In Canada, Universal Health Care is our highest national value for the government to support. Everyone has the same access, and landed immigrants and permanent residents have the same rights and access to all health care needs. (READ: My American DIL who was without insurance for 6 years because she could not afford the premiums in the US)
The US health care system is all about profits. I was on an expensive RA drug called "Rituxan" which cost $2000 an infusion and I needed them twice, every 6 months. It was all covered by my extended health care. An American friend of mine was on the same drug, and it cost her insurance company $75,000 for the same two infusions!
This means it cost $71,000 more for the same drug, which was MADE in the USA! That is scandalous. I won't even get into how my RA friends get every possible scan, test, monitoring every time their pinky finger hurts them, and it turns up nothing more than what a good doctor diagnoses in Canada using a little wisdom.
I am glad that we pay more for health care than arms as a country, and that we care for everyone. Canadians make no apologies for a system that is working much better than the American one ever will.
And as for paying $50,000 out of pocket for an operation, it is no wonder the leading cause of bankruptices in the US is medical care.
"Bankruptcies resulting from unpaid medical bills will affect nearly 2 million people this year—making health care the No. 1 cause of such filings, and outpacing bankruptcies due to credit-card bills or unpaid mortgages, according to new data. And even having health insurance doesn't buffer consumers against financial hardship."
Medical Bills Are the Biggest Cause of US Bankruptcies: Study
The US health care system is all about profits. I was on an expensive RA drug called "Rituxan" which cost $2000 an infusion and I needed them twice, every 6 months. It was all covered by my extended health care. An American friend of mine was on the same drug, and it cost her insurance company $75,000 for the same two infusions!
This means it cost $71,000 more for the same drug, which was MADE in the USA! That is scandalous. I won't even get into how my RA friends get every possible scan, test, monitoring every time their pinky finger hurts them, and it turns up nothing more than what a good doctor diagnoses in Canada using a little wisdom.
I am glad that we pay more for health care than arms as a country, and that we care for everyone. Canadians make no apologies for a system that is working much better than the American one ever will.
And as for paying $50,000 out of pocket for an operation, it is no wonder the leading cause of bankruptices in the US is medical care.
"Bankruptcies resulting from unpaid medical bills will affect nearly 2 million people this year—making health care the No. 1 cause of such filings, and outpacing bankruptcies due to credit-card bills or unpaid mortgages, according to new data. And even having health insurance doesn't buffer consumers against financial hardship."
Medical Bills Are the Biggest Cause of US Bankruptcies: Study
4 weeks ago.. I broke my leg really good. 4 nights in the hospital and a more severe injury needing more extensive surgery than my hand... I can only imagine how much the cost of this is going to add up. I think we need to take care of the out of control medical costs first before trying to fix health insurance.