Private health care "outlawed" in Ontario?

[silverweb]

I was sent this email today with a video that's apparently been going viral. I'd like to respond quickly and accurately.

Subject: Fw: Important Information for all of us

This forward came my way today and I felt it was important enough to send out for your review. I understand health care seriously needs addressing, but this proposal, which is currently being entertained by some of our presidential candidates today, is frightening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_Rf42zNl9U

I understand that the film maker is a CATO guy, so his position is a given. What I want is substantial and accurate rebuttal. All input appreciated.

[Warren Stupidity]

1. It is frequently referred to as 'the googlenets'

Private Health Insurance

While the health care system in Canada covers basic services, including primary care physicians and hospitals, there are many services that are not covered. These include things like dental services, optometrists, and prescription medications.

Private health insurance plans are usually offered as part of employee benefit packages in many companies. Incentives usually include vision and dental care. Alternatively, Canadians can purchase insurance packages from private insurance providers.

The main reason many choose to purchase private insurance is to supplement primary health coverage. For those requiring services that may not be covered under provincial health insurance such as corrective lenses, medications, or home care, a private insurance plan offsets such medical expenses.

While private insurance can benefit those with certain needs, many Private Health Insurance
While the health care system in Canada covers basic services, including primary care physicians and hospitals, there are many services that are not covered. These include things like dental services, optometrists, and prescription medications.

Private health insurance plans are usually offered as part of employee benefit packages in many companies. Incentives usually include vision and dental care. Alternatively, Canadians can purchase insurance packages from private insurance providers.

The main reason many choose to purchase private insurance is to supplement primary health coverage. For those requiring services that may not be covered under provincial health insurance such as corrective lenses, medications, or home care, a private insurance plan offsets such medical expenses.

While private insurance can benefit those with certain needs, many Canadians choose to rely exclusively on the public health system.



http://www.canadian-healthcare.org/page4.html

Here is a company selling supplemental health insurance in Ontario, I guess the 'fact' that this is illegal hasn't deterred them from openly advertising their services.

http://www.healthinsuranceontario.com/

[silverweb]

3. Still at work...

Thanks! Will read fully, respond later this evening. :hi:

[silverweb]

9. That's exactly what I need.

Thank you very, very much! :hi:

[RC]

2. Each Providence in Canada has its own rules and laws concerning

health care. Ontario is the worse, which is why it is held up to represent all of Canada.
Manitoba's "Free" health care is not all that bad. And yes, you can purchase private or supplemental health insurance anywhere in Canada. Imangine going into an Emergency Room and being taken care of right away and not getting a bill. Try that in this country sometime.

[silverweb]

4. Thx...

I figured something like that. Still at work right now.... :hi:

[AndyTiedye]

5. They Are Just Getting Started

[silverweb]

6. Who, the RW?

Of course. But they will NOT go unanswered. I want them thoroughly debunked, discredited, and humiliated into oblivion.

[AndyTiedye]

7. That Isn't Gonna Happen as Long as They Own the Media

[silverweb]

8. Thank you, Mr. Sunshine.

I'm not ready to give up.

[AndyTiedye]

13. I'm Not Giving Up Either

But we do have to solve that little problem before we can debunk anything.

[silverweb]

17. Glad to hear you're not giving up!

I'm for a multi-pronged approach, myself. ;)

[silverweb]

10. For what it's worth...

Here's the reply I sent to the friend who forwarded me the email and video in the OP:

Thanks, _xx_. I had not seen this video before. I'm not on _xx_'s mailing list and don't think I know her, although her name is somewhat familiar.

In any case, the video she is helping spread is nothing more than a slick vehicle for distortions and outright lies. I watched as much as I could stand and it was completely predictable.

Like everything else from the CATO Institute, which the producer is affiliated with, the video stresses the Libertarian viewpoint, i.e., promoting for-profit privatization of virtually everything. We have very different viewpoints on the role good government should play in people's lives.

Each province in Canada administers its own health care system, so there are differences between them. Overall, they are required to cover basic services, but there are many other things that are not covered.

My sources tell me that Ontario has the "worst" coverage in the country, so naturally it is held up and exaggerated as an example by those who oppose any kind of universal coverage here.

Far from being "outlawed" in Canada, private insurance is widely available and encouraged to cover those things not provided by universal basic care. It's also available for those who can afford and want to buy "first class" care.

For more information, see _this_ and _this_.

By the way, our "best health care in the world" system in the United States has been ranked dead last in preventable deaths (among other things) by a study published in _Health Affairs_ -- even while we continue to spend the most per capita. We're being royally ripped off and "health care" profiteers are the robbers.

Our middle class is rapidly being destroyed, and people continue to aid and abet their own destruction. I just don't believe people are that stupid. I do believe that Americans are systematically lied to and manipulated by the corporate monopolies who right now are the real power behind our government.

All I want to know is when are Americans going to stop believing the lies, and start voting for their own best interests instead of against them?

If you want to forward this to _xx_, that's fine with me. I just don't like using the company email system for purposes other than work.

I hope your New Year is otherwise off to a terrific start.

Many thanks for all your input! :hi:

[snagglepuss]

11. What has been outlawed in Ontario are private clinics.

Private,for-profit clinics are outlawed because they drain healthcare workers from the public system and public system would still be billed by doctors at private clinics which outrageous.

I live in Ontario and are healthcare system rocks.

[silverweb]

12. Thank you!

That's very valuable information and I will send it as an addendum to my email.

