I just watched Michael Moore's movie Sicko about the american healthcare system and how american health insurance companies screw their patients by denying claims,inflated insurance premiums,etc. Great film!

I wanted to know is health care really FREE in Canada and most of Europe?

How is the service? Do you have to wait months to be seen? Poor quality care?
Do you pay outragous taxes to pay for it?
[Edited 11/9/07 8:42am]

Cue Gold319

mannotamyth said:

Nothing is free in this world. We pay for it through taxes. We are taxed to death in Canada.

In Sweden you usually only pay a very small fee, especially if it's just a regular doctor's appointment. The quality of the care is for the most part excellent! We do pay a lot in taxes for it though.

We have a free National Health Service in the UK and for that I will continue to vote for Labour. Our hospitals are in a bad way at the moment as hardly any money is being pumped into it. If that means a rise in taxes then I'm all for it. I think a lot of people take it for granted that we do here.

If i had my way i would opt out of the NHS. I pay a fucking fortune in National Insurance and tax and i know that privately i can get a better deal...especially as i contribute via my company to a BUPA scheme so i get bum loved both ways

mdiver said:

It is good for operations and not much more.

Now NHS dentistry, that's a whole new argument.
Although I always go private to the dentists.

JDInteractive said:

And look what Labour has done to the dentists!!!

mdiver said:

...which is my point. It's something we should be proud of in that everyone is entitled to free health care. As should be the case I strongly believe.

JustErin said:

Even though you are taxed to death do you think the average canadian has a better way of life? How is the healthcare you receive?

At least Canada doesn't have america's violence. I give the canadians a lot of credit for being so non-violent, unlike americans.
[Edited 11/9/07 8:55am]

JustErin said:

Same here in UK, we have a national health service which appears free but is paid for with our National Insurance/Tax contributions. The only people here who have free health care are people on the dole who do not pay into the system.
[Edited 11/9/07 8:57am]

JDInteractive said:

I agree with you. Free health care should be absolutely the right. Those of us that can afford and want to should be able to remove our burden from the rest. Just like we can with pensions.

JDInteractive said:

Only problem is, most who go into hospital pick up worse illnesses whilst in there!

MissMe said:

So what should be done about it?

you need private coverage for stuff like dental, eye care, ambulance care
and would have to pay extra to have a private or semi private room.

there is a ceiling you hit for prescriptions at which point you no longer
have to pay but it's a pretty high ceiling. so private insurance for that too.

our newly elected provincial government made a promise that no kids prescription will cost over $15... so for instance my friend's kid has one that costs over $100 now. no more. personally i think that is going to be too expensive to cover.

i was talking to a woman on wednesday who had knee replacement surgery. but still was not very mobile because she had to wait so long to have it done. she should have had it done four years earlier because by the time it was replaced there was irreparable damage.

however when i go to my doctor i walk out with no bill. when i have bloodwork done i walk out with no bill. my mother talks about her cancer surgery. she had to pay $12 for her phone when discharged. so there are upsides and downsides.

JDInteractive said:

Kick out Labour for starters.

MissMe said:

There needs to be better management at core level in the NHS. One of my fellow directors (CFO) is an exec on the biggest NHS trust in the UK.

I was talking to him last week and a PFI just went tits up and it cost the trust 10 million in spent fees.....10 million that could have gone on care and training.....the problem is that they are neither properly private and self governing or properly centralised. It is a half way house where money bleeds all over the place.

MissMe said:

I could never vote Tory, never, for reasons that I'm sure you don't need me to explain. Thatcher wanted to privatise the NHS which would have resulted in it being worse than it is now. Hell, we might not be entitled to free health care. I agree that it's all a bit depressing!

JDInteractive said:

I firmly believe that Margaret Thatcher is the best PM we have had in the last 50 years .....right up till she lost it at the end

mdiver said:

JDInteractive said:

What about dentists?

just making sure gd is still alive

jami0mckay said:

It is, you can leave now a happy man.

Do Doctors in Canada and Europe make a lot of money?


I think that is part of the reason why it hasn't been implemented in the States. I'm sure the American Medical Association is against it.

The US seems to be controlled by Oil companies, Pharmaceutical companies, and the insurance industry.

mannotamyth said:

pretty much. & they tell the public that it's a shitty idea because 'only evil commie bastards want socialized medicine'.

JustErin said:

JustErin is absolutely right! We are taxed to death and then some. Sure, it's great to have health coverage and all our social programs, but we pay through the nose for them and many people can barely afford it because they get so much tax taken off their pay.

Michael Moore is correct in some ways, but in other ways, he's spinning a good yarn.

We also have long wait times and many of the same problems that the US has.
[Edited 11/9/07 11:33am]

mdiver said:

mdiver said:

Please tell me you're joking?

MissMe said:

I'm going to be honest and say I don't know too much about it MissMe.

JDInteractive said:

Not at all mate. She did wonders for this country and without a doubt stopped a lot of the shite that went on with the unions etc.

Plus..tell me Blair would have done what needed to be done in LAs Malvinas?.....bullshit would he