Questions For Our Canadian Friends

[john6316]

Not sure how Trudeau will do but 10 years of Stephen Harper was to long.He's talked about legalizing weed so lets hope he keeps his promises.I read somewhere he is going to put up a promise meter to moniter how many of his campaign promises are fulfiled.

[JerryFalwell]

Why do Canadians say "I'm sorry" when they're not the offending party, eh?

[scoundrel]

Reverting to AmateurEmale's side question on Health Canada, I have read that Mrs Palin's family used to go to neighbouring Yukon in Canada and benefit from the Canadian health system rather than pay for treatment in free-enterprise Alaska. But people often tell lies and half-truthes, and it would surprise me if Canada is not wise to American healthcare tourism and doesn't have mechanisms to stop US citizens from poncing on the Canadian tax payer. More likely than not, the Palin family had to pay for their care in Canada and went there for legitimate and practical reasons, e.g. physical road and rail and sea communications being so poor in Alaska that you have to go to the easiest hospital to reach regardless of which country it is located in.

But I am curious to know exactly what Canada does in order to protect herself from US citizens wanting free healthcare to which they are not entitled?

[9876543210]

scoundrel,

Originally Posted by scoundrel

Reverting to AmateurEmale's side question on Health Canada, I have read that Mrs Palin's family used to go to neighbouring Yukon in Canada and benefit from the Canadian health system rather than pay for treatment in free-enterprise Alaska. But people often tell lies and half-truthes, and it would surprise me if Canada is not wise to American healthcare tourism and doesn't have mechanisms to stop US citizens from poncing on the Canadian tax payer. More likely than not, the Palin family had to pay for their care in Canada and went there for legitimate and practical reasons, e.g. physical road and rail and sea communications being so poor in Alaska that you have to go to the easiest hospital to reach regardless of which country it is located in.

But I am curious to know exactly what Canada does in order to protect herself from US citizens wanting free healthcare to which they are not entitled?

Hadn't heard about the Palin's doing that but I guess its not surprising. From what I hear the costs in Canada are significantly lower than they are in the US.

I can't imagine there is a real big population of Americans going to Canada for health care unless you live fairly close to the border. Buffalo, NY and Detroit, MI are probably the biggest cities near the border so, if there is a problem, thats where it would be most evident.

Most of the rest of the border is wilderness or small towns so I'm not sure how it works there.

There used to be a major market a few years ago for pharmaceuticals though. Most were made in the US but those which were shipped to Canada had price controls so there was a huge market in Canadian pharmacies selling those drugs to US citizens at huge discounts. Most all of this was through the mail.

Not sure if its still going on though. I think it may now be illegal but others may know better.

[bombermouse]

I've been waiting for a Canadian to respond but so far no. As I understand it, you have to present proof of eligibility to qualify for nstional health care. Obviously USA citizens can't present such proof. I live close to the border in a rural area and many people go to Canada for things like laser eye surgery because even if you're not eligible for national health care, many procedures are much cheaper there than in the USA.

[9876543210]

bombermouse,

Originally Posted by bombermouse

As I understand it, you have to present proof of eligibility to qualify for nstional health care. Obviously USA citizens can't present such proof. I live close to the border in a rural area and many people go to Canada for things like laser eye surgery because even if you're not eligible for national health care, many procedures are much cheaper there than in the USA.

I don't know how this works, but I have some acquaintances who live around International Falls, Minnesota. Thats a really small town out in the middle of nowhere and right on the border. There was a checkpoint there years ago but everybody knew each other so it wasn't much of an impediment to crossing.

Been awhile since I was there but people used to go back and forth across the border there five to ten times a day at times. Some things you did were on the US side while others were on the Canadian side. Don't know how much has changed but it wouldn't surprise me much if, nowadays, the medical stuff is on the Canadian side. But I could be wrong.

[seany65]

Originally Posted by JerryFalwell

Why do Canadians say "I'm sorry" when they're not the offending party, eh?

Maybe 'cos they are still, on a subconcious level at least, partly British, and we apologise for every thing we do, and always have, including when we used to "go to foreign countries and teach them to speak English, even if they didn't want to learn it."?

[sobaka]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

Reverting to AmateurEmale's side question on Health Canada, I have read that Mrs Palin's family used to go to neighbouring Yukon in Canada and benefit from the Canadian health system rather than pay for treatment in free-enterprise Alaska. But people often tell lies and half-truthes, and it would surprise me if Canada is not wise to American healthcare tourism and doesn't have mechanisms to stop US citizens from poncing on the Canadian tax payer. More likely than not, the Palin family had to pay for their care in Canada and went there for legitimate and practical reasons, e.g. physical road and rail and sea communications being so poor in Alaska that you have to go to the easiest hospital to reach regardless of which country it is located in.

But I am curious to know exactly what Canada does in order to protect herself from US citizens wanting free healthcare to which they are not entitled?

US citizens wouldn't have a Canadian Health Card, so if they got any treatment they would have been hit for full, not government reimbursed costs, which any US insurer would not cover. If they did so it may have been for expediency, but event then Alaska has a much greater population than Yukon.

[sobaka]

Originally Posted by AmateurEmale

Could any Canadians knowledgeable about your health care system, who may be reading this thread at VEF, tell me if Health Canada really just means that major medical expenses, surgeries at hospitals, and/or doctor checkups are covered? And I've also read that certain services like vision, dental, cosmetic surgery, and/or braces are not covered necessarily, and that you could have a private plan for these services rather than your government. I have been concerned about this issue since high school, when in 1994 Bill and Hillary Clinton were first proposing "national health care", and by 2004 I was hospitalized and first had to go on Medicaid to pay my specialist bills as an unemployed recent college graduate.

The Canadian system covers only major med, and doctor visits (although some services like letters to employers are subject to a kind of co-share). Pharmaceuticals, dental, optical, many physio and most cosmetic are not covered and most people have supplementary coverage through their employers. Most people complain that there are lengthly wait lists for some surgeries. but some of this may be a a result of the size and distribution of the Canadian population rather than the structure of the system itself.

One thing here however is that while our government can be just as incompetent as yours, we haven't made such a cock-up of implementing the health care as Obama's hand-picked cast of sycophants and bundler's has managed to to do. Never has so much been spent for so little.

[electile disfunction]

Originally Posted by Mal Hombre

Does it annoy You when any Canadian Who becomes internationally famous is generally assumed to be American ?

Nope.