O/t- Sicko

[JustVanessa]

When I was mama of the week, someone asked me if the movie Sicko accurately portrayed Canadian Medical Care.
The answer is yes.
I can walk into any docs office or any hospital and be seen for free. I will get any tests that I need for free. There is no waiting for approval on anything.
BC charges a Medical Services Premium. The max is $108 a month. Most employers will pay this for you if you work full time. If you have a reduced income the govt covers it. Because my income is still classified as single (Kev and I haven't lived together long enough to have to claim common law) I pay nothing...if I did my employer would cover it.
There is also something called Fair Pharmacare. It helps cover prescription medications according to income. Because my income was so low in 2005 (I was on mat leave) I have good pharmacare coverage for Byron and I. After I paid out $100 in medications the govt started paying for 70% of the cost of all prescription medications. After I hit $250 all my medications for the rest of the year are free. Starts again fresh in January.
I love living in Canada.

I have free health care. I have free childcare. Our minimum wage is quite high. I get a year of half pay for maternity leave after babe is born (not counting the 15weeks I will get paid for medical leave before baby is born).

I had a pretty poor view of American health care before watching the movie and now my opinion is 10x worse. All I can say is Wow! If a hospital in Canada ever put a sick delirious person in a cab and let them go outside a shelter, people here would have a Sh$t Fit.

[BirthFree]

Well, aside from our healthcare (and a few other things), I still love it here and will live here the rest of my life as well.

There is no perfect place. I love my country.

[Kylahroo]

JustVanessa, that was me! I'm glad you watched it! It really does put U.S. healthcare in a dismal light. Made me want to move to Canada!

[Jazzmin]

Sicko made me want to move to Canada, too.

My mom, who has cancer, has pretty much been given the run around by the insurance company. In the end, they refused to pay for her chemo. So, she and my dad pay $20,000 per treatment, out of pocket. Luckily the drug company is working with her to lower costs because she has to have chemo every week!

[anjasma]

Yeah, as my husband is self-employed and I work part time so I can be with my girl, we are ones with no health care. We pay out of pocket for dd's appts. and vaccines we want her to have, so we are not against paying something for care, but $800 a month + a $5000 deductible is ridiculous. If we had paid that for as long as dh has been self employed, that would be $180,000 for a family that is never sick. That's sick.

They keep talking about reform, it'll get a lot of press for a while, then disappear. We don't want handouts, just a reasonable plan, that's all. At one point I had talked to my boss about upping my hours to 20 so that I could get partial benefits at least, but he capped it at 18. I love where I work, but come on! Now with the new babe coming, I even more do not want to go to work full time, so we will be paying out of pocket for the birth & baby's appts. (we just clear the income level for government assistance and they won't provide partial coverage.) I feel like I have explored every possibility, even trying to buy a plan just for dd, but have come up empty every time. I feel pretty jaded about the whole thing & could probably continue to vent for several hours. Suffice it to say, it pi$$es me off.

[balancedmama]

Funny, I just watched Sicko 2 nights ago and was curious about the spin on the healthcare in other countries. I know that the situation is miserable here. I know a lot about the healthcare system from a maternity perspective, and it is outrageous.

[JustVanessa]

Originally Posted by BirthFree

Well, aside from our healthcare (and a few other things), I still love it here and will live here the rest of my life as well.

There is no perfect place. I love my country.

Thats great! I definately have no problem wiht America in general. I just think that your country should work harder to take better care of its people.

Kylahroo-The movie made me want to move to France.

[saslewis11]

Visiting from the May DDC, but DH and I watched this movie the other night...Heathcare is one of my most important issues to focus on during this presidential election. I think it's just insane that we spend billions of dollars on a war and can't take care of our sick citizens. It's just ridiculous!

If we could actually get some politicians in office that have the cojones to stand up for themselves and turn down bribery and lobby money from insurance/drug companies...this country would be a totally different place. I'm praying that things start to change over the next few years. We're running out of options and time!

[Kylahroo]

Originally Posted by JustVanessa

Kylahroo-The movie made me want to move to France.

To be honest, me, too. They definitely were portrayed with the best system. Canada just seems closer (we're in Minnesota) and less of a culture shock!

[elfinbaby]

The movie really scared me. Dh has insurance through his employer and we pay $152 a month for CRAPPY insurance for 2 kids. My son has allergies and has had issues w/strep in the past so anything dealing with allergies or respiratory issues are NOT covered - that means $160 of meds/month out of pocket not to mention if we have to go to the dr. for a cold. We pay full price. Our dd is on Medicaid b/c of Rett Syndrome. However, we had to find a loophole (we were lucky to find it) to get her on it b/c the waiting list takes 8-10 yrs and we apparently make too much $$ to qualify. It's scary. She's been on a waiting list for a program for 2 yrs. and has moved up to #8616! That's actually pretty good. The sad thing is kids like my dd need attention while they are young - esp. the early years. I won't get into it but there are certainly things my daughter needs that she doesn't have access to.

I haven't had insurance since I was 18 - maybe 15 yrs. ago. I've been to a dr. only once since then. Thank goodness I'm healthy but watching that movie made me think "What if..." I told my mom we'd have to move if something happened to me. That's all there is to it.

It was sad, shocking, I was in disbelief. I honestly kept thinking Michael Moore has to be misconstruing this - and I LIKE MM! I'm a fan! I just don't want to believe it.

