Americans and Canadians culture Q&A Thread.

[White Cat]

Ooooh, I wanted to love this but the best I could end up giving you was a like . Points were lost when Regina, the capital city of Saskatchewan, was pronounced Ree-Geena instead of Ree-G-eye-na (hard I sound; yes, it does rhyme with a ladypart).

If they were rural, or lived in a very small town, the mailman was probably a friend who maybe did things on his own schedule, which might have been common back in the day. Not widespread by any means and as has been discussed over and over here on the CB, many of the anecdotes you remember or were told by your Saskatchewan cousins were unique to them and NOT representative in any way of being generally Canadian.

Yes, absolutely. Major medical (doctor's visits, hospital care, care for chronic diseases and cancer care, among many other things) is covered by health care and since it is a provincial jurisdiction, what is covered may vary somewhat from province to province. Things like dentistry, vision care, some mental health services, chiropractic, physio and rehabilitation, naturopathic and homeopathic medicine and most prescription medication is NOT covered. Those things are either OOP or covered by supplemental insurance which many of us have as part of our employment benefits. Most provinces have some sort of supplement for low-income people that will pay for all these extras. For the vast majority in the middle-class, it's kind of like in the States - have insurance, pay for it yourself or do without.

Yes.

Fair enough. Most Canadians don't care much about Spain, or Norway or Singapore - I see it as the same thing. And we shouldn't take it personally either. I doubt most Americans know (or care) any more about Mexico than they do about Canada.

That’s true. And none of the many Mexicans that I know seem to care. In fact, it’s never been brought up. But Canadians seem to take offence to this. For some reason.

 

[NAB]

As Ronandannette said, most medical things are covered under our universal healthcare and she listed the things that typically are not although eye exams for kids are covered in BC.

When I gave birth to our son, the only things I ever paid for was $10 for the ultrasound photos and $7 to have a phone in my private room. Oh, and my husband had to pay for parking at the hospital.

When I had cancer, my chemo was 100% covered, all of my surgeries were covered including my reconstruction after bilateral mastectomy, and because our income at the time was low enough, all of my medication during chemo such as anti-nausea meds were also covered. I did have to pay out of pocket for a bottle of 100 generic Gravol but not only did that cost me a whopping $6, but if my oncologist had written a prescription then it would have been covered as well.

There are people who say that universal healthcare results in very long waits for treatment and/or surgery but that was not my experience. I was diagnosed with cancer on December 12th, my first surgery was December 27th, and I started chemo mid January.

Our kids up to 19 ? and people 65 in Ontario are covered for eye exams but they are trying to get the government to pay more for this service .

At our employment we fight to get good benefits for all the things listed not covered by OHIP. If you work full time they have to have some benefits but they don’t if you work only part time. Benefits usually pay all or part of prescriptions, dental and eye care.

I have never had to pay out of pocket for anything. I have had 2 kids by c section too. Gone to specialists with no real wait ,not to say where you live might have a wait. Some people don’t have family doctors and go to clinics.

Now plastic surgery if not needed is not covered I’m sure. Never tried…lol

 

[ronandannette]

As Ronandannette said, most medical things are covered under our universal healthcare and she listed the things that typically are not although eye exams for kids are covered in BC.

When I gave birth to our son, the only things I ever paid for was $10 for the ultrasound photos and $7 to have a phone in my private room. Oh, and my husband had to pay for parking at the hospital.

When I had cancer, my chemo was 100% covered, all of my surgeries were covered including my reconstruction after bilateral mastectomy, and because our income at the time was low enough, all of my medication during chemo such as anti-nausea meds were also covered. I did have to pay out of pocket for a bottle of 100 generic Gravol but not only did that cost me a whopping $6, but if my oncologist had written a prescription then it would have been covered as well.

There are people who say that universal healthcare results in very long waits for treatment and/or surgery but that was not my experience. I was diagnosed with cancer on December 12th, my first surgery was December 27th, and I started chemo mid January.

