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Not seeming to be a huge problem??? Those figures were for just one Province alone! Considering most of our provinces share a border with the U.S., you can readily imagine the cost implications to a country of one tenth your population.
It becomes somewhat of a conundrum for us as Ontario taxpayers in that those numbers only reflect the folks using their U.S. driver's licenses as a form of identity while there are literally thousands of Americans who own property in our cottage country and have done for generations who might have applied for, been provided, and still hold one of the older Health cards using their Canadian address as proof of residency. Those cards are still in force and active.
Our elderly American neighbours at our cottage on the Burnt River near Fenlon Falls Ontario as far back as the early 1960's, were long time property owners and routinely accessed our health care provisions while in Canada by "pacing" their illness remedial mediation until they were again back in the north to get free treatment.
The newer cards are photo regulated and, for a time, did require a greater degree of scrutiny until backlogs in issuance became a bottleneck and some oversight was sacrificed to expedite issuance.
This has been going on for decades.
Yes if you are in Canada and offer proof of insurance they will bill thatYes I do and it happens here also, Medicare fraud, doctors and patients cheat the system out of billions every year.
As to your comment in response to my above post that fraud exists to a great degree in your system below the 49th:
I'm well aware of that by spending six months every winter in your south since before the year 2000. It needs saying however, that Canadians are no slouches when it comes to fraudulent behaviour.
Please; accept some clarification on my part; I am pointing out something and responding to posts that have indicated that our health care system is terrible and Canadians head south for service by the droves as proof of an inferior system.
Where I go wrong is carrying forward the ire raised by others who post that stuff, into responses to everyone who might offer even a slightly more restrained opinion. I tend to engage the shotgun approach before defining the exact target I'm aiming for.
Something I've yet to learn posting on public forums is, not everyone from a particular demographic agrees with what's being opined by their confreres. I've read many posts on here by Americans who have stated categorically that it is their belief Canada enjoys either equal or perhaps superior freedoms. That surprised the H**L out of me!
I must remember that the folks who post on here are no different than those I spend six months, golfing, dining, theater going, clubbing, and otherwise schmoozing with down there for the last 14 or 15 years as a retiree and before that, often enough as a visitor to know I enjoyed spending time there rather than touring and travelling overseas.
As DINKS we had the wherewithall to travel from day one in our married life and spent years touring all over Europe and the British Isles along with forays into the Caribbean and Mexico and eventually came to the realization that we enjoyed the comfort zone of the southern U.S. above all.
If you cannot find a particular place on this continent that tickles you fancy for both it's amenities and it's inhabitants you ain't got your eyes open.
Cool. We'll hit the lake and go canoeing and kayaking. Stay for the biggest International Jazz Festival in the world.
Sounds like a blast!
Oh my; strolling slowly up Rue St. Denis past the various venues with outside cafes and performing artists during that Jazz Festival, to then hang a turn onto either Rue Prince-Arthur or Rue Av Duluth, hit one of the corner stores selling wine and then cross the street to the Greek restaurant to sit in the outside courtyard with all those mini lights draped everywhere and enjoy a wonderful meal under the stars to then amble back to your hotel for a nightcap in the bar with more Jazz offerings ~ as near to heaven on earth as mortal beings can get!
Not seeming to be a huge problem??? Those figures were for just one Province alone! Considering most of our provinces share a border with the U.S., you can readily imagine the cost implications to a country of one tenth your population.
It becomes somewhat of a conundrum for us as Ontario taxpayers in that those numbers only reflect the folks using their U.S. driver's licenses as a form of identity while there are literally thousands of Americans who own property in our cottage country and have done for generations who might have applied for, been provided, and still hold one of the older Health cards using their Canadian address as proof of residency. Those cards are still in force and active.
Our elderly American neighbours at our cottage on the Burnt River near Fenlon Falls Ontario as far back as the early 1960's, were long time property owners and routinely accessed our health care provisions while in Canada by "pacing" their illness remedial mediation until they were again back in the north to get free treatment.
