Private and Public Healthcare System for 2008

[pfezziwig]

We cannot keep up with our increasing public healthcare expenses yet people are still determined to keep private healthcare out of canada. Our own federal government and most provincial government studies have shown it's unsustainable.

How can these healthy people deny sick people coverage because of their ideology? It selfish and uncaring. To this day it's still political suicide to propose a greater role for private healthcare outside of Alberta. Are Canadians that inconsiderate and selfish?

In 2007 Nova Scotia had to shut down rural Emergency rooms for 6300 hours, here's the article http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.ht...396&k=35229

Seniors requiring serious care from a nuring home might have to wait 1 year to get in. How can anyone make a seriously ill senior wait a year when they might not even live that long.

Why can't most canadians let the private sector reduce waiting times and financial burdens on governments so they can open Emergency rooms?

We already pay for about a third of our healthcare expenses, would it hurt the fanatics out there to bring that up to 50% out of respect for the sick, elderly and poor in 2008 ?

Edited January 15, 2008 by pfezziwig

[sideshow]

I am not sure how private makes things better.

Private-cost plus profit.

Public-cost.

Should be a no brainer. The only problem is the mismanagement of the public system. Overpaid execs, and not enough proper management. Happens with private industry too, which is why many many many businesses fail.

[Topaz]

If you think private healthcare would be better, yeah, it would , only for the very rich. www.nchc.org this website has what the US has paid out in healthcare cost. Another thing with HMO's in the US, the doctor can't get the treatments the patients needs unless the HMO says yes. I heard a US citizen say, she rather be on a waiting list and wait than to have to pay $30.000- 40,000 for the operation she needed. The ONLY good thing about private healthcare is it would take off people who could afford it off the waiting list. You would have no control over the cost that would rise in the private system and it may take away doctors from the public system.

[margrace]

Topaz When my daughter needed a bone marrow transplant the doctor who did it told us that in the US we would half to have $250,000 up front before they would even talk to us. My daughter had no extra coverage because she was one of the "Bimbo's" ,parden me ,nurses that Mike Harris and Clement got rid of.

The people who want this have the money to pay to jump the queu, the ordinary peopl would be pushed to the back by the lose of doctors to the private system.

They think we are all dumies and can,t see this aye

[Michael Hardner]

How much extra money would be in the system if we taxed the highest earners at the rates they paid 10-20 years ago ?

[M.Dancer]

My daughter had no extra coverage because she was one of the "Bimbo's" ,parden me ,nurses that Mike Harris and Clement got rid of.

Given that they rehired and then hired more, why was she unemployed? Surely not because of something that happened almost 10 years ago.

[margrace]

Given that they rehired and then hired more, why was she unemployed? Surely not because of something that happened almost 10 years ago.

She was never out of a job, she was one of Clements surprises when he discovered after the sars problem that casual nurses were working in two and three hospitals. She worked right up until 2 months before the transplant, She came back to work 3 months after the operation, has never been offered a full time job with benefits but normally works full shifts as a casual worker. There are lots of nurses in hospitals doing that. I believe some hospitals rely on casual workers for half of their workforce. Still no benefits.

Edited January 16, 2008 by margrace

[guyser]

She came back to work 3 months after the operation, has never been offered a full time job with benefits but normally works full shifts as a casual worker. There are lots of nurses in hospitals doing that. I believe some hospitals rely on casual workers for half of their workforce. Still no benefits.

Something is not kosher here. Shes an RN and is not offered a full time job?

Yet I know of one women, 45 and returned to school for nursing this fall , who has been offered employment when she graduates?

[M.Dancer]

Something is not kosher here. Shes an RN and is not offered a full time job?

Yet I know of one women, 45 and returned to school for nursing this fall , who has been offered employment when she graduates?

A lot of Margrace's posts are like that...

Monster.ca has 18 pages of job opportunities for RNs centered on a radius of 100k around Toronto.

http://jobsearch.monster.ca/Search.aspx?q=...di.dt&re=12

[Topaz]

Before you start knocking Margrace, I too know of nurses that were only hired for part time only. Why? it cheaper for the province to hire parttimers then full time. That's probably why alot left Canada and went south.

[WCN]

In Calgary a lot of the RNs work part time which doesn't help our health system due to the fact we got a labour shortage and the health region is forced to pay large sums of overtime to nurses. Good for the nurses but the health region is running a 100 million dollar deficit and the province is barking at having to pay for this. I can't imagine what this healthcare system will look like in ten years if we don't reform it somehow!

[margrace]

Listening to an interview of an emergency room doctor located in a large city with a very busy emergency department yesterday I heard some interesting things. He told what it was like to be a doctor in this situation and then they moved to interview a doctor working at the False Creek private medical facility in Vancouver.

Evidently just to get into their emerg is a $200 up front cost. Then everything from there on in has a cost. When the Doctor was asked what happens to others who don't have that money he said well there is the Canadian Health Care system to pay for it at other sites.

When asked if he didn't think this was a strain on the system because of the shortage of doctors he had no real comment except to note that a doctor already working in the system in BC could not work there. They had to come from out of Province or county.

When asked about this two tier system he replied that everyone is entitled to enough food to eat but some with the money can get Cavier and he equated the False Creek facility the same, some can afford Carier type treatment.

Now on here on several forms I have heard arguments that this type of facility would not give special treatment to people who can pay. Does this not prove that this argument is not true.