I hope you are doing well now. I would say that anecdotally from my own experiences and observations, emergency, urgent care, critical care and cancer care are stellar in most ways. Access to other services may vary wildly from location to location though. And everything, everything - is subject to a "gate-keeper" system of some sort. Even so, I simply cannot fathom having to make great financial outlays individually for health-care. My nephew, his wife and two children pay over $1,000 per month for their privately-purchased health insurance in Washington state. That's basically my entire monthly disposable income and what a life-style game-changer it would be.

 

[tvguy]

B, many of the anecdotes you remember or were told by your Saskatchewan cousins were unique to them and NOT representative in any way of being generally Canadian.

For the record only one of my cousins is in Saskatchewan. 2 are in Alberta, 2 in BC and 6 in Ottawa. 1 moved to Australia and 1 to Qatar.

 

[prairie_girl]

The whole beans on toast thing is redeemed with Poutine. That's all I have..

I love beans on toast

It’s just not that important. There is no reason to commit that to memory. Most Americans don’t care much about Canada. I know that’s hard to hear but it’s just the way it is.

Doesn’t hurt my feelings.

Have they retained a bit of the South African accent?

We haven't met yet (mostly covid and just life busy) but I do know from my nextdoor neighbor that new neighbors up the street moved last year from South Africa. When I worked at JCP when I was a teen my coworker moved from South Africa as a toddler and didn't have an accent any longer but her mother def. did

My dad has been in Canada for close to 40 years and he still has his Australian accent. It’s not as strong as it once was, but some drive thrus still can’t understand him lol

Not really related to your comment but the conversation made me think of this. When I was in college my senior year I worked for the bookstore. I don't know if it's changed but at that time all pull over 3/4 zip hoodies that had Alumni embroidered on it along with the masot embroidered were made in the Kingdom Of Lesotho. Why I have no idea (I mean sure cheap labor is possible and likely but why that country). I kinda find it fun to look at the tags to see where clothing is made from so that's how I even stumbled upon it. Having never heard of Lesotho I just had to look it up. It's a country surrounded by South Africa previously under UK control but decades ago got its independence. It's a factoid I have somehow committed to memory.

**Back on your comment I find the accent to be really interesting to hear myself.

In Grade 4 we had pen pals and they were from Lesotho. It’s always Stuck in my head.

Corner Gas > Seinfeld, Friends, The Office, [basically any American sitcom that is overhyped]

Schitt’s Creek works as well.

 

[ronandannette]

For the record only one of my cousins is in Saskatchewan. 2 are in Alberta, 2 in BC and 6 in Ottawa. 1 moved to Australia and 1 to Qatar.

Tell us a little bit about life in Qatar. That sounds interesting!

 

[Aladora]

Our kids up to 19 ? and people 65 in Ontario are covered for eye exams but they are trying to get the government to pay more for this service .

At our employment we fight to get good benefits for all the things listed not covered by OHIP. If you work full time they have to have some benefits but they don’t if you work only part time. Benefits usually pay all or part of prescriptions, dental and eye care.

I have never had to pay out of pocket for anything. I have had 2 kids by c section too. Gone to specialists with no real wait ,not to say where you live might have a wait. Some people don’t have family doctors and go to clinics.

Now plastic surgery if not needed is not covered I’m sure. Never tried…lol

In BC, children up to 18 and seniors over 65 get 1 free eye exam per year.

Elective cosmetic surgery is not covered, although when I had my reconstruction done it was a plastic surgeon (2 actually) who worked on me and it was all covered because it was due to the surgeries I had.

I hope you are doing well now. I would say that anecdotally from my own experiences and observations, emergency, urgent care, critical care and cancer care are stellar in most ways. Access to other services may vary wildly from location to location though. And everything, everything - is subject to a "gate-keeper" system of some sort. Even so, I simply cannot fathom having to make great financial outlays individually for health-care. My nephew, his wife and two children pay over $1,000 per month for their privately-purchased health insurance in Washington state. That's basically my entire monthly disposable income and what a life-style game-changer it would be.

Thanks, I am doing really well. I was diagnosed late 2006 so it has been almost 15 years now!

