Canadian Healthcare

majorwoody10 · 10-25-2007, 08:38 AM

are the rcmp still royal or are they merely cmp now , or if they have been unhorsed , are they just cp ..and if they are trudgeing around in giant wooden hoop snowshoe thingys , are they still always able to get their man ? oh ...and is "their man" always a big french lumberjack who badly needs a bath and shave , as is portrayed in american movies??

DerAdlerIstGelandet · 10-25-2007, 11:34 AM

I am starting to get pissed off at the way you write your posts. You have been asked nicely...

...I will ask no more.

comiso90 · 10-25-2007, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DerAdlerIstGelandet

I am starting to get pissed off at the way you write your posts. You have been asked nicely...

...I will ask no more.

He's ex-Army... why should u expect more?

DerAdlerIstGelandet · 10-25-2007, 04:40 PM

Hey now...

comiso90 · 10-25-2007, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DerAdlerIstGelandet

Hey now...

I still think there should be a "Hall of Shame" thread... some of the stuff is so darn funny!

.

Maestro · 10-25-2007, 09:24 PM

I haven't read all of the thread, but you seem to describe the life in the Province of Québec, Njaco. (Because Québec has a "free health care service" independent from the Federal one.)

I'll try to make it as simple and short as possible...

We (the Province of Québec) have that "free service" since the early 70s (if my memory serves me well).

From the start to the early 90s it wasn't a bad service. It was rather good and fast. Then they ran out of money and decided to "review" the system. (I was born in 1984, so I knew both "systems").

They decided to "review the system" by kicking out doctors and nurses who were near their retirement date and gave them a big separation check (some up to $500,000 CND) along with their full pention check. Like they were still lacking of money, they decided to close sections of hopitals. (So in some hospitals, you'll have (for example) a "long-term healt care" department (for peoples with a cancer) along with a department for old peoples who need constant cares, but no emergency room. So if you fall down the stairs or have an heart attack, you'll need to go in an other hospital.)

But what our dear gouvernment didn't expect is that, even if they had less doctors and nurses, they would not have less patients.

So for over a decade now, our hospitals are full. We a lacking of everything : doctors, nurses, high-tech equipment, rooms (damn, we even have to park patients on stretchers down the corridor's walls) and clean-up stuff and staff (so a patient would not give his desease to the one next to him).

We are lacking of so many doctors and nurses that some nurses are forced to regulary work 16, sometimes even 24 hours in a row... Without sleeping ! A lot of them are having burn-outs because of that. But the gouvernment doesn't care. They even voted a law to force nurses to work in overtime if their bosses can't find someone to replace them !

And it won't get better, because the doctors/nurses being currently trained are leaving for Ontario or the US so they would not get trapped in that system.

There is also our infamous "wait-list". Wait-lists for some operations have a waiting time of over 2 years. But now, our gouvernment voted a law : if you can't get your operation in within 2 months (I think), you'll be sent in an American hospital and the gouvernment will pay the bill. I just hope for you that you don't have an heart desease or a cancer... Because 2 months is a long waiting time !

But of course, what's above doesn't apply to you if you are a politician, actor, signer, famous writer (which I'm not... yet) or a sportsman. In this case, you'll go straight to the operation room. No waiting time.

There is also a lack of family doctors. My personnal doctor must be near retirement now, but I can assure you that if ever he decided to retire tomorrow, I would not be able to find an other one.

And what you said about patients not being allowed to go see a private doctor is true. However, our politicians are re-thinking about the situation. Recently, they authorized doctors to operate patients in the private system for some minor surgeries (eye, hip or knee surgery). So may be we'll be able to go fully private some days...

Well... I think it covers the situation pretty well.

majorwoody10 · 11-16-2007, 01:57 PM

alder , did you give me three demerits for makeing light of polar bears with high stick head injurys ?

i wish to apologise if i have offended any polar bears ..a fractured skull really is not a jokeing matter, even in canada...

DerAdlerIstGelandet · 11-16-2007, 02:57 PM

No I gave you the infraction for something else. I gave it because your so called "humor" was rather distasteful. Comparing me to someone in the SS is very distasteful. I dont give a damn if it is was a joke. You are lucky because others have been banned straight up for comments such as you made in that thread. Againt those words were very distasteful.

