May 20, 2006 by thinking girl
I've been feeling a bit under the weather the past few days, I have a touch of malaise, so I am tardy with my FF post this week. Sorry! I'll post it as soon as I feel up to being in front of the computer for more than 15 minutes at a time. I'm thinking maybe tonight or sometime tomorrow. Wish me well - I feel so exhausted and depleted I can use all the well-wishing I can get!
J
 | starry_lady on Blog for Choice Day 2008 |
 | Prash on International Women’s Da… |
 | holly kearl on street harassment |
 | badbillybovine on holding your hand is not my fu… |
 | Erik on georgia rule |
 | thinking girl on georgia rule |
 | Anji on georgia rule |
| thinking girl on street harassment |
 | shoutybloke on street harassment |
| shoutybloke on street harassment |
| thinking girl on georgia rule |
 | Been there on georgia rule |
 | saudi dude on Saudi national flees country b… |
 | 8 mar. 2007 « … on Feminism Weekender - Nati… |
| LO 2.0 » Holdi… on holding your hand is not my fu… |
I’m sorry you feel under the weather. We had a awful flu bug go thro here about a month ago. The kind we call ‘the crud’ because it’s like flu/cold combination. Be careful if you get that one & it goes into your lungs. Many people have gotten Pneumonia w/it.
P.S. I read your last post on health care. It was very interesting. What is Canada’s health care system like, BTW?
thanks L>T. I’m starting to feel better. After I answer your question, I’m on to writing my FF post.
Canada’s health care system is actually pretty great. It provides every Canadian with universal free access to most health care services (elective cosmetic surgery is not covered, as well as some fertility treatments, dentistry over a certain age, eye care over a certain age, and other non-necessary medical procedures). The system is publicly administered, but the individual physicians are enterpreneurs: they work for themselves and bill each province (our name for what you call states). Prescription drugs are covered if they are administered during medical treatment at a hospital. So, for example, if I break my arm, I go to the emergency room - any location in any province across the country - I present them with my provincial health care number to proove I am a citizen and to track my medical information, and I receive treatment. I pay nothing - not for diagnostic services like x-rays or CAT scans or biopsies or MRIs, not for the pain-killers they give me while I’m there, not for the treatment itself. $0.
Now, the system is not perfect, and the number one complaint across the country is wait-times for non-life threatening treatment, like joint replacement or cosmetic surgery. In most provinces now, there are private clinics available for those who can afford to pay and do not wish to wait for treatment. This is very controversial, because Canadians on the majority believe that access to health care should not depend on ability to pay - we see it as a right for all rather than a commodity for the rich. However, last year a court ruled in Quebec that if the public health care system had too long a wait, then the treatment should be covered by the province at a private clinic, even a private clinic outside the province, and that citizens should be allowed to purchase private health insurance for all medical procedures. So far, no private insurance companies have cropped up, and I think that is a very very good thing. Currently, private insurance companies provide services that are not covered by provincial health care plans, such as dentistry, massage therapy, and prescription drugs.
The Canadian health care system is changing, and it will be interesting to watch. For one, I hope that it stays mostly the same. I just think we need a more efficient way of managing the funds we do have - studies have shown we have enough money going in, but that it’s not being managed as efficiently as it could be, and suggested lots of ways to improve administration. hopefully these studies will be implemented, and fast. I don’t want our system to look like the american system, and I’m nervous that once private insurance is permitted and there is a feasible market for it, american companies will want in, and we won’t be able to keep them out under NAFTA. Right now, health care is a protected market in CAnada becuase it is publicly administered. Once there is a private market, NAFTA’s rules are clear: american companies will be allowed in, and that could drastically change the face of Canadian health care.
Does that answer your question?
yes, it answers my question very well. I’d agree that you don’t want american companys ‘horning’ in on your system. It would probally lead to corruption in the long run.
thanks for not only suffering through my lengthy paper, but also my lengthy response to your question! what a gem!
I’m sure our system would only get more and more corrupt should american companies get a foothold in the market. and then, once they were in, it would be impossible to get the little critters out again.