.

Originally Posted by Timgt5

I'm doing a 3000 word essay about Health Care: Public or Private? I live in Canada where health care is free, and personally I believe that everyone deserves free health care.

First of all "free" is a fallacy. There is no such thing as "free" The HC in Canada is paid for through taxes rather than private insurance. So giving everyone HC means it has to be paid for somehow. Doctors just do not work for free, medicines, Hospitals and equipment do not just magically pop out of the air. Every system has its advantages and its disadvantages. Canada's system works in Canada because of a relatively small population. There are limits though and rationing of medicines and treatments.

To try to expand SP it to the US would be very costly. There are of course major problems with the current system here, and they need to be addressed. So if you do your paper I urge you to do deep research, look at both sides. Anecdotal evidence while illustrative, should not be the foundation of your work.

Hi there, I'm sorry for the wrong wording, I meant to say "public health care", not "free health care". I do recognize that in order for people to receive low-cost or free health care, it must be paid for by others through taxes. Thanks for your reply!

Hello, ohseedee. As a Vietnam veteran, I get help from the Veterans Administration. In the last years, there has been improvements in the health care which I appreciate.

As you already can tell, health care is a volatile subject in the US. So much of what is out there about health care is spin. Frankly, I think anecdotal evidence is more reliable than the spiel of an elected official.

Good luck with your paper.

[paddym22]

HI Ohseedee, I live in holland where we have universal health care insurance. Each person resident in holland must by law pay a monthly subcription to avail of healthcare. There are varying degrees of halthcare you can choose from, from the basic to what is called comfort plus. All insurance covers you g.p. visit, hospital care and consultant fees and most medications. The higher premiums allow for physiotherapy and more specific treatments.

The minimum insurance premium is 86.00 euros which equats to 121.75 canadian dollars. There are no waiting lists and the leadtime from seeing your GP to getting an appoinment with a consultant in a hospital is 2 weeks.

Hope that helps

Anything els you need to know about just PM me and I will be glad to be of assistance.

[Grithnir]

I have strong opinions about health care and the current attempt to improve the US health care system. My roommate and I both have the same diagnosis of a mental illness. I was approved immediately for SSD and Medicaid partially because I think my family was well known and had money. My roommate was given SSD for three months because they said they were unsure about his recovery. He didn't recover and had to spend two years working that cost him his mental health, we appealed it and it took two years to finally get it. In this time he had to go to a free medical posting for the mentally ill and take cheap generic drugs and barely get to express any of his symptoms to anyone. They wanted him sedated. Now he is on Medicaid and has advocates for him and can take most any drug for his condition just as I can. But we are still putting out a lot of money for extra health care things, from vitamins, dental care products and everything else that is not covered by Medicaid.

In our state you can only have Medicaid if you are proven to be disabled, there is no way around it. Things don't make sense with it. You can have your eyes tested every year but new glasses only every four years. You can have cavities filled but no crowns on your teeth and only a few people want to accept Medicaid, and they don't always treat you fairly.

My roommate's family lives in abject poverty in California and has nothing but physical health problems. They get approved for surgeries based on indigent services, meaning they have no money and the hospital and doctor will take a loss for treating them so there is no incentive to help them. There is no preventive health care for the poor, and Americans are one of the few nations that are industrialized to say a person deserved to die because they suffered, or they were lead to suffer by their life choices. Ignorance is prevalent, and you would think living in a blue state, compared to a red state would help but it doesn't. California is one of the most liberal states in the union and they have cut all of the extra serrvices for the mentally ill like counseling and rehibilitation workers in your home, and even personal care assistants to help clean and cook.

A guy from this site in Indiana has severe physical and mental illness and his state has a waiting list for a personal care assistant and he has been on it for years. He is in a wheel chair and his family is frustrated they have to help him. Indiana's governor a Republican, tried to privitize the Medicaid program and the private company took the money and filed for bankcrupsty, so they have severe problems. Private companies are the problem. Not only have they stripped most workers of medical care, they routinely fire people not based on performance, but attitude.

America is/was the most spiritually drunk nation that has ever existed on Earth, size wise. It seems to be sobering up because of Obama, but it is ridiculous. My family that has money offers to take me on cruises in the Caribbean but gets angry at me when the car they gave me has a problem, like it was my fault. They are f*d up people, and I have tried real hard to live off SSD and it is difficult. I have lived in Canada, Ireland, and France, and all were far better for the health and happiness of their nations. America is a nightmare to me. I hate the politics and I hate the wealthy. I know in my mind the wealthy will be tortured by God for eternity when this party finally ends, and I am glad because they don't have a sober bone in their body.

[Grithnir]

Sorry to be emotional about the subject, but it is a moral obligation to take care of people when they are sick, visit them, make sure they are apart of the community. In America people are escapist, hoping to sneak by any health problems by luck, their faith in God and when one of them comes down with something then they are on the suffering list with all the others and only the educated professionals are willing to assist and obviously they only can if there is money flowing into their pockets and usually they are a lot less selfish than the corporate world and private insurance companies. When George Bush gave his speech when he stole the election he said there are two paintings of America, one with problems, and one with dreams. The people that choose the dream one are delusional. Read this book: Bright-Sided (How the relentless promotion of positive thinking has undermined America), by Barbara Ehrenreich. It is a great read.