If you dont remember here is what you said:

"please herr alder , i mean herr uberstumpfanoberfeurer! ..i did not know you were a moderater , i mistook you for a luftwaffe man , silly me , a luftwaffe man does not wear a tailored black uniform with silver pipeing and shiney black boots ..when you say " ve haf vays " ..i get zee message , loud unt clair !! ....

please do not send me east ..i will make this ah ..."contribution" right away but i need an adress , i know ansbach is somewhere in the fatherland but i need zee actual street address or perhaps a numbered bank account in zurich ..im just a poor shopkeeper ,please , i dont want to go on a train ride to poland ...and i DO belive bubbi hartmann was the greatest fighter pilot that ever lived and i will not make any further jokes unless i tell you personaly that it is a joke ..ie. alder ,please dont get upset ,THIS IS A JOKE ..ok "

Dont be a smart ass about it either. It will only make it worse....

freebird · 11-16-2007, 11:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mkloby

PB - regarding point 12, I don't know about the whole hockey player thing, but isn't it ILLEGAL for Canadians to pay and receive their own healthcare in Canada?

You do have a fair number of such inclined individuals that come to the US to receive healthcare.
.

Yes it is, its a stupid rule that many of us think should be dropped. If you want to pay for your own private care, why not? Then there would just be 1 less on the waiting list. (which are not that bad now)

mkloby · 11-17-2007, 12:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by freebird

Yes it is, its a stupid rule that many of us think should be dropped. If you want to pay for your own private care, why not? Then there would just be 1 less on the waiting list. (which are not that bad now)

Is there a strong political push to have that clause taken out?

Just a thought - Does Canada have a back up plan if the US drug manufacturers cease selling the gov't drugs at very low prices?

freebird · 11-17-2007, 12:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mkloby

Is there a strong political push to have that clause taken out?

Just a thought - Does Canada have a back up plan if the US drug manufacturers cease selling the gov't drugs at very low prices?

We were hoping that the Conservatives would fix that, it was in their platform. But they got hammered in the debates because the socialists demonized "2 tier health care". They would rather that the wealthy went to the good ol' USA to spend money in private clinics instead of supporting a local for-profit clinic.

But the Tory's are in a minority and are also getting squeezed for supporting Afganistan, so I don't think they can do anything unless they get a majority.

The Gov't is trying to stop drug re-sellers, some success, but too many Americans want to buy here.

mkloby · 11-17-2007, 08:00 AM

The whole drug issue in Canada is interesting - and blanketly unfair. I think the American drug companies should turn off the faucet on drugs exported to Canada unless the Canadian gov't stops acting as if its above capitalism and pays fair market value.

This includes vast research and development of drugs, which is by far the largest expenditure of pharm. companies. For every successful drug, there are hundreds that fail. Someone has to pay these costs, or else drug R&D will dry up. Yet the Canadian gov't feels that its costs should merely reflect actual production costs of manufacturing the drug...

Big problem...

freebird · 11-17-2007, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mkloby

The whole drug issue in Canada is interesting - and blanketly unfair. I think the American drug companies should turn off the faucet on drugs exported to Canada unless the Canadian gov't stops acting as if its above capitalism and pays fair market value.

This includes vast research and development of drugs, which is by far the largest expenditure of pharm. companies. For every successful drug, there are hundreds that fail. Someone has to pay these costs, or else drug R&D will dry up. Yet the Canadian gov't feels that its costs should merely reflect actual production costs of manufacturing the drug...

Big problem...

You have a point there, butI think part of the problem is that the drug companies sign agreements to sell the same drug for different prices in different countries.

However if lots of Americans were driving up to Canada to save 40% on drugs when we had a 70 cent dollar a couple of years ago, and its now worth about $1.04, the savings might not be so much....

Hop · 11-17-2007, 04:02 PM

Quote:

The whole drug issue in Canada is interesting - and blanketly unfair. I think the American drug companies should turn off the faucet on drugs exported to Canada unless the Canadian gov't stops acting as if its above capitalism and pays fair market value.

This includes vast research and development of drugs, which is by far the largest expenditure of pharm. companies. For every successful drug, there are hundreds that fail. Someone has to pay these costs, or else drug R&D will dry up. Yet the Canadian gov't feels that its costs should merely reflect actual production costs of manufacturing the drug...

Canada actually limits drug prices to the average price charged in Sweden, Switzerland, France, Germany, the UK and US.

The NHS in the UK pays prices calculated to give the drug companies about 20% annual return on investment (far higher than most industries). It works pretty well, and the UK drugs industry is thriving.

Canada has prices similar to the UK. That's certainly far above manufacturing cost.

What's telling is that in a British report on drug pricing, the average price in the US is nearly twice that of the UK. However, that's retail price. There's an as yet unpublished study that says the prices actually paid for drugs in the US are similar to Britain and Canada, because the big insurers get very large discounts.

That doesn't help those in the US who have to buy their own drugs, of course, because they end up paying close to retail, which can be twice the price of the UK or Canada.

In other words, the drug companies don't get much more money selling drugs in the US than they do in Canada. But if you are a private buyer in the US, watch out.