How do you pay for health care?

[herbie]

The doctors here share a clinic in the Hospital.

If my 'family doctor' isn't available, I get assigned another. If I can't wait, they assign an available doctor. Your medical history is available to any doctor at the click of an icon.
What's the bloody problem?

[eyeball]

No problem here.

I know my experience is often derided as to anecdotal but...a month ago the angiogram they said I might get this fall was performed last Monday at 7 am. I got the call the end of Thursday before and asked if I could get a blood test and chest X-ray the next day.

Bada bing badda boom and....you gotta love a small town hospital where everyone knows you.

The angiogram confirmed the alien is still firmly lodged in there but everything else looked great. No blockages whatsoever, no needs for stents, balloons or bypass surgery. Just snuff the alien. Without, you know, getting sulphuric acid everywhere.

 

[herbie]

Have none of you watched a medical show on TV ever?
The Emergency room is packed and crowded with people waiting for hours.
Watch The Pitt -  and every damn episode there's at least one patiewnt or family refusing treatment or shitting bricks because they can't pay? Staff running in circles, breaking hospital policy to find ways and prgrams that can help with the bill?

Yet everyone seems to think only our country has issues with health care, with a few insisting privatization is the 'cure'.

[SpankyMcFarland]

On 4/20/2026 at 5:32 PM, herbie said:

Have none of you watched a medical show on TV ever?
The Emergency room is packed and crowded with people waiting for hours.
Watch The Pitt -  and every damn episode there's at least one patiewnt or family refusing treatment or shitting bricks because they can't pay? Staff running in circles, breaking hospital policy to find ways and prgrams that can help with the bill?

Yet everyone seems to think only our country has issues with health care, with a few insisting privatization is the 'cure'.

One issue in my neck of the woods is ‘orphan’ patients with non-urgent issues clogging the ER who should have GPs but don’t. Our GP shortage is now more serious than in many European countries.  

[User]

On 4/20/2026 at 9:32 AM, herbie said:

Have none of you watched a medical show on TV ever?
The Emergency room is packed and crowded with people waiting for hours.
Watch The Pitt -  and every damn episode there's at least one patiewnt or family refusing treatment or shitting bricks because they can't pay? Staff running in circles, breaking hospital policy to find ways and prgrams that can help with the bill?

Yet everyone seems to think only our country has issues with health care, with a few insisting privatization is the 'cure'.

OMG, you just used a TV show, specifically meant to be a DRAMA, that occurs in real time, to criticize the real world. 

What's next? Going to talk about the serial killer problem we have in America, with how we have a new serial killer every week on Criminal Minds?

ROFL

[herbie]

16 minutes ago, User said:

OMG, you just used a TV show

Which all rely on American norms to garner interest. And the one regarded as most real by health care workers.
If you want to continue to pretend no one waits in an Emergency room and no one worries about the coat, feel free to continue to delude yourself.

Tell my cousin all about it, he was injured years ago at a amusement park down there and it cost my Uncle $4000 to get him patched up enough to drive back to Canada for actual treatment.
Tell the ex's gf a nurse practitioner with 'the bsst' insurance who's co-pay was 'only' $5000 for birth complications around the same time the ex birthed my daughter C section, had cysts removed and a tubal, spent 4 days in a private room and I shelled out a whole $81

Yeah yeah hear the Yank tell us how awful our medical system is.

[User]

2 hours ago, herbie said:

Which all rely on American norms to garner interest. And the one regarded as most real by health care workers.
If you want to continue to pretend no one waits in an Emergency room and no one worries about the coat, feel free to continue to delude yourself.

Tell my cousin all about it, he was injured years ago at a amusement park down there and it cost my Uncle $4000 to get him patched up enough to drive back to Canada for actual treatment.
Tell the ex's gf a nurse practitioner with 'the bsst' insurance who's co-pay was 'only' $5000 for birth complications around the same time the ex birthed my daughter C section, had cysts removed and a tubal, spent 4 days in a private room and I shelled out a whole $81

Yeah yeah hear the Yank tell us how awful our medical system is.

You are too stupid to discuss anything with.

You are talking about the costs of medical care while traveling internationally.

Well no shit, go complain to your own country’s health care system for not covering you while traveling or buy insurance before you go.

Do you think Canada will give me free health care if I get hurt there? 

No. The bills for a visit for someone visiting that has to go to the ER can be in the thousands as well depending on what they do. 
 

 

 

[SpankyMcFarland]

On 4/19/2026 at 7:56 PM, herbie said:

The doctors here share a clinic in the Hospital.

If my 'family doctor' isn't available, I get assigned another. If I can't wait, they assign an available doctor. Your medical history is available to any doctor at the click of an icon.
What's the bloody problem?

That’s a good model which is common in Europe too. By contrast, my last GP was part of a group that did not share patients and my current GP in Canada is a sole practitioner which is even worse. When he’s away the ER is the back-up plan. I’m afraid we need something more than that. A quarter of NL’s patients don’t have a GP now. If private care would improve things I would be willing to pay for it. 

 

Edited April 27 by SpankyMcFarland

[herbie]

They found a way around the ER problem here. They don't have ER closures, they have "diversions" to the hospital in the next town 45 minutes away. Lots of diversions, like once every couple weeks
Kept them out of the news all the way until last fall.

Biggest problem is even 10K bonuses for burses and bigger incentives for Doctors, the urban mindset stops a lot of Cdn graduates from coming. 

[User]

5 hours ago, herbie said:

They found a way around the ER problem here. They don't have ER closures, they have "diversions" to the hospital in the next town 45 minutes away. Lots of diversions, like once every couple weeks
Kept them out of the news all the way until last fall.

Biggest problem is even 10K bonuses for burses and bigger incentives for Doctors, the urban mindset stops a lot of Cdn graduates from coming. 

Why doesn't your cheap government pay for your health care when you travel to America and use an ER here? Why don't they pay for Americans' health care in the ER when they travel there?

Why are you too dumb to understand any of this?

[herbie]

3 hours ago, User said:

Why doesn't your cheap government pay for your health care when you travel to America and use an ER here?

You ask really, really stupid questions, don't you?
Have !000 points towards your Darwin award.
 

[User]

1 hour ago, herbie said:

You ask really, really stupid questions, don't you?
Have !000 points towards your Darwin award.
 

I love how you are just gonna act like you are not ignorant about how health care works as you brought up your cousin having to pay for his ER visit…

 

Edited April 28 by User