Slightly newsy. But not really.

[dzuunmod]

When I mentioned that Maclean's cover story a few weeks back - 'The Case Against Having Children' - one of you mentioned that it seemed kinda dumb, like people wouldn't really be shocked to discover that some people don't want kids. And I read dismissive things about the piece in one or two of your journals

Comments

[fuzzyila]

My insurance (which is ending in December anyway) won't cover a neurologist that specializes in my disorder. And my insurance flat out refused to pay for medical tests ordered by the Mayo Clinic on the grounds that I'd already had them within a specific calendar period and I couldn't have another, even if ordered by a qualified doctor.

See, I don't get that even with these situations, people think it's better than having public healthcare. I have an American friend with Lupus who had to go to the emerg, but evidently, her insurance company did not agree and would not reimburse her.

Every province here does it a bit differently, but I know I can go to a private clinic here if I want to and get reimbursed by my private insurance, even if it's a service offered by the public sector (a lot of people complain we have a two-tiered system and to some extent, it's true). I don't have any issues with the services I get for free, even if I sometimes have to wait. Essential stuff, we don't wait for.

But I did have to wait for a dermatologist because I wanted an appointment with one close to my home. I had to wait for an appointment to open up with my chosen OB because I did not want to see another one - but that was my *choice*.
When I go to deliver my baby, I can stay up to three days in a private room that has a bed for my husband also, with meals included, and I don't pay a dime. (I have to pay if I want a TV in my room though, but I have a whirlpool bath included. Priorities! :)

Otherwise, the essential stuff, like my annual cancer check-up, I get right away. My mom, too and her surgeries were also free. My dad sees a neurologist 4 times a year - all free. And when he started to become more immobile, nurses came to his house to wash him, take blood and other stuff - all free. Now he's in a nursing home and guess what, when he can no longer pay the government subsidized fees, they don't kick him out or kill him, it becomes free, too.
Who wouldn't want that?! Sure, there are flaws here and doctor shortages (mostly because our doctors take off to the States where the pay is better) and with such a vast country, it is hard to get doctors to move to isolated communities to work there, but overall, I wouldn't trade it.

[mariness]

I agree completely.

As I told my mother, under the current system, I still had to wait to go to see the specialists at Mayo even though I'd been to the emergency room for this; I have had to wait to see each and every doctor I've seen, and I still have to pay for this - not just the monthly insurance fee, but added fees on top of that. I will have to pay part of the costs for my new wheelchair (which, ok, yes, will be a customized wheelchair built for my height and weight, so, plus! but still - on my health forums I talk to Brits, Canadians and Australians who get these same customized wheelchairs for free.

But my mother - and I can rant here since she doesn't read dzuunmod's journal, and I've needed to rant, so, er, apologies for making you the target - really does believe, whole heartedly, what she hears on talk radio. She believes that health care will be rationed (which is true but no different from the status quo), and she actually believes in the stupid death panel things. And even if the mainstream media were working on getting the truth out, and they aren't, she believes the talk radio that tells her not to believe the mainstream media.

It's a mess. I do make occasional attempts to argue but frankly it ends up tiring me out and upsetting me and not accomplishing much.

A whirlpool bath for baby delivery sounds awesome! While we're ranting - when my friend gave birth last year to a kid that was mostly healthy but had some minor issues (jaundice and something I've forgotten) the hospital wanted the baby to stay another night for observation. My friend's insurance said fine, baby can stay - but the mother can't. So my friend and her boyfriend and his mother spent a hellish night in a waiting room because the insurance company wouldn't cover one more night for her.

The good news is that the baby is absolutely fine if slightly too fond of sitting on their dog, but that's not a health issue.

[fuzzyila]

ah, if baby has to stay past three days and I don't, I get moved to another room in the same wing. I no longer get meals included (and possibly no more fancy bath) but it makes it easier to be with my baby. I can "live" there until baby is ready to go home. That doesn't go on indefinitely though - not sure what the time limit is. My friend had a premie and had to commute daily to the hospital for weeks until hers could come home. I think it depends on the circumstances (and she was at a different hospital).

You need to get your mom on the phone with a Canadian, Swede, Dutch, Aussie, German or anyone so she can ask questions. That is if she's willing to hear it. It's sad because the stuff they're touting is getting so ridiculous. Soon we'll hear that once public healthcare is instituted, dinosaurs will roam the earth. I mean, it's getting outrageous and it scares people and they believe it.

[mariness]

My friend had been in the hospital for two nights; it was the baby's third night. The nurse apologized profusely.

I have told my mother that the Canadians, Brits and Australians I speak to are all fairly satisfied with their health care and I hear only extensive praise for the French, who apparently have achieved health care nirvana (this is from French people). And I know how many people outside the States have expressed shock when I've chatted about my health care bills and what's happened because of them - and honestly I am not the worst story you will hear.

And it slinks into other places, as well. I lost my job, as did another manager at my firm, not because of job performance, but because we both developed major illnesses and the company (medium sized, 300 employees) did not think they could afford the increased insurance premiums that would hit the firm just because of the two of us. I have a friend with diabetes type 1 - perfectly treatable, and he's otherwise completely healthy - who can only work for medium/large firms or governments, because small firms don't offer health insurance, and having type 1 diabetes makes individual insurance unaffordable for him, and any type of income at all pretty much makes you unqualified for Medicaid. And back when I worked at the university I had two coworkers who kept their jobs there because they both had kids with perfectly treatable but chronic illnesses and they needed the insurance. Heck, one reason I stayed at the university as long as I did was they had, hands down, the best insurance I had at any employer ever. But from my own experience health insurance is a lousy reason to keep a job.

[fuzzyila]

eh, that's a shame.
health insurance is a lousy reason to keep a job

I know people who have done that here - for benefits in general, hell, some people just took the job because they wanted benefits. Here you can't be denied insurance and if you have two jobs, you can claim on both. It's kinda different from the rest of Canada, but in QC, by law every company must provide private insurance to their full time employees. Some good places even give it to part timers. Most pay a part and you pay a part, but some pay all of it (which rocks!). It covers stuff not 100% covered by Medicare - dental and vision, prescriptions, optional psychotherapy, massage, acupuncture, naturopathy, optional physiotherapy etc. Anyways, all this to say it would be impossible for a company to fire you based on your insurance needs. What goes on is solely between you and the insurance company, so my work would never know how much I spend or what I spend it on. I could have a horrible chronic disease and my work would never know unless I told them. (Which makes sense because it's really no one's business)
If you can do the job, that's all that matters and it means *most* of the people want to work there because they like their job and not just the benefits.

It doesn't make good business sense to me to let a perfectly good person go just because they need a certain medication or go to the chiropractor twice a week. That sounds like outright discrimination.

[dzuunmod]

I have told my mother that the Canadians, Brits and Australians I speak to are all fairly satisfied with their health care and I hear only extensive praise for the French, who apparently have achieved health care nirvana (this is from French people).

The thing that gets me about the whole debate is, like, every 'scoreboard' of every healthcare measurement that matters pretty much shows the US lagging behind other industrialized nations. How do people in the US not see that?

[wendykh]

oooh where did/are you having your baby? I might be talked into doing a hospital for that.

[fuzzyila]

I'll be delivering at LaSalle