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Not to be political...but the elephant in the room...health care reform
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<blockquote data-quote="trinityroyal" data-source="post: 349682" data-attributes="member: 3907"><p>Exactly. Everyone is going to have to understand the fine details of the health care plan, and what they can and can't do, and how it differs from what they could or could not do before.</p><p></p><p>With OHIP (the Ontario Health Insurance Plan), everyone who is registered as a citizen of the province is eligible for coverage, and entitled to receive whatever health care is covered under the provincial plan. The trouble is that so many things are not covered under the plan, and then people have to scramble around to find treatment and determine how to pay for it. Employer health plans tend to offer coverage for the services that are not included in the Provincial health plan, such as vision care, prescription drugs, dentistry, physio, chiropractic, etc. So for most people, between OHIP (or other provinces' equivalent) and employer health plans, they are well covered.</p><p></p><p>Where the difficulties come up are situations such as:</p><p></p><p>1) I need treatment that's not included in the health plan.</p><p>For example, there was a story in the newspaper about a man who is being treated with Avastin for malignant brain tumours. But, because Avastin is not approved by the province to treat brain tumours, he must pay out of pocket something luke $7000 for each treatment.</p><p></p><p>2) I need a diagnostic test that is included, but there's a long waiting list.</p><p>For example, if I need an MRI the waiting list is 4 months or so, and there are no privately operated MRI clinics allowed in the province. If I have the money, I can nip across the border to Buffalo and get the tests done there with no waiting, but not everyone can afford the travel costs or the medical costs to do that. In fact, "medical tourism" is a booming business with tons of Canadians travelling to the U.S. to receive better quality health care that we have access to up here.</p><p></p><p>I think there are advantages and disadvantages to both private and public health care. It's really a matter of whose running the show and how they're doing so.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="trinityroyal, post: 349682, member: 3907"] Exactly. Everyone is going to have to understand the fine details of the health care plan, and what they can and can't do, and how it differs from what they could or could not do before. With OHIP (the Ontario Health Insurance Plan), everyone who is registered as a citizen of the province is eligible for coverage, and entitled to receive whatever health care is covered under the provincial plan. The trouble is that so many things are not covered under the plan, and then people have to scramble around to find treatment and determine how to pay for it. Employer health plans tend to offer coverage for the services that are not included in the Provincial health plan, such as vision care, prescription drugs, dentistry, physio, chiropractic, etc. So for most people, between OHIP (or other provinces' equivalent) and employer health plans, they are well covered. Where the difficulties come up are situations such as: 1) I need treatment that's not included in the health plan. For example, there was a story in the newspaper about a man who is being treated with Avastin for malignant brain tumours. But, because Avastin is not approved by the province to treat brain tumours, he must pay out of pocket something luke $7000 for each treatment. 2) I need a diagnostic test that is included, but there's a long waiting list. For example, if I need an MRI the waiting list is 4 months or so, and there are no privately operated MRI clinics allowed in the province. If I have the money, I can nip across the border to Buffalo and get the tests done there with no waiting, but not everyone can afford the travel costs or the medical costs to do that. In fact, "medical tourism" is a booming business with tons of Canadians travelling to the U.S. to receive better quality health care that we have access to up here. I think there are advantages and disadvantages to both private and public health care. It's really a matter of whose running the show and how they're doing so. [/QUOTE]
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Not to be political...but the elephant in the room...health care reform
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