:hi:

[newfie11]

14. I worked in Michigan as a health care professional

back in the 90's. I saw many people coming to our hospital for open heart surgery. At that time Canada contracted with hospitals along the border to cover their surplus patients.
I asked every one of those patients how they liked their health care and everyone of them liked it. They did not want what we have in the states.
Several said we would never loose our homes or file bankruptcy because of health care. Something done here in the states.

[silverweb]

15. Welcome to DU, newfie!

And thank you for your first-hand input.

I just don't understand people who, even while caught in this awful dilemma, continue to vote Republican, for corporate interests instead of their own.

[snagglepuss]

16. Very welcome. Lies spread about Canadian healthcare is a travesty.

My heart goes out to Americans who have to deal with for-profit healthcare. I don't know how you guys deal with that kind of stress.

Below is a brief but informative synopsis of private care in Canada.


http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/healthcare/public_vs_private.html

[silverweb]

18. An excellent article...

...very much appreciated.

What the reTHUGs have done to our people in the name of corporate profiteering is nothing short of criminal. Yet many, many ordinary people are rabidly against universal health care even when they are among those who need it most. Some of these people are my relatives and some are coworkers. They'd rather believe lies than the truth. They'd rather suffer themselves than see everyone get basic guaranteed benefits.

I just don't understand them. :shrug:

[snagglepuss]

19. Send this link to the doubters. Its a video tour of Toronto Sick Kids Hospital

and its kind of uplifting as well as informative.


http://www.sickkids.ca/abouthsc/section.asp?s=Who+We+Are&sID=11873&ss=Virtual+Tour+of+SickKids&ssID=18895

[silverweb]

20. Just got a chance to watch the video.

As you said, uplifting and informative! Thanks! :hi:

[ConcernedCanuk]

21. 56 years in Ontario - here's my personal experience and opinions.

.
.
.

While the Federal Government demands a minimum level of blanket health care for everyone - wage-earner or not, possibly because Ontario has such a huge population compared to the other provinces, it simply cannot afford in it's opinion to offer more than "basic" free health care.

In some employments, for minimal cost, maybe 10-20 bucks off of every other paycheck, I can get "extra" coverage, for example a private room for hospital stays, dental services including cleaning (usually with a cap around $1000 every year or so) - vision care (glasses and eye checks mostly), drug plans and so on.

What SHOULD be stressed here, is should one end up on Ontario's Welfare, and I have been one of those, Dental, Vision, Prescription Drug costs, and some others like prosthetics and physio/psychotherapy are provided FREE!

Well, I did have to pay $2.00 per prescription, didn't matter if the cost was $10 or $200 - I paid $2.

So in one sense, a person on Welfare (or disability) can receive BETTER health care than someone in a wage area that does not let them afford to purchase, or pay through a company plan for these extra services.

When on Welfare, 21 of my teeth were removed, a full plate for the top, and a partial for the bottom were paid for, at the time over $3000, and Welfare pays reduced fees to the providers. ALSO, because this necessitated travel costs, Welfare covered those as well.

At my age, I don't think anyone up here would consider moving to the States if they considered the Health Care costs they could incur down there, unless they were VERY wealthy - or just stupid.

My father passed away recently at the age of 95, only spending about the last 4-5 months in a nursing home.

Mother is still well, and provided for,

as their pensions and savings were not exhausted by a single penny for all the health care my Dad received in his last 15 years

He would have died much younger,

and broke down there . . .

[silverweb]

22. Thank you so much.

I appreciate you sharing your personal experiences.

I simply don't understand the extreme prejudice so many people here have against basic universal care, even when they're presented with facts instead of industry propaganda. It's utterly insane.

But I think (and hope!) that maybe the tide is starting to turn.

[canadian_is_cold]

23. I am a Canadian

I was born in Alberta. I have lived in Alberta, British Columbia, and now live in Ontario.
I have had 2 children, and a few surgeries. In my lifetime I have never waited longer than a couple of weeks for an 'elective' procedure. and had no more than a 24 hour wait time for procedures that were 'required'. There is no wait time anywhere in Canada when your life is immediately threatened. This is why there is a wait time at all. Those who need it the most get it first. I personally do not mind waiting for that.

I see my doctor on a regular basis, I get tested for whatever my doctor or I feel I need to be tested for. I have never paid a cent for anything, with the exception of extraneous things like luxury of having a private room when I had my second child. Cosmetic / elective procedures are not covered by healthcare. Nor should they be. If your employer does not offer it, Supplemental insurance can be purchased from a multitude of private firms in Canada, covering things like prescription drugs, dentistry and vision care. I paid about $75 dollars a month for blue cross it covered 80% of things that provincial insurance did not cover. Most companies here provided some kind of supplemental health program as well.

I have always found the healthcare system in Canada to be excellent. If you do not have a family doctor, or even if you do, you can walk into any hospital or clinic and arrange to see a physician regarding the problems you may be having. You will not be turned away because you don't have enough money or don't have insurance. I have never had to "wait" to see my family doctor.

I have never known, or met anyone with a serious complaint about health care here. Although I have heard stories. Nothing is perfect after all. I have been known to complain about some things, you can end up waiting a very long time if you show up at an emergency room with a non-life threatening condition, and we do have a large shortage of family doctors all across Canada, this often makes it very hard to find a new personal physician. Fortunately clinics are everywhere.

I feel pretty spoiled by our health care, I could not imagine living in a country where universal health care was not offered. Of course there has never been a system created that satisfies every single person. But I love the fact I live in a country that no matter who you are, or how much you make, you will be cared for.