Universal Medicare - Why would you not want it?

One thing we wonder as Canadians is why you would want to pay for health care?
more to come--

Tommy Douglas - call him a commie call him what you will - but he was one of a group of leaders to ensure no one paid to see their doctor
Below is a poignant speech he made in 1983 speaking of how greed would eventually kill it

Some of us dont want to pay,,,,,i like the idea of free medicine BUT you cant have the gov, out of your life and take care of ya at the same time...........

The doctors staged a province-wide strike when it was a provincial election issue in 1960.
History can repeat itself. Lots of "left" and "right" wing labelling in here:


I don't know if "Obamacare" is similar to what was proposed in the US, I just know that I'm grateful for growing up and no one having to think of bringing their chequebooks with them to get treated. And whether they have money or not makes a difference in their treatment. It seems ludicrous.

But now we have "caught up" to the "Jones'" and the politicians see how beneficial it is to their coffers to kiss up to private care. So now, the birthplace of medicare, is "catching up"

How are things in the UK?

Because now Doctors get a paycheck no matter what.. I.E. They don't have to work as hard.. blah blah blah I know there are the ones that actually enjoy there line of work, and really work for there paycheck..

If I'm not mistaken.. Don't or.. Didn't most Canadians come down to the states for there major procedures??

I dont understand why I cant make a decision on my own to take the risk of not having health insurance... And how long is it before im required to pay for dental ins, life ins, car ins, well i live in MA so i already am required to pay for car ins but how long before i cant escape to New Hampshire to get away from these ridiculous things that aren't supposed to raise costs but always do!

I guess thats one of the differences - in the US you will still have to buy insurance - thats plain hypocrisy and doesn't make it fair.

Canada instituted higher taxes on the "sin" stuff - alcohol, tobacco, and put that mainly towards medicare..

Of course it has been and still is being squandered by the politicians in charge of it.

reply to post by SickeningTruths

Lots of double-edges to these schemes!

Not sure about the US trips - don't know of any who have, except for a few old timers who snowbird it.

I for 1 do not want to live longer than i have to. Heath care would mess that up for me.

reply to post by ItsEvolutionBaby

One thing we wonder as Canadians is why you would want to pay for health care?

What I wonder as an American is why do Canadians think they are not paying for health care.

Tommy Douglas - call him a commie call him what you will - but he was one of a group of leaders to ensure no one paid to see their doctor

No Canadian pays to see their doctor? Who do you think pays for your doctor visits, Peruvians?

Originally posted by charles1952
reply to post by ItsEvolutionBaby

 

One thing we wonder as Canadians is why you would want to pay for health care?

What I wonder as an American is why do Canadians think they are not paying for health care.

Tommy Douglas - call him a commie call him what you will - but he was one of a group of leaders to ensure no one paid to see their doctor

No Canadian pays to see their doctor? Who do you think pays for your doctor visits, Peruvians?

- We pay via the "sin" taxes.
- Paying was tied in to the bringing your wallet to the dr's app't
- C'est la Vie

reply to post by ItsEvolutionBaby

Dear ItsEvolutionBaby,

I may be able to learn a lot from you. A lot of my questions are prompted by this article which is the source for my quotes.Reuters' article 2010

- We pay via the "sin" taxes.

Is the money from those taxes dedicated exclusively to healthcare? Does funding come from other taxes?

Healthcare in Canada is delivered through a publicly funded system, which covers all "medically necessary" hospital and physician care and curbs the role of private medicine. It ate up about 40 percent of provincial budgets, or some C$183 billion ($174 billion) last year.

Forty per cent of provincial budgets come from sin taxes?

Ontario says healthcare could eat up 70 percent of its budget in 12 years, if all these costs are left unchecked.

You're going to have to do a lot of sinning.

British Columbia is replacing block grants to hospitals with fee-for-procedure payments and Quebec has a new flat health tax and a proposal for payments on each medical visit -- an idea that critics say is an illegal user fee.

Quebecois may have to start bringing their wallets to the doctor.

And a few provinces are also experimenting with private funding for procedures such as hip, knee and cataract surgery.

Maybe the whole country will have to start bringing their wallets to the doctor's.

Canada, fretting over budget strains, wants to prune its system, while the United States, worrying about an army of uninsured, aims to create a state-backed safety net.

Why would you not want it?

Because it doesn't seem to be working.

With respect,
Charles1952

reply to post by charles1952


Hey Charles,
Thanks for your questions and quotes. Just got back from sum v-time, so will add a link or 2 to this reply after unpacking etc.

To sum, greed has taken over our Universal Medicare system (surprised?) It took less than 50 years to fall apart. Our health care system is now riddled with management. At a recent Medicare conference, one employee reported in the health region they work in, there is now a manager for every 5 employees. The gov't decided to divide the province into many health care "regions" - totally unnecessary for a province of 1 million people (Saskatchewan).

Divided it and appointed more than a few managers to run these regions. Its been quite sick, pun intended.

The salaries that this plethora of management are paid is ludicrous. It is draining the system. And as usual is being falsely portrayed in the media.
Sounding familiar to anything else?

As I now understand it, US citizens will have to purchase insurance, still, in order to be covered?
All I know that is that when ever we needed to go to the doctor, finances never came into play (not inc. dentists/eye drs.). Used to be.
I think those that be saw how much money there was to be made with private health care, when looking to the south. Screw the people. There's money to be made.

The irony of both countries pulling opposites with the result being the same is something else kinda wild. Our health has turned into a game.

Originally posted by SaveTheRepublic
I dont understand why I cant make a decision on my own to take the risk of not having health insurance... And how long is it before im required to pay for dental ins, life ins, car ins, well i live in MA so i already am required to pay for car ins but how long before i cant escape to New Hampshire to get away from these ridiculous things that aren't supposed to raise costs but always do!

I know- its pure nuts. Invades damn near every portion of our lives and wallets. Insurance purchased, something bad happens that requires you to make a claim on said insurance, and watch the clauses pop up that explain how it is not able to cover it - whatever "it" is... or if the claim is deemed "valid", your premium rises cause now you are considered a "risk" because something bad happened to you.
What a fricking farce.

I didn't realize they were forcing you to purchase insurance.

Difference here is we pay now over 10 for a pack of smokes, and a "26" is usually just over $20. Which, even tho we bitch about it royally, are ok to pay or say forced to pay, if you choose to partake.

Knowing how much people smoke and drink, our medicare funding was doing fine. Til greed came in. Forecasted by one of the people who started it.

What I fail to understand is why Americans don't demand something for the money they already spend on healthcare. If my country spent the most but ranked 37th, I would think that something is very wrong. And by the way, people don't want free health care. They want their taxes spent on their health care. It only makes sense. What I find perplexing is that people who don't live in a country with universal health care feel that they have any expertise to discredit it. That's like saying you don't like ice cream but you've never tasted it.

www.who.int...