I remember talking to friends online who all had babies the same month I did and the costs in the US to have a baby is staggering, even an uncomplicated birth let alone one that requires a lot of intervention.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My nephew, his wife and two children pay over $1,000 per month for their privately-purchased health insurance in Washington state. That's basically my entire monthly disposable income and what a life-style game-changer it would be.

It's probably a different ballgame now but when I was growing up my mom's company (who I also worked for after graduating college) had an HMO before scrapping that and going to more HSA-oriented healthcare plans. Under the HMO the ER I remember used to be a $25 copay, then it went up to $50, then to $75 and eventually was $200 before the company stopped using HMO. Years after that when I got food poisoning bad enough that it necessitated treatment in the ER after insurance was accounted for it was still about $700 for a 3 hour stay and basic care like IV fluids, blood test, anti-nausea medicine, etc. That was in 2009 I have no idea what the costs would be today but I'm sure a lot more than that.

From what I remember when my mom's monthly insurance premium wasn't outrageous but eventually monthly premiums plus all the added stuff when HMO went away and they went more the route of HSA it was just so costly.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Argh! Who did that nasty video?

The capital of Saskatchewan is, indeed, Regina, but it's not pronounced like a girl's name. The "I" is long (says it's name) Re- gi - na. Not Re -gee -na.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

In Grade 4 we had pen pals and they were from Lesotho. It’s always Stuck in my head.

See when we had pen pals it was so not to cool places. I'm pretty sure it was just a pen pal across the country...ugh so boring! Yours sounds like a lot more interesting experience.

My dad has been in Canada for close to 40 years and he still has his Australian accent. It’s not as strong as it once was, but some drive thrus still can’t understand him lol

I briefly, and I do say briefly, dated an Australian in high school. His accent wasn't too too thick but his mom's was. Now I'm just picturing the drive-thru employee trying to figure out what was said from your dad.

 

[CdnCarrie]

It's probably a different ballgame now but when I was growing up my mom's company (who I also worked for after graduating college) had an HMO before scrapping that and going to more HSA-oriented healthcare plans. Under the HMO the ER I remember used to be a $25 copay, then it went up to $50, then to $75 and eventually was $200 before the company stopped using HMO. Years after that when I got food poisoning bad enough that it necessitated treatment in the ER after insurance was accounted for it was still about $700 for a 3 hour stay and basic care like IV fluids, blood test, anti-nausea medicine, etc. That was in 2009 I have no idea what the costs would be today but I'm sure a lot more than that.

From what I remember when my mom's monthly insurance premium wasn't outrageous but eventually monthly premiums plus all the added stuff when HMO went away and they went more the route of HSA it was just so costly.

No idea what
HMO and HSA are.

 

[Aladora]

No idea what
HMO and HSA are.

HSA, at least here in Canada is a Healthcare Spending Account or Health Savings Account where money is set aside to pay for heath expenses. Our company used to have an HSA built into our extended benefits that could be used for things such as glasses, eye exams, or any portion of prescriptions that were not covered under the plan. (our covered 80-90% of prescriptions and you could use the HSA to cover the remaining percentage.) HMO according to Google is a Health Maintenance Organization.

 

[tvguy]

Tell us a little bit about life in Qatar. That sounds interesting!

Oh, you do want me to open a can of worms. She is 63 and has been an RN for 40 years, working mostly in emergency rooms and then provincial programs in Saskatchewan for First Nation peoples. She got fed up with the Canadian healthcare system. I was not aware of this, but allegedly Qatar has one of the best healthcare systems in the world. I left out most of the gory details, but that, in a nutshell is the story of Qatar.

 

[Aladora]

Oh, you do want me to open a can of worms. She is 63 and has been an RN for 40 years, working mostly in emergency rooms and then provincial programs in Saskatchewan for First Nation peoples. She got fed up with the Canadian healthcare system. I was not aware of this, but allegedly Qatar has one of the best healthcare systems in the world. I left out most of the gory details, but that, in a nutshell is the story of Qatar.

Our healthcare is not perfect but one thing I do know is that very rarely does someone in Canada goes bankrupt because of medical costs.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

No idea what
HMO and HSA are.