I really don't get this whole healthcare thing. When are they going to get it right for once? It's always the same problems in the world, economy, healthcare, environment. It's like I can't get sick, I have no healthcare, and can't afford the ridiculous cost out of pocket just to walk in the doctor's office. It's not that I choose not to go, I just can't afford it. It seems like everything else in the world we all wait until it gets to a bad point, then we take action. What's wrong that they can't get healthcare right?

Deborah

[Yoda]

A comment on why I oppose government run health care.

I have medicare. When I go to see a doctor at HealthPlus they submit a claim for $95 to medicare. Medicare sends them ~ $35 and I pay nothing out of pocket.

My son has no health insurance. When he goes to see a doctor at HealthPlus he has to pay $95 cash at the time he is seen.

Because the government insurance is paying so little HealthPlus is forced to charge people with private insurance and no insurance more to make up their losses.

In my opinion if government insurance expanded hospitals and doctors would be forced to accept less money for their work just as they do now with medicare. I believe the long term result would be negative for US health care because there would be less incentive for physicians and nurses to practice and for hospitals to stay in business. In my state (WV) we already have problems with hospitals shutting their doors because of the impact of DRGs which started in the 1980's.

[englishteacher]

Another issue to consider - my husband has health care at work, but it would cost him $200 a month to add me and my son, which we can't afford. That's $2400 a year. Realistically, I know that the insurance would be crucial if my son or I were seriously ill or had an accident that involved broken bones, etc., but that $200 a month would leave us starving.

So, my point is that even the healthcare is available is outrageously expensive. For people who are mostly healthy, paying $200 a month for "what if" coverage is not cost effective.

I live in the UK where we have public healthcare (NHS) and private insurance. Personally I believe that healthcare should be free for all, unless it is for a medically unnecessary/cosmetic procedures. The NHS has its pros and its cons. The pros are obvious, but the cons are waiting times, staff/equipment shortages etc. I can ring up and see my GP the same day for free, yet I am still waiting to see a psychologist having been clinically depressed for 2 1/2 yrs!! Granted mental health services are the cinderella of all health services, but waiting lists are crazy for other things as well. Dentists don't get reimbursed enough from the NHS so less and less of them are willing to accept NHS patients for example.

As a student hoping to work in the healthcare system, I can see things from both perspectives. In the UK NICE looks at research to see whether it is cost effective for the NHS to provide certain services/medications. So certain life saving cancer drugs and alzheimer drugs, for example, are denied as too expensive. Obviously this creates media uproar, but the money pot is not infinite. Also PCTs (Primary care trusts who oversee the NHS budget in certain areas) decide what to spend their budget on, which can create a 'postcode lottery'. The most noted example of this is for IVF treatment: in some PCTs you can get 3 IVF treatments on the NHS, yet down the road in another PCT you may only be allowed 1 round of IVF.

Personally I think we could trim a lot of fat from the NHS if it was run more like a business (though without privatising it). For example, we have so many targets eg waiting times, patients seen, patients vaccinated for this and that. If Drs and other healthcare workers didn't have to spend so much time on paperwork and beauracracy (sp?) then they'd have more time to treat patients. If we had less pen pushers obsessing over targets, then their salaries could be spent on more ground level staff and treatments. Granted we need some managers as Drs aren't trained to run services, but to treat patients, but the numbers we currently have are excessive and most of them have no idea how the NHS works in practice and so put silly restrictions on things without understanding how things really work.

Anyway, those are a few of my thoughts. Clearly healthcare is an emotive subject, but for all the problems with our health service and for all it costs us, I truly couldn't imagine supporting a system whereby only the rich can afford healthcare. Good luck with your paper!

*Willow*

[splitimage]

I'm in Canada and we don't have a totally public system, it's really more mixed public and private insurance.

Each province receivers ferderal Health expenditure transfers from the federal gov't which do not cover all provincial health care expenses. So each province funds healthcare a little differently. ON does it through a combination of private individual taxation, and corporate taxation (The Employer Health Tax) Private citizens do not see the EHT. The personal health care premium is linked to income and is paid when taxes are filed. I pay $700 / year.

But public insurance only covers some services - it covers the services of any MD, hospitalization, eye exams if you're under 18 or over 65, and meds when you're in the hospital. It does, in ON cover psychologists or other counselling, medications dispensed by a pharmacy outside of a hospital, pysiotherapy, or dental care.

For those services hope you have a good job at a decent sized company with a good benefits plan. I do. I pay about $80 a month in premiums and my company pays the rest. For this I get 100% drug reimbursement, semi-private hospital coverage, 100% dental reimbursement to a maximum of $2,500 a year, and up to $1000 a year for things like psychologists, chiro, physiotherapy, etc. But lots of the working poor don't have this supplementary coverage.

If you're on welfare or Ontario Disability Supports or are a senior over 65 you get a drug card that will cover your meds. But the list of meds covered is limited. Welfare and ODSP only cover emergency dental.

The mixed system works well in Canada provided you're in a well paying permanent job with full benefits, unfortunately those jobs are dissapearing leaving lots of people with gaps in coverage.

Overal I'd say that the provincial health care does provide decent coverage. I've seen a neurologist - had EEG, and CAT Scans, an oncologist as well as my family dr., been hospitalized for 4 days for alocohol withdrawl, and 7 weeks inpatient at a psych hospital. I've also completed publically funded rehab twice, all at no cost to me beyond the $700 I pay annually. I think I'm getting a pretty good deal.

--splitimage