No. Obamacare was going to cost her more than she had. To say nothing of the fact that she had already moved to Canada, to be with my son, her husband. And he worked regularly for over 10 years playing pro hockey, so normally they had that insurance in the US. But they moved back to Canada, bought a house, and he decided to play another year in Europe. And so they did plan that sweet little boy. What they did not count on was a strike at immigration Canada, and not being able to have her application for Canadian permanent residency accepted. I think that was part of the reason my son picked England - because he had heard such good things about the NHS. And I am glad he did - there were many other stories of people from various countries (US and UK come to mind) and women who were pregnant and not able to go to a hospital for proper care in Canada that year.
We don't have a system like Obamacare in Canada. We have a not for profit universal health care system. Anyone who is a resident qualifies. In every province but BC the premiums are free. (We pay $85 a month for premiums). So a truly free system,(except for BC) where everyone is covered. Provided you are a Canadian resident! They had been told in would take a few months for her to get her Canadian Health Care insurance, and then the strike threw a monkey wrench into their plans.
Everything they said was that the NHS was so much better than what they experienced in the US. In the US, they fought to get treatment when their HMO said a provider was in their HMO, and then they were denied payment. Then there is the hideous overcharging for prescription medicines in the US. To say nothing of my son going to an ER to get stitches, and being given basically a total physical, because they found out his medical insurance would allow it. He said, one Kleenex he used to blow his nose while in the ER cost $10. Someone is raking in a fortune somewhere in the US system.
The NHS has a prescription med program that is a flat rate of $6 or something (at least it was then). To say nothing of follow up with the pregnancy and the help they got. They had a second child after they got back to Canada, once my DIL was on BC Medical. It wasn't bad, but it didn't really compare to the support and care they got in England.
Hi Angela, Sinnerman
We all pay into the NHS re a taxation called National Insurance Contributions, which
is taken out of wages.
prescriptions are currently £8.50 per item but many get them free children, students, pensioners,
unemployed, those on welfare. Also some medical conditions are exempt. I'm in the condition exemption
category so every two months I get two prescriptions free of charge.
There are waiting lists for non emergency surgery, though a lot has been done in
recent years to reduce these.One of the problems in recent years is these have increased in
part due to the thousands thousands from the EU coming to the UK for free treatment.
There was a scam discovered last year where EU citizens were coming to the UK for a week or so
registerering with a doctor getting a medical card then returning to their own country. Then they
got free medical care in their own country by flashing the UK medical card and their hospitals
were then billing the NHS!
See here
NHS charged by foreigners for care in their OWN country thanks to loophole | Daily Mail Online
Many from Eastern Europe especially come to the UK just to give birth then leave again.
The NHS is struggling but much of that is due to the EU membership - yet another reason to
leave the EU.
Last year my aunt was admitted to hospital for a week in Jan 15, then she had
cataract surgery start of June 15 (had to wait two months for that). Unfortunately she
then had a fall at home late June 15 and fractured her shoulder. She was treated then
spent 6 weeks in a rehab bed. Came out was ok for 6 weeks then became ill again and
ended up in hospital 12 weeks. All this was free.
She came home start of Jan 16 and got a £5000 hospital bed supplied for her at
home and walking frame free. Since then we have had a team of people coming in - a community
visits every two weeks, a physio every two weeks. We had a physiologist do a home visit from
the memory clinic to check for dementia, an oxygen system delivered, visits by Respiritory
nurses, our own doctor visits etc all free.
Angela is correct in that the NHS works as a team and rather than just seeing one doctor or
one surgeon etc, they throw a whole team of people at you to get you back on your feet.
Just hope it can continue now as the EU along with the US transatlantic trade agreement meant
there was a good chance it would have been privatised.
See here
https://www.theguardian.com/society...sary-to-protect-nhs-from-ttip-says-david-owen
Major leak from Brussels reveals NHS will be ‘KILLED OFF’ if Britain remains in the EU | UK | News | Daily Express