HMO=Health Maintenance Organization. They are seen as more restrictive because you're only covered in-network, choices not as plentiful and the plans often more restrictive


HSA=Health Savings Account. Money is pre-taxed and is used for qualifying medical expenses at the person's discretion. HSA's follow you too as it's your money. I still actually have some money from the insurance company I worked for on an HSA account. I've been using that for my yearly eye exam (for the exam, the contacts, the glasses and lens) in addition to using the discount eye program (currently it's VSP but I've had a different one in the past). That insurance company I worked for if you did an HSA (which they had like 4 different HSA plans to choose from) they would deposit $500 (for an individual's plan don't know how much they did for a family plan) into the account if you deposited $100 from your paycheck. Meanwhile my husband's company if you did an HSA (which they only had like 1 or 2 different plans) they deposit $1,000 per HSA plan (so doesn't matter individual or family) with no required minimum contribution from the employee.

Sorry tons of acronyms thrown out

 

[bcla]

No idea what
HMO and HSA are.

Health maintenance organization. Kaiser Permanente is the biggest one in the United States as they're a vertically integrated system (that's complicated) that provides the medical professionals, hospitals, and insurance. Humana used to do that, but I think they sold off all their hospitals and went to an insurance model. Some insurers call their plans HMOs even though they don't provide any of the services. That's supposed to be some sort of plan where the majority of services have to go through a primary care physician or nurse practitioner. The way I saw it when I had such a plan was that they had controls that were supposed to provide for cost controls, but also encouragement to do healthy things that reduced the need for services down the road.

HSA means health savings account. The idea is that one can reserve a percentage of income that goes into an account without being subject to income taxes. I've only used it a couple of years, and I spent it on glasses although the funds can be used to purchase medications or pay for visit copays, or even just cash payments for visits. But it has to be used by a certain time past year end. But it had There are other tax-free accounts such as educational accounts, but those

 

[Aladora]

HMO=Health Maintenance Organization. They are seen as more restrictive because you're only covered in-network, choices not as plentiful and the plans often more restrictive


HSA=Health Savings Account. Money is pre-taxed and is used for qualifying medical expenses at the person's discretion. HSA's follow you too as it's your money. I still actually have some money from the insurance company I worked for on an HSA account. I've been using that for my yearly eye exam (for the exam, the contacts, the glasses and lens). That insurance company I worked for if you did an HSA (which they had like 4 different HSA plans to choose from) they would deposit $500 (for an individual's plan don't know how much they did for a family plan) into the account if you deposited $100 from your paycheck. Meanwhile my husband's company if you did an HSA (which they only had like 1 or 2 different plans) they deposit $1,000 per HSA plan (so doesn't matter individual or family) with no required minimum contribution from the employee.

That was the plan we used to have, the entire cost of the HSA was on the company with no extra cost to the employee. We did change after we studied it and saw that most employees at the time were not using it so we simply increased coverage for the things they were using such as paramedical and dental.

 

[tvguy]

Our healthcare is not perfect but one thing I do know is that very rarely does someone in Canada goes bankrupt because of medical costs.

No argument there.

 

[OnceUponATime15]

Also - the thing I get is that almost every male had played some sort of youth hockey, and most really, really love hockey. I mentioned the guy from Newfoundland, and when he met a Russian he had to say something about one of the best international games he'd ever seen between Canada and maybe the old USSR team. OTOH once I met a Canadian doing some technical training in San Jose. And he sounded very Canadian, so I mentioned I was going to the Sharks game that night. He said that all boys play hockey, but that he wasn't particularly interested in the NHL. Kind of surprised me because love of hockey is a big stereotype we have of Canadians.

The bolded… sums it up pretty much. Not all of us love hockey (I prefer NBA basketball ) we’ve had the exposure to it, but like anything else it’s not always everyone’s thing.
Most sports are played and enjoyed up here as kids, soccer, lacrosse, football, baseball, softball, basketball and depending on where your family originated- cricket or cross country running.

Cultural diversity has broadened our interests I guess.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Humana used to do that, but I think they sold off all their hospitals and went to an insurance model.

I'm pretty sure that's who we had when I was growing up.