Someday I fear health insurance will be a thing of the past.

[bankgirl05]

I am so sick of our healthcare/insurance system, and the absolutley crazy and unethical people who run it. Last year my toddler was admitted to the hospital after being seen in the ER, for a staph infection. (MRSA) She stayed a total of 3 days, saw a surgeon who really did nothing but prick the abcess with a scapel and squeeze. all with out even a local anestetic, and all while my 2 year old SCREAMED bloody murder. A week after we got home the bills started rolling in. MY $8600.00 a year health ins plan (on my $36,000 salary) covers NOTHING out of net work. Well it turns out, the hospital is in my network, but EVERY single Dr. that saw her, from the ER up to the Peds ward bills OUT OF NETWORK!!! so essentially, I was supposed to postion myself at my childs door, and stop Everyone who came in, to find out if the were in my network or not, and since (after the fact) I was told NONE of the Dr's actually practicing IN the hospital (and I mean while inside the hospital walls) are in network, I should have requested that she be shipped to a Children's Hosp. 150 miles away, where, even though they are considered out of my network, they would have negotiated with the ins co.??? What type of BS is this? Oh, and did I mention that her very own pediatrician whom, all of my kids have seen (and my oldest is 16) who is IN NETWORK, also billed through some out of network company for the 3 times he came to see her and the discharge workup. So now my 4500. deductible OOP in Network, and everything else OOP out of network has resulted in about 17000.00 in bills!!! The Pediatrician finally figured out a way to either re-bill, or else just scrapped it, and the surgeon has dropped his down to $500 from $5800 only after I cried on the phone to his receptionist like 10 times. but there is still the rest... the sytem is broken, I am not political enough to even begin to know what the solution is, but I do know that the system is broken. I work solely for my health ins. after I pay that and daycare, I am lucky to have enough money to buy gas for my car. DF is self employed so he has no ins. so God forbid he gets sick. and now to boot, I am on Work Comp for a terrible accident at work, going on 90 day now, and will likely have to start paying COBRA.Next week, unless my company takes me back "light duty" which they already refused to accomodate once, Which, I assume, is going to be about 1600. a month ( but I think that is being a conservative guess)... My injuries are covered under WC, but if I have to drop my ins. my kids will have no coverage. THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN> and it really doesn't seem as if anyone is listening... or anyone cares.
sorry, just had to rant!!! ahhhh breathe, see, this will save me on my therapy bills at least!!! Thanks

 

[BubMunkeyBles]

I like my socialistic health care through the military. I've had two babies and cancer with multiple surgeries with chemo for very little to almost nothing out of pocket. Also after living in Germany with DH (while he was military) and getting care in the German hospitals I found the care I received much better than any hospital I ever went to in the states.

 

[thomas998]

I am so sick of our healthcare/insurance system, and the absolutley crazy and unethical people who run it. Last year my toddler was admitted to the hospital after being seen in the ER, for a staph infection. (MRSA) She stayed a total of 3 days, saw a surgeon who really did nothing but prick the abcess with a scapel and squeeze. all with out even a local anestetic, and all while my 2 year old SCREAMED bloody murder. A week after we got home the bills started rolling in. MY $8600.00 a year health ins plan (on my $36,000 salary) covers NOTHING out of net work. Well it turns out, the hospital is in my network, but EVERY single Dr. that saw her, from the ER up to the Peds ward bills OUT OF NETWORK!!! so essentially, I was supposed to postion myself at my childs door, and stop Everyone who came in, to find out if the were in my network or not, and since (after the fact) I was told NONE of the Dr's actually practicing IN the hospital (and I mean while inside the hospital walls) are in network, I should have requested that she be shipped to a Children's Hosp. 150 miles away, where, even though they are considered out of my network, they would have negotiated with the ins co.??? What type of BS is this? Oh, and did I mention that her very own pediatrician whom, all of my kids have seen (and my oldest is 16) who is IN NETWORK, also billed through some out of network company for the 3 times he came to see her and the discharge workup. So now my 4500. deductible OOP in Network, and everything else OOP out of network has resulted in about 17000.00 in bills!!! The Pediatrician finally figured out a way to either re-bill, or else just scrapped it, and the surgeon has dropped his down to $500 from $5800 only after I cried on the phone to his receptionist like 10 times. but there is still the rest... the sytem is broken, I am not political enough to even begin to know what the solution is, but I do know that the system is broken. I work solely for my health ins. after I pay that and daycare, I am lucