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Hi all,
i was comparing healthcare here in the States and Canada. I hear you have free healthcare in Canada. Is that true or is some amount deducted from your paycheck to kind of make up for a subsidized government-based health insurance?? Can someone please tell me how it works?? Thanks.
I'm not a healthcare expert but here's a bit of info. Most employees / peope have healthcare coverage from their employer's plan. Therefore, the bills are paid by a plan. However, let's say you don't have healthcare coverage from an employer, you healthcare is free. Covered by the government. All operations would be free. However, when something is free, there are lineups. So you might have to wait months to get a procedure done. But typically, all emergency patients get treated first.
I'm not a healthcare expert but here's a bit of info. Most employees / peope have healthcare coverage from their employer's plan. Therefore, the bills are paid by a plan.
Ummmmm, no.
First of all, there is not Canadian Health Insurance. Hospitalization insurance is administered by each of the 10 provinces; each plan is slightly different in its terminology, funding sources and coverages.
All Canadian citizens and Permanent Residents are eligible for coverage, (subject to residency requirements), under the health plan of their province of residence. Provincial plans cover things like hospitalization, doctor visits, surgical procedures, and diagnostic procedures. People covered under the plan are usually given a card resembling a credit card which is swiped at the health facility. The facility is then paid the established rate for a procedure by the provincial health plan.
Under the Canadian Constitution, health is deemed a provincial responsibility. However, to ensure that every province is fiscally able to provide proper health care for its residents, the federal government gives funds to each provincial government earmarked for health care. Each provincial government also contributes funds to to its insurance plan. Some provinces collect an income-driven surtax to help fund health care, but the majority of the funding comes from general tax revenues.
To help keep costs down, each province sets a fee shedule which mandates what doctors and hospitals may charge for a specific service or procedure. Some provinces also cap doctors' earnings.
As mentioned by the previous poster, many people have additional health coverage through their place of employment. These secondary policies do not pay for basic health care needs, but may cover items outside the provincial plan like eyeglasses, dental, prescription drugs, private hospital rooms, etc..
I just want to add that there's no such thing as "free" healthcare. It's gotta be paid for somehow, and for countries in which the government covers a lot of or most healthcare costs, you pay for it with your (higher) tax dollars.
When you file Quebec income taxes, you are charged for health care and emergency services relative to your income. In Alberta, you sign up and pay for the provincial health insurance at a monthly rate. I think you have to earn less than 10K to be covered for free in Quebec, and you don't get much for that. You would get Medicaid in the US at that low of an income, as long as you have very little liquid assets. You can also get Child Health Plus in the States if you have a higher income.
Hi, well its pretty much like this. If you earn more than 25K after taxes you will pay monthly per family member. I know first hand that a family of three costs about 102.00 per month. But one adult alone is about 54.00 per month. We also pay for all our prescriptions unless we earn less than about 25K per year, then that too is cheaper. It seems though that if you don't pay for awhile, they don't cut off your card
So its free if the earnings of you and your spouse amount to less than 25K per year, I think it starts discounting somewhere around the 30's though and ends up free after 25K.
They also do the homework each year after that at tax time and see if you are earning more money, if not they don't send a bill. However......there is a big huge blind gray area that they need to look at, and that is that THEY ARE A YEAR BEHIND in their endeavors. ie. If you made more than 25K in the previous year then lose your job just before tax time, they will tell you on the phone that you were responsible to budget your money for the entire next years medical bills (that you now can't afford) Theres something to be said about the stupidity in Canada that you Americans speak of. Mostly its myth because we (Western anyways) are pretty smart, and humble about it, but when it comes down to stuff like this in our government you have to be right about how stupid some of us are. This is no place for a major oversight on the medical system.
