tawny::cakes`s poll Show results | Hide results

happyforest (140.2 days ago)
wow bumbleguys-- i AM one of those poor ppl with free insurance. if i did not have it, and i had to pay for my own, then i would not have groceries or rent. my baby son would have no insurance. is this how it should be in your opinion? if something happened to you, lost your job, unplanned pregnancy, death of SO, or something else, would you be content to just not have health insurance? or would you expect your government, who is supposed to take care of its people, to help you out a little? if they didnt, you would only end up poorer, and forever in debt with medical bills, and would require EVEN MORE gov help. it must be nice to have enough money to pay for private insurance, how lucky you are. not everyone is as priveleged as you, especially right now, but does that mean we deserve to be any less healthy? while i was working, i too paid into healthcare for poor people, so i dont feel bad at all for using it now that i need it!! i dont plan on being on it forever, i dont liek or want to be poor, but until i finish school and get a degree where i can afford my own insurance, i will be on medicaid. how hateful and rude.

pooka (140.2 days ago)
wow leelers that is really sad to me. Everyone deserves to be able to take care their health.. its just wrong to make it a privilege of the rich.. so wrong.

leelers (140.7 days ago)
What a great topic! I know that in the US, or at least in Arizona, our state funded insurance is awful! When I was preggo I could have applied for it (if i wasn`t covered through my employer) And since my bf and I are not married they would only look at my income while pregnant, but after the baby was born they would look at his in addition to mine. I know a lot of people on it who make way more than the maxmium income and can still manipulate the system to be eligable. Since I am no longer working I do not have insurance at the moment. We have gotten quotes from insurance companies and it will be anywhere from 400-900$ a month. Completely insane! But I don`t qualify for state assistance because the bf makes too much. Sucks! My Mother on the other hand, has heart disease and has has 3 heart attacks. She had insurance for the first, and was in school for the second two without insurance. Insurance companies will not cover her, or they will at a obscene rate and will not cover anything heart related for two years. Well a year ago, they found blood clots in her heart and needed surgery. Not having insurance, it cost her $250,000 out of pocket and her cardiologist even waived his fees. Not to mention she spends $1,200 a month on medication. All because damn insurance companies will not cover her `pre-existing` condition! A similar story with my best friend who was diagnosed with lupus, no insurance company will cover her. It`s so sad that the people who need the help and desperatly need medical attention can not get it. I know the grass always seems greener on the other side, but something seriously needs to be done to reform US healthcare.

pooka (141.5 days ago)
bumble you pick, no one picks your doctor for you. The only exception is if your rural like me you might only have one specialist in the area. But you can see whatever doctor you want. Now that im pregnant I got to choose either a doctor or a midwife too. Medical pays my midwife for me.

ladobruk (141.7 days ago)
Canadian taxes rank average in comparison with other countries. If they privatized our medical system, you can bet our taxes wouldn’t decrease.

pooka (141.8 days ago)
weeblette is right people confuse `universal` with `free` its certainly not free we do pay taxes and if you are over a certain income you do pay a yearly fee. Although its not entirely true our taxes are crazy high. I actually looked and found them comparable to the US but we def. do not get as much back at tax time. However we DO get benefits like GST return every three months and a child tax benefit and universal child care benefits once a month. As well have access to many free public services like counseling, sports grants for children, healthy kids dental programs, pregnancy and mom support programs that will provide vitamins etc, massage therapy, physio, chiropractic care and in some cases naturalpathic care. Depending on what Provence you live in you can also access day care subsidy that pays for not only looking for work, but also pre-school, after school care and regular daycare either licensed group or home. We also pay for prescriptions unless you have an extended health care package through an employee or buy into one, with the exception of psych meds which you can get paid for by mental health agencies. So we do pay for some things, dental is another one not covered by universal medical other then for children of lower income families, unless you have extended. All Universal means is everyone has access to medical, regardless of income or status. It means our taxes we all pay insure everyone has these rights. No one can be turned down or denied health care.

spencerbaby1 (141.9 days ago)
i live in canada.. walked out form the hospital after having my baby with no bill at all. to me thats totally worth it!

weeblette (142 days ago)
You have to remember that although it appears that Canada has `free` healthcare it`s not. We pay extremely high taxes and a special tax is applied the more money you make to pay for our OHIP. In cases of being diagnosed with cancer, not all the treatment is free. Many times in order to have access to certain medications you have to pay high fees. As far as waits go in Canada for treatment. They prioritize the need. You might wait two years for a hip replacement you might not. It`s all based on who needs the work first! It is a wonderful system but not free like people are led to believe!

discokitten (142.2 days ago)
I have lived in Australia and Japan. In Australia you can chose public or private. For public, you pay an extra 1.5% income tax (or nothing if you dont work) and this covers almost everything you need. Having a baby is completely free. If you want to choose your own doctor, you just pay the difference.
Now I am in Japan it works similarly but it is taken out of your pay check, I am currently 20 weeks pregnant and I have already had 5 U/S`s and it is all free including photos, dvd etc. My fertility treatment prior to getting pregnant was also mostly covered!!
My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer early Dec last year in Australia. By Christmas, she had already had her surgery. She has since finished her radio therepy, been given the all clear and it didn`t cost a thing!!
I dont know anyone personally who has had a bad experience in either country.

