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mr_bigmouth_502
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07 Sep 2014, 4:02 pm

The medical industry is f****d up. A lot of doctors, particularly specialists, who could operate in Canada flock to the US because there's more money to be made there, but because of the way the system is set up there, many people who need healthcare can't afford it. There are good doctors here, but there are also a lot that are just shills for the drug companies, much like in the US. The main difference between our healthcare system and the one in the US is that people can actually afford things here, but it's just as corrupt of an industry on either side of the border.

A common misconception is that our healthcare is totally free. The fact is, it's not. It's free to go to the hospital and get them to work on your broken leg, or to go to the clinic for a checkup, but you still have to pay for things like prescriptions and private hospital rooms. IIRC certain specialized procedures can cost money as well. We have a publicly-subsidized private healthcare system, not a true "public" system.



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07 Sep 2014, 6:34 pm

mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:
The medical industry is f****d up. A lot of doctors, particularly specialists, who could operate in Canada flock to the US because there's more money to be made there, but because of the way the system is set up there, many people who need healthcare can't afford it. There are good doctors here, but there are also a lot that are just shills for the drug companies, much like in the US. The main difference between our healthcare system and the one in the US is that people can actually afford things here, but it's just as corrupt of an industry on either side of the border.

A common misconception is that our healthcare is totally free. The fact is, it's not. It's free to go to the hospital and get them to work on your broken leg, or to go to the clinic for a checkup, but you still have to pay for things like prescriptions and private hospital rooms. IIRC certain specialized procedures can cost money as well. We have a publicly-subsidized private healthcare system, not a true "public" system.

until recently it still was oodles better for working class people than the pre-ACA American system which was just a big fat [other than bankruptcy-inducing] nothing.



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07 Sep 2014, 9:12 pm

mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:
The medical industry is f****d up. A lot of doctors, particularly specialists, who could operate in Canada flock to the US because there's more money to be made there, but because of the way the system is set up there, many people who need healthcare can't afford it. There are good doctors here, but there are also a lot that are just shills for the drug companies, much like in the US. The main difference between our healthcare system and the one in the US is that people can actually afford things here, but it's just as corrupt of an industry on either side of the border.

Why it's so expensive here in the US is what we should be attacking. That and the general arrogance that seems to have saturated the entire industry. I've heard people say that they have been billed for services and/or goods that they did not receive but the billing entity stubbornly refused to remove those charges from the bill. I got the feeling those were not isolated cases.

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A common misconception is that our healthcare is totally free. The fact is, it's not. It's free to go to the hospital and get them to work on your broken leg, or to go to the clinic for a checkup, but you still have to pay for things like prescriptions and private hospital rooms. IIRC certain specialized procedures can cost money as well. We have a publicly-subsidized private healthcare system, not a true "public" system.

TNSTAAFL (Theres No Such Thing As S Free Lunch)
The best time for the US to have gone to a true public healthcare system would have probably been during the Great Depression or WWII/Post-WWII era. It's become too industrialised in the decades since to do anything like that with aside from ersatz feel-good programs like ACA.


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mr_bigmouth_502
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07 Sep 2014, 11:22 pm

Doctors seem to love their fat paychecks. I understand that medical school is tough, and that saving people's lives is a lot of hard work, but people are being gouged unnecessarily. There's no justification for it either, what with the number of people who can't even get treatment in the first place due to financial reasons. One would think that these doctors could treat more people and make about the same amount of money just by lowering their prices.



auntblabby
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07 Sep 2014, 11:34 pm

mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:
Doctors seem to love their fat paychecks. I understand that medical school is tough, and that saving people's lives is a lot of hard work, but people are being gouged unnecessarily. There's no justification for it either, what with the number of people who can't even get treatment in the first place due to financial reasons. One would think that these doctors could treat more people and make about the same amount of money just by lowering their prices.

yes, you are right that greed is the main part of it. also, our edumacational system also is excessively mercenary, designed to milk money out of every step more than concentrating on the utility of education which is just incidental to the process here. the rest of the world is doing something right that we "exceptional" americans seem to think cannot ever be appropriate for us to at least try, ever.



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08 Sep 2014, 4:55 am

Raptor wrote:
trollcatman wrote:
People complain about the bankers ripping them off, but these doctors absolutely scam people if they charge that much. So many trust the people in the white coats but I don't.


The question shouldn't be why are so many Americans unable to afford healthcare but why is healthcare so goddamned expensive in the first place?
Just about anything having to do with the practice of medicine is corrupt as hell but few ever question it.


To maintain such ridiculously high prices there is probably some form of price collusion. They should investigate this and break up the cartel, send some of the f*****s to jail.



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08 Sep 2014, 7:27 am

So yeah. Um, Canada.

I have nothing against it. I love poutine and the Red Green Show. It would be interesting to live there, free of the U.S.' obnoxious politics and popular culture.

Toronto worries me, however. Way too much American influence going on in there. And Rob Ford, seriously? 8O


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08 Sep 2014, 1:51 pm

I am Canadian.

Live and work in Ottawa - lived and worked in Calgary for many years (in the 1990's). Both great places, especially if you enjoy going from the best a modern urban city has to offer to the great outdoors in less than an hour.

Lived and worked in Toronto for a few years and really didn't care for it - too big, too busy.


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auntblabby
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08 Sep 2014, 6:25 pm

trollcatman wrote:
Raptor wrote:
trollcatman wrote:
People complain about the bankers ripping them off, but these doctors absolutely scam people if they charge that much. So many trust the people in the white coats but I don't.


