Quote:
If you have government run healthcare they will decide what treatment you receive, how long you have to wait to receive it and what doctor can treat you.
Actually here in Ontario, no they don't.
I choose what doctor I go see and he/she and I make the decision on what path of treatment to take and what doctor I want to see based on my family doctor's opinion. As for wait time, it's not that long. My mom was three weeks from being told she needed a knee replacement to getting it.
I think where people may be having a problem understanding our health care system is the understanding of the HMO system and such you have in the U.S. From what I've learned that is how your system(s) work. But here in Ontario, I go see my doctor, if I need to see a specialist, the office calls one and I get in to see them or like I did I told my doctor which specialist I wanted to see and he set up the appointment. A week later I was down in the city seeing that specialist - I could have gotten in earlier but I had to work around my job. Also our health care is not federal, it's provincial so each province has their own, I do believe there are provinces that don't have any but not 100% sure.
Here is what OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan) covers (I may miss stuff as I'm not an expert on all aspects of it this is more what we've used it for):
- all doctor visits - either to my own family doctor, walk-in clinic, or specialists
- hospital visits - emergency visits are covered, the meds they send you home with, and basic stays (regular room, and care), if you want more than basic like semi-private or private room get your own insurance to cover that, all care for having babies pre and post pregnancy.
- tests that I need to have done are covered as long as a doctor has requested them. Some blood work is optional and that costs extra.
- Vaccinations are covered, as well as health check ups for all ages
- the one time we used an ambulance it was covered
- once a year eye exams are covered too
We have extra insurance through DH's work. It covers dental (not very well but it's better than nothing), hospital private room, any ambulance bill not covered by OHIP, 80% of our prescriptions (which I then take the other 20% and submit with my income taxes).
You will always have people that take advantage of any system no matter what cause some people are scum. Our health care system is far from perfect but after watching my inlaws fork out thousands last year (they had insurance,big fight there too) after my FIL got ill in FL (cost $900 alone for the ambulance!), I'm happy to pay the government to pay it for me instead of me having to figure out where the money will come from. And yes even here they are mandated to care for you if you are ill with no coverage (lapsed card, not from the province, etc.) and go into the hospital but they will hunt you down to pay the bill.
Boy when you said ambulance fees did that bring back memories of fighting with health insurance.
When DD was five she was not feeling well, so I took her to the Dr and he kept saying it was allegies. Than one Saturday morning she collapsed in agony, so I rushed her to the local hospital. She was in critical condition so she was medevaced by helicopter to a hospital with a pediatric intensive care unit.
They discovered she was in renal failure, and felt they could not care for her properly, so they medevaced her again! Long story short she lived, by the hair of her chinny chin chin, but we had two helicopter rides, and went from central Illinois to Madison Wisconsin.
Here is the kicker, I had private insurance through my employer. Each helicopter flight was about $6000, but they would only cover the second one. Why... Because the first one was not one of there preferred providers!! There was only one provider from the hospital in my town, so how could I know it would not be covered.
Yeah I paid it off, but next time I'll have to check before one of us tries to kick off...