JordanAndKarasMummy (142.2 days ago)
In the UK although we dont pay for our healthcare, we have National insurance taken straight from our pay cheques which contributes toward our national health service, we dont pay alot but to be honest free healthcare isnt all its cracked up to be....we have to wait on `waiting lists` for our treatment for example i needed to see a neurologist due to having bells palsy and me referal was sent through as a priority case yet it was 4 month before i got to see him. there are upsides and downsides

MrsL (142.3 days ago)
I`m in Canada, it is really nice knowing that you can go to the Dr or get an u/s without paying for it. I feel that health care is very important and I do enjoy the benifits of the Canadian Health Care system. However health insurance is good to have to pay for extras massage, physio, prescription medication etc.

mama2be12.24.09 (142.3 days ago)
i just saw that and it made me rethink everything as i am on medi-cal and couldnt get (pre preggo) cat scans i needed etc, plus my boyfriend is originally born in france ... made me think why we suffer out here, that was so eye opening. they dont punish you for existing conditions, what a great concept they help you instead!

bluejeans (142.3 days ago)
Of course. Being able to go to the dr whenever you want and not needing to have money!

Holly28 (142.3 days ago)
I am Canadian and have had nothing but wonderful experiences with our health care system. The only negative thing is that sometimes there can be a wait to see a specialist but even that isn`t too bad.

tawny::cakes (142.3 days ago)
i totally agree nutnut thank you for your opinions and insights ladies!

pooka (142.4 days ago)
busymom not sure what news that was but Canada health care is not full of long waits. I have never waited for care I call my doc and he either gets me in that day or I can see the on call doctor. If I need to I can walk into the ER and depending on the time of year, day, time and severity I might wait a few hours but not if its an emergency. I have also known people who had cancer treatments and they are not bad, they are the same treatments people in the US get and pay for. I love our health care system. My son got his tonsils out last week, he was originally scheduled for July 15th and they called a few weeks ago with a quicker date and his was an elective tonsillectomy. He got terrific care. My children have seen dermatologists, respiratory specialists and neurologists and have never waited very long for any of their appointments. The ONLY issue I really have is lack of family doctors in my area but we are very rural and lack of specialists means you might have to travel to an appointment. But to me that is the price for living in a rural place. On the plus side its beautiful here. If we have an emergency here that our smaller hospital cannot handle we get a medical paid ambulance, either air or driven, to the closest bigger hospital.

nutnut (142.4 days ago)
id take your system over us healthcare too LOL! even if youre on state medical like i am, there is still long waits for things. even if you have private insurance in the states there is waiting as well. the er`s are always backed up bc people who cant afford insurance or have no insurance or dont qualify for state medical are left with no other options but to go to the ER for things like an ear infection or the flu or whatever. its not these people`s fault they dont have medical. the state needs to step up and do something about this. people deserve to be healhty. i dislike us healthcare, too many hard working people end up falling through the cracks.

ladobruk (142.4 days ago)
My Mom had breast cancer, there was virtually no wait. It all happened very quickly. Perhaps it depends on the province you live in. She has been 6 years cancer free now as well so treatment was successful.

ladobruk (142.4 days ago)
I am definitely thankful for a free medical system. There are some draw backs of course, but the pros definitely outweigh the cons. For the average person that does not need major medical attention, it is a perfect system. It can be a bit of a disadvantage for those that have extensive medical needs as some treatments are not readily available and there are long waits for certain tests, procedures etc. It is awesome not having to worry about money if something does happen like an accident, or even having a baby. That movie really did bother me. There were so many terribly sad stories, people dying needlessly; I can’t imagine having to choose which finger to re-attach because I couldn’t afford both. Geesh.

canadababy (142.4 days ago)
Cancer treatment is not horrible, I know 3women personally who have just gone through breast-cancer treatment and none of them have a bad thing to say about it. And the long wait time would be for a specialist, never for a general walk-in.

busymommyof3 (142.4 days ago)
I was watching the news and some people have to wait around 6 wks to get an appt. Cancer treat is horrible with free health care also. I would say there are pros and cons to both. but yes the drug companies do rip us off!! I HATE that!! After watching that movie it makes it look like free health care is all gravy, but its not!!! and neither is america!

canadababy (142.4 days ago)
Absolutely. I could not imagine having to pay to see a doctor...but because of that there can be long waits. In that case you just have to time your visits to non-peak times (if you can, if it`s an emergency you always get in immediately), or I live just outside the city and we go to the clinic in the nearest small town, much shorter wait times. I have heard though that wait times for elective surgeries like hip-replacements or for things like MRIs can be crazy long, but I haven`t personally experienced anything like that. I`d take our system over the US healthcare system any day :)



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