Americans and Canadians culture Q&A Thread.

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

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

You might be thinking of an FSA (Flex Savings Account). HSA's do not have a restriction on when it has to be used (trust me I'm still using one from years past while it's not being contributed to the access to the funds are still there). FSA's on the other hand are a use it or lose it type situation.

 

[OnceUponATime15]

It's called the master bedroom (and the attached bathroom is called the ensuite). Owner's suite sounds a little too pretentious.

And in typically pc fashion.. the Master suite is now referred to as The Primary bedroom or suite! lol

 

[ronandannette]

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.

Guilty as charged. My DH's plan (which is my secondary - yay for double-dipping!!) has a HSA component as part of what is otherwise pretty mediocre coverage. We know it's there but neither of us has ever had one before so we've not even really learned what's eligible and we've not ever made a claim on it.

And in typically pc fashion.. the Master suite is now referred to as The Primary bedroom or suite! lol

My company builds 400+ new homes a year and each one of them still has a master bedroom and ensuite; named such right on the blueprints. I'm almost afraid to ask what new standard of wokeness we are violating?

 

[Aladora]

No argument there.

I have to admit, I was honestly shocked to learn that the leading cause of bankruptcies in the USA was due to medical bills.

 

[OnceUponATime15]

How do Canadians view Captain Simcoe? We don’t have positive views on him here in the USA but I believe he is viewed favorably in Canada for his contributions?

John Graves Simcoe a British military General, was the first lieutenant (cdn pronunciation left-tenant) governor of Upper Canada.. he has a place in Canadian history, but other then in a grade 8 history class (Here in Ontario at least) I doubt many Canadians would know who he was. He definitely has more notoriety in the Province of Ontario where upper Canada was located. Until recently he was honoured with a stat holiday in August - Simcoe day - now known as Civic Holiday.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

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.

It's pretty useful here at least in our experience.

Earlier this year my husband had a telehealth appointment, then went in for an EKG and and ECHO, then a follow up telehealth appointment. When the actual bill came he used the HSA to pay for it. Those expenses also counted towards our deductible (which to be fair isn't a low one, it's $4,000 for a family plan, the thing I can't remember is if the deductible is $2,000 per person as that makes a difference). The thing that is probably more annoying is that when he got the bill he was like "uh no way is this costing this much for this test" so he called and the medical office gives a 30% discount if you pay in full all at once. He's really glad he called.

My mom had a lower deductible HSA plan, hers was $1,500. She specifically chose to do both total knee replacements in the same year back in 2019 because she easily met her deductible thus physical therapy, medications and the entire second knee were taken care of.

 

[Aladora]

John Graves Simcoe a British military General, was the first lieutenant (cdn pronunciation left-tenant) governor of Upper Canada.. he has a place in Canadian history, but other then in a grade 8 history class (Here in Ontario at least) I doubt many Canadians would know who he was. He definitely has more notoriety in the Province of Ontario where upper Canada was located. Until recently he was honoured with a stat holiday in August - Simcoe day - now known as Civic Holiday.

We call it BC day here in British Columbia!

 

[ronandannette]

We call it BC day here in British Columbia!

Heritage Day here in Alberta.

 

[Buzz Rules]

Do you guys get taught about his controversial tactics during the American Revolution too?

 

[CdnCarrie]

We call it BC day here in British Columbia!

Terry Fox Day here! He was born in Manitoba!

 

[OnceUponATime15]

Do you guys get taught about his controversial tactics during the American Revolution too?

The Turn was based in fact but took liberties with the truth for entertainment purposes…

Do you guys get taught about his controversial tactics during the American Revolution too?

https://www.denofgeek.com/culture/amcs-turn-the-real-story-of-capt-simcoe/

 

[bcla]

You might be thinking of an FSA (Flex Savings Account). HSA's do not have a restriction on when it has to be used (trust me I'm still using one from years past while it's not being contributed to the access to the funds are still there). FSA's on the other hand are a use it or lose it type situation.

It's been a while, so that was proebably it. I remember getting a debit card. My other option was to spend and then request reimbursement.

 

[Aladora]

Do you guys get taught about his controversial tactics during the American Revolution too?

No, we don't really learn a lot about the American Revolution here.

 

[bcla]

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

Humana was always for-profit though. Kaiser Permanente is this weird combination of a for-profit medical practitioners, non-profit hospitals, and a non-profit health plan operator. But even as a non-profit, I remember Humana as the provider of the first artificial heart transplants.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It's been a while, so that was proebably it. I remember getting a debit card. My other option was to spend and then request reimbursement.

I believe you can get a debit card for either an FSA or an HSA. For my HSA I've always had a debit card. You can also seek reimbursement as well on an HSA and that's probably the case with FSAs too. But FSA's def. do have the time limit, HSAs to my knowledge don't, I've had several over the years (because each year the costs and your health may be different so switching plans may be best) and they just keep on rolling.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Do you guys get taught about his controversial tactics during the American Revolution too?

Our province was founded by Louis Riel who lived in exile in the USA. Know anything about him?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

No, we don't really learn a lot about the American Revolution here.

This just popped in my head as my husband and I were talking about movies watched during school (the Leo DiCaprio version of Romeo and Juliet was our present topic on that) but do Canadian schools use movies a lot in school when you're learning about things?

I feel like that was really common here.

Like learning about history I know we watched Last of the Mohicans actually several times throughout my school years, watched The Patriot as well. When it came time for Shakespeare we watched Othello (more the play version rather than a theatrical released version), I feel like we watched Braveheart at some point, we def. watched To Kill A Mockingbird. I even watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Historical inaccuracies of course we warned about. I remember watching Escape from Sobibor, Schindler's List, The Vikings and so on.

Even in college we would watch movies. In one of my english electives we watched Easy Rider, then in french class I can't remember the movie but I know we watched one there.

So many movies I have forgotten about too.

Then of course in you had tv shows like Schoolhouse Rock!, The Magic School Bus, The Reading Rainbow, etc that we watched in school.

Geez hadn't realized just how many movies and shows watched throughout schooling here.

 

[declansdad]

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.

And also out of date. The largest city in New Brunswick hasn't been Saint John for awhile now.

 

[ronandannette]

No, we don't really learn a lot about the American Revolution here.

One of the best period pieces from the time I've ever seen is The Book of Negroes. A fascinating part of Canadian history few of us are aware of. It's available on-demand on CBC Gem if you're interested.

 

[tvguy]

Humana was always for-profit though. Kaiser Permanente is this weird combination of a for-profit medical practitioners, non-profit hospitals, and a non-profit health plan operator. But even as a non-profit, I remember Humana as the provider of the first artificial heart transplants.

Kaiser is a "not for profit" not a "non-profit". As a "not for profit" they do earn a profit, they just don't distribute that profit to owners. A "non-profit" also would be legally allowed to accept donations.