The newer cards are photo regulated and, for a time, did require a greater degree of scrutiny until backlogs in issuance became a bottleneck and some oversight was sacrificed to expedite issuance.
This has been going on for decades.
Yes if you are in Canada and offer proof of insurance they will bill that but you must understand the concept of these folks simply not playing by the rules?
I guess that's the danger of a country that has universal healthcare sharing a border with one in which healthcare is an unaffordable hell.
Oh my; strolling slowly up Rue St. Denis past the various venues with outside cafes and performing artists during that Jazz Festival, to then hang a turn onto either Rue Prince-Arthur or Rue Av Duluth, hit one of the corner stores selling wine and then cross the street to the Greek restaurant to sit in the outside courtyard with all those mini lights draped everywhere and enjoy a wonderful meal under the stars to then amble back to your hotel for a nightcap in the bar with more Jazz offerings ~ as near to heaven on earth as mortal beings can get!
You are so mean. Why did you have to go mentioning all that?
I guess that's the danger of a country that has universal healthcare sharing a border with one in which healthcare is an unaffordable hell.
Well you do pay a high price in taxes to pay for your health care, so I guess it comes out about equal. I pay about $100 per mo for health and dental through my retirement plan and am completely satisfied.
You people need to be nice. Remember Canada is our neighbor. We might find some of the ways they do things funny but we have to respect them and how they want to live.
Oh my; strolling slowly up Rue St. Denis past the various venues with outside cafes and performing artists during that Jazz Festival, to then hang a turn onto either Rue Prince-Arthur or Rue Av Duluth, hit one of the corner stores selling wine and then cross the street to the Greek restaurant to sit in the outside courtyard with all those mini lights draped everywhere and enjoy a wonderful meal under the stars to then amble back to your hotel for a nightcap in the bar with more Jazz offerings ~ as near to heaven on earth as mortal beings can get!
Yes. I even time my vacations around the JazzFest. I took the last week of June and the first week of July off to do just that. From the energetic beats of reggae, to the melodious rhythms of the Middle Eastern oud, to legendary jazz and blues singers belting out the classics...it's magic. Last year I was dancing in the streets with the other revellers to the sound of Dixieland, and I looked over to see who was dancing next to me. Two elderly Buddhist monks, wearing saffron robes and kicking up their heels, having a great old time.
I guess that's the danger of a country that has universal healthcare sharing a border with one in which healthcare is an unaffordable hell.
Healthcare and health insurance are not the same thing. Cost of health care in the United States is cheaper than in Canada.
I had a health savings account as a small business owner. I paid the doctor $135 for a visit. Once a year check up and some blood work once a year or two years.
I have a clinic to go to if I have a cold and need anti biotics. $40 Tell me that 'universal healthcare' with its PREMIUMS per month is a better deal than that? It aint.
I have catastrophic coverage for my family. This is what health insurance was really meant for. It wasn't meant to cover you to go to the doctor or prevent sickness or anything else.
When it comes to freedom of speech in particular, the two countries have developed very different means of addressing the expression of unpopular, offensive, or derogatory statements. Canada has followed a pattern typical of many European nations--that of prior restraint through the threat of criminal legal consequences. I believe that most Canadians are sincerely comfortable with this process.
US citizens are no more likely to be tolerant of hateful speech than are Canadians. However, we have cultivated a different approach to dealing with such speech--that of engaging in eloquent rebuttal. Instead of removing an idea from the realm of public discourse, we see the opportunity to marginalize that idea by giving its proponents "enough rope...", and by constructing rational opposition.
Bigotry is never a legitimate response to anything, and it generally is rooted more in ignorance than in malice. Allowing people to make fools of themselves, even assisting them in that endeavor, is something we feel to be more effective than governmental censorship. There is even the added bonus, on rare occasion, of educating someone towards enough self-examination to move them from their hateful sentiments. I believe that most Americans in The US are sincerely comfortable with this process.
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