r22
"sometimes you're the bug, and sometimes you're the windshield"
Even the politicians dont really understand healthcare here. I'll tell you what I know
I have a card in my wallet called my "Health Card". It has a pic of me, my address, some security features, and a magnetic stripe. When I go to the doctors or a hospital, they ask me for my card and swipe it. I then get care, and walk away without paying a dime. Each province has it's own "Health Card" that does different things. Here in Ontario it's free for me to go to a walk in clinic, but in Prince Edward Island I had to pay a little bit of cash. I know that when I go to the hospital I get a room and care for free. If I want a more private room, or cable TV, I pay out of my pocket. I know that dental care is not covered, though my job supposedly covers it. Usually when people ask about canadian healthcare, these are the things they want to know about - what's it like to live it. If you want to know how it's funded and the technicals, I'm not the person to talk to.
In BC they have "Care Cards" which look like credit cards, but they have your name, (no photo ID), your care card number, and a magnetic stripe on the other end. This card is your Canadian health care card and you get one as soon as you're born.
If you're visiting a walk-in clinic for the first time, they'll ask to see this card and they'll be able to access your health record file on their computers with this information. If you visit the same clinic again, they won't need to see your care card again because they'll have it on file.
Ditto for pharmacies. First time you get a prescription at a pharmacy, they'll ask to see your care card as the card gives them access to any company-sponsored medical plan you may be on, which is important because this can alter the price they charge for the prescriptions you're buying.
My medical plan at work pays for up to 80% of my prescriptions, so automatically the pharmacies deduct the 80% and I guess somehow in the computer, that 80% gets charged to my company's medical plan. The pharmacy then charges me the 20%. It's all very seamless. However, since my boyfriend and I are "common law", I am also covered by his medical benefits where prescriptions are entirely covered. So I can send in my prescription receipts after filling out a form, and he'll bring it into work and they'll send it to the benefits company, and in the next few weeks we get a check in the main covering the 20%.
Another unique case in BC is that they charge an extra $48 per month per resident for health care. It's considered a medical tax, although this is usually covered if you have medical benefits covered by your employer/school/parents. My Montrealer boyfriend is outraged that people in BC have to pay this extra money "in a country with free health care". My Torontonian professor last year was also pretty outraged by this - it was her first year in BC, although she had also lived in Quebec and Manitoba and had never experienced such a thing, again, in the "land of free health care".
Whether BC pays more medical tax than other provinces, I'm not sure. I'm guessing that it gets deducted in other ways and is thus "invisible".
First of all, there is not Canadian Health Insurance. Hospitalization insurance is administered by each of the 10 provinces; each plan is slightly different in its terminology, funding sources and coverages.
All Canadian citizens and Permanent Residents are eligible for coverage, (subject to residency requirements), under the health plan of their province of residence. Provincial plans cover things like hospitalization, doctor visits, surgical procedures, and diagnostic procedures. People covered under the plan are usually given a card resembling a credit card which is swiped at the health facility. The facility is then paid the established rate for a procedure by the provincial health plan.
Under the Canadian Constitution, health is deemed a provincial responsibility. However, to ensure that every province is fiscally able to provide proper health care for its residents, the federal government gives funds to each provincial government earmarked for health care. Each provincial government also contributes funds to to its insurance plan. Some provinces collect an income-driven surtax to help fund health care, but the majority of the funding comes from general tax revenues.
To help keep costs down, each province sets a fee shedule which mandates what doctors and hospitals may charge for a specific service or procedure. Some provinces also cap doctors' earnings.
As mentioned by the previous poster, many people have additional health coverage through their place of employment. These secondary policies do not pay for basic health care needs, but may cover items outside the provincial plan like eyeglasses, dental, prescription drugs, private hospital rooms, etc..
Excellent overall explanation.
Robynator... there are monthly health care premiums in Alberta, too. Have been for over 25 years. There are two regular premium rates:
$44 per month for single coverage
$88 per month for family coverage (two or more persons)
Over 75 there is no premium and there are subsidies for the poor.
R22... that's about the funniest thing I've read since kidcanaduh's post. Did you two attend the same fictional comedy writing club?
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re
Health Care in Canada basic system