The question shouldn't be why are so many Americans unable to afford healthcare but why is healthcare so goddamned expensive in the first place?
Just about anything having to do with the practice of medicine is corrupt as hell but few ever question it.


To maintain such ridiculously high prices there is probably some form of price collusion. They should investigate this and break up the cartel, send some of the f*****s to jail.

yeah, some letters for ya here, like AMA and HCA, for starters.



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08 Sep 2014, 7:42 pm

trollcatman wrote:
Raptor wrote:
trollcatman wrote:
People complain about the bankers ripping them off, but these doctors absolutely scam people if they charge that much. So many trust the people in the white coats but I don't.


The question shouldn't be why are so many Americans unable to afford healthcare but why is healthcare so goddamned expensive in the first place?
Just about anything having to do with the practice of medicine is corrupt as hell but few ever question it.


To maintain such ridiculously high prices there is probably some form of price collusion. They should investigate this and break up the cartel, send some of the f*****s to jail.

Too many idiots just dismiss the over the top and/or unnecessary expenses as something their insurance company pays for without realising that's why insurance is so goddamned unaffordable.


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08 Sep 2014, 7:45 pm

they only care about it when it affects then, like if their insurance premiums spike or they lose it altogether. then they only care about their own situation.



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17 Sep 2014, 6:04 pm

They sell milk bags in Canada. However, all my trips in that country have been within the province of British Columbia, and I have never seen them there.


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mr_bigmouth_502
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17 Sep 2014, 7:33 pm

I keep hearing about bagged milk but I never actually see it. I've never seen it in Alberta, and I haven't seen it in BC the various number of times I've been there either. Apparently it was something that was more prevalent when my parents were growing up.

Evil_Chuck wrote:
So yeah. Um, Canada.

I have nothing against it. I love poutine and the Red Green Show. It would be interesting to live there, free of the U.S.' obnoxious politics and popular culture.

Toronto worries me, however. Way too much American influence going on in there. And Rob Ford, seriously? 8O


Poutine is awesome, and the Red Green Show was fun while it still aired, but you're NOT going to avoid US politics and popular culture by living here. We watch all the same movies and TV shows, and we talk about their politics almost as much as we talk about our own, which is a lot. I don't even live close to the border either, which is rare considering that most Canadians do.



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17 Sep 2014, 8:14 pm

mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:
I keep hearing about bagged milk but I never actually see it. I've never seen it in Alberta, and I haven't seen it in BC the various number of times I've been there either. Apparently it was something that was more prevalent when my parents were growing up.

Evil_Chuck wrote:
So yeah. Um, Canada.

I have nothing against it. I love poutine and the Red Green Show. It would be interesting to live there, free of the U.S.' obnoxious politics and popular culture.

Toronto worries me, however. Way too much American influence going on in there. And Rob Ford, seriously? 8O


Poutine is awesome, and the Red Green Show was fun while it still aired, but you're NOT going to avoid US politics and popular culture by living here. We watch all the same movies and TV shows, and we talk about their politics almost as much as we talk about our own, which is a lot. I don't even live close to the border either, which is rare considering that most Canadians do.

what do you think about American puritanism?



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18 Sep 2014, 10:08 pm

Another Canadian here. Canada is fine, I guess. It honestly feels like United States though with some exceptions but where I live, we have more similarities to north-west parts of US than Canada. I don't experience Canadian winters unlike everywhere else, but as trade-of: We get a s**t ton of rain! RAIN RAIN! RAIN SEASONS from Sept-Oct to May. I really hope you enjoy rain. Also, where I live, real estate and housing is f*****g expensive. Like for a house, it costs at least a million dollars and people don't have that money so good luck trying to pay it off in like 10-20 years with other taxes.

Also, there is a really high Asian population where I live. Which is fine by me, they drive the housing prices up but that is the only bad thing. They make up at least half of the population or more and all my friends are Chinese and I'm mixed. In school, there is high competition for good grades so it makes me feel smug when I do better than most of them in some subjects. They are all really smart though. There is also lots of Asian cultures around where I live so it is easy to find authentic cooking instead of the Americanized food which tastes nasty. I do feel inadequate when I realise that I'm one of the only people who is not bilingual.

The views of the mountains and nature and water is also nice to look at. Outside of Lower Mainland, there is tons of trees and snow in winter. But the downside of where I live is that, the teachers are on strike right now so I'm not in school which is going to screw the older grades over later on.



mr_bigmouth_502
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19 Sep 2014, 2:10 am

auntblabby wrote:
mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:
I keep hearing about bagged milk but I never actually see it. I've never seen it in Alberta, and I haven't seen it in BC the various number of times I've been there either. Apparently it was something that was more prevalent when my parents were growing up.

Evil_Chuck wrote:
So yeah. Um, Canada.

I have nothing against it. I love poutine and the Red Green Show. It would be interesting to live there, free of the U.S.' obnoxious politics and popular culture.

Toronto worries me, however. Way too much American influence going on in there. And Rob Ford, seriously? 8O


Poutine is awesome, and the Red Green Show was fun while it still aired, but you're NOT going to avoid US politics and popular culture by living here. We watch all the same movies and TV shows, and we talk about their politics almost as much as we talk about our own, which is a lot. I don't even live close to the border either, which is rare considering that most Canadians do.

what do you think about American puritanism?


It's f*****g stupid, and unfortunately it's somewhat prevalent here as well, though thankfully not as much as in the US.