Calling all Canadians.................

[miss_thenorth]

Sorry, I guess I misread that.
One significant problem in Canada right now is a shortage of doctors, especially in remote areas but even in suburban and urban areas to some degree. The problem is that a) a doctor can make a lot more money in the US etc than here, and b) the process for foreign-trained doctors to get Canadian credentials is abysmally slow and ineffective.

My bad

 

[enjoy the ride]

Also so many native Americans are not going into medicne- a lot of our doctors are immigrants- Maybe 25% of the local doctors.

 

[captchris]

i belive we have the best coverage in the world all the we do have to pay some i think it is based on income right now we have a shortage of doctors but i dont know how any one could have raised children to be healthy and fit if we did not have this system. also i belive the private ins companies in the us as well as canada will and are trying to paint our system as a bad one

 

[miss_thenorth]

Chris--are you Canadian?

 

[patandchickens]

Yes, Ontario has recently instituted a yearly charge (rolled into your income tax) towards OHIP. Our household pays $600/yr -- it's on a sliding scale, below a certain cutoff you pay nothing, and then you pay more as your income rises.

But I believe that the vast vast majority of OHIP funding is still from other tax sources.

I have no clue what other provinces do.


Pat

 

[Dodgegal79]

BC you pay monthly, amount depends on your income. The highest charge is $54 a month, i think you have to make ovr $30,000 or more, for me with my really low income I don't pay anything. If I had presciptions most would be paid for or a percentage would be.

 

[lupinfarm]

I honestly have to say the biggest issue I have with OHIP is all the things it doesn't cover, like eyecare to a reasonable extent, I turn 20 in January, 1 more year and I'm out of free eye tests, and given that I am required by law to wear glasses while driving, you'd think it'd be a priority for OHIP to continue with free or half price, or whatever eye exams for those that are required to wear glasses, and update their prescriptions, etc.

I take a medication called Meridia, which is an appetite supressant and metabolism kickstarter, my health plan covers it but only after manual submission to claims (meanwhile, for some reason all my other family members get theirs covered at the counter), and for all of Health Canada's complaining, and tax cutting for exercise and health and obesity prevention, you'd think they'd offer some sort of rebate on these types of medications who help people, like me, who due to a seriously slow metabolism and basic genetics, cannot lose weight in a significant way like "normal," people.

Okay, small rant over, I'm good. Otherwise, OHIP has a lot of pros

Would like to note that, the reason I say OHIP should offer claims on these types of medication in my own personal world, I'm also coming up for the age cut off for my parents health plan, and I can't afford to start paying out the wazoo for my own what with being a noincomestayathomestudent and all.

 

[sweetproserpina]

Prescription costs are much lower here- the fella and I both got strep throat once. In BC, I paid $12 for my medication, and hubby (who was living in WA at the time) paid $80 for his medication. Talk about difference!

I do wish dental and eye care was covered, or subsidized by OHIP, When I finally got benefits through my job I maxed them out that year (dental and eyes). But now I've left that job and we have our own business , so no more benefits ;-(

 

[lupinfarm]

Prescription costs are much lower here- the fella and I both got strep throat once. In BC, I paid $12 for my medication, and hubby (who was living in WA at the time) paid $80 for his medication. Talk about difference!

I do wish dental and eye care was covered, or subsidized by OHIP, When I finally got benefits through my job I maxed them out that year (dental and eyes). But now I've left that job and we have our own business , so no more benefits ;-(

I paid $269 for my latest prescription, but at least my company covered it up to $229, then again... I had to claim AFTER buying, for some reason everyone else in my family can claim on location, but I can't.