All I can say is there are a lot of people sitting on the Hill going to hell. The are going to hell surer than anything I know. You cannot blatantly disregard human life and not have a black soul. Politicians are lining their pockets and taking care of their own. They care nothing for anyone.

I don't believe things will ever change. Can you imagine what would happen. Profits of hospitals, insurance companies, pharmacy companies would plummet. They'll never let that happen. And frankly, I don't think dr.'s over here are interested in being paid a salary by the government. That Saub and million dollar house that French dr. had isn't enough for about 1/2 of our drs. here.

The medical industry is so motivated by profit right now it would have a seizure if we went to social medicine. It wouldn't function for years.

April

[lmonter]

That's why I'm actually rather happy that hubby's in a career that he could find a job up in Canada if we needed to move (for whatever reason) - and we wouldn't get in trouble with the Canadian gov't for moving because he'd be in demand. We're less than 2 hours from the border, so it's not like it'd be a huge change culture or weather wise for us if we ended up in BC or Alberta. Once they basically start burning the Constitution and Bill of Rights here and denying rights/liberties (it's just a matter of time at this point), yeah. It's going to be bad when it all hits the fan.

[BirthFree]

Originally Posted by JustVanessa

Thats great! I definately have no problem wiht America in general. I just think that your country should work harder to take better care of its people.

Well but that's a rather BROAD somewhat offensive statement. No place is perfect. Not Canada, not France, not the UK, etc. We don't have perfect health care and your country's trumps ours easily, but I would not say that that means our country does not take care of its people.

My friends who live in Canada and have special needs kids have to wait over 8 MONTHS to be seen/evaluated by a specialist. I call and make an apt. and get in within weeks here.

But by all means, if someone finds the perfect country... do share!

[elfinbaby]

QUOTE:
My friends who live in Canada and have special needs kids have to wait over 8 MONTHS to be seen/evaluated by a specialist. I call and make an apt. and get in within weeks here.


I waited 8 months to see a developmental ped. with my dd. She wasn't walking, talking, pointing, etc. by 20 months and that's the best they could do. ECI could only give her 2 out of 3 therapies she needed because they are underfunded. She's constantly denied devices/equipment she needs because Medicaid feels like it. She also waited 3 months just to get evaluated by a speech therapist. We waited over a year to get into a neurologist so they could talk to me about her MRI and over a year to see a geneticist.

I'm not exaggerating or trying to start an arguement but it's never been my experience that I can just make an appt. and go. There is a special center for girls with Rett in Houston - Blue Bird Rett Center one of only 2 in the nation. CHIPs would not allow her to go b/c they felt her needs could be met by specialists in my area. Rett is rare. When we go to specialists even they call out all the dr.s in the office to take a look at what Rett looks like b/c no one ever sees it. That's not really the kind of care I want for my girl. Long story short we did get to go. My sister happens to be a superintendent who happened to have met a State Rep. She got lucky, called him, and within days I had my papers. Maybe he's not going to hell

But you are right, no country is perfect, I want to deny that there is any truth to that movie at all. Mainly because I'm scared. It's just too scary and sad.

April

[JustVanessa]

Originally Posted by BirthFree

Well but that's a rather BROAD somewhat offensive statement. No place is perfect. Not Canada, not France, not the UK, etc. We don't have perfect health care and your country's trumps ours easily, but I would not say that that means our country does not take care of its people.

My friends who live in Canada and have special needs kids have to wait over 8 MONTHS to be seen/evaluated by a specialist. I call and make an apt. and get in within weeks here.

But by all means, if someone finds the perfect country... do share!

Didn't mean to offend you....sorry! I definitely do not think Canada is perfect at all. There can be quite a long wait to see a specialist....but at least everyone has access to them, not just the rich. There are certain clinics in Canada that if you have the $$, you can get faster service. But in emergency situations you see a doc pretty quickly. My grandfather has seen cardiologists very very quickly in emergency situations. We also have a doctor/nurse shortage in BC. There are alot of rural communities who need more doctors.

I think I am just too much of a socialist to live in the States I even think our current government is too capitalistic.
I believe in universal health care, I believe in universal childcare and I really believe that the key to having a healthy/happy population lays in the strength of our social programs.

[BirthFree]

I have a special needs son (well, two of them really, but I'm talking about my oldest) myself and he requires services/devices and specialists but I have not had Medicaid tell us no on anything... perhaps it's b/c of the type of disability he has? We don't get anything special other than I've never had them refuse us services or something to cover his needs.

I don't live in a huge city (it's definitely big, but not huge), maybe that influences my ability to get in to specialists. I'm not saying we have never had to wait, but it has never ever been over 6 - 8w max and usually that is simply b/c we're "new patients" and aren't scheduled in the regular schedule b/c of it.

I can't believe you had to wait a YEAR to see a neurologist and geneticist! That is truly insane. :shaking my head:

Don't worry about it. But in the same way you love your country, I love mine. Warts and all. If I didn't love it, I wouldn't have any reason to affect change.

I don't understand how just the rich have access to Dr's here though... the walls of our ER's and hospitals say that no person is refused service if they are in need.

But really, I think I'll just agree to disagree with you . You have some valid points as do I. No worries!

[Cerran]

I think I am just too much of a socialist to live in the States I even think our current government is too capitalistic.

Before being convinced that capitalism is bad, I suggest you read this book. It's an eye opener to why capitalism works and why other systems do not.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Capitalism.../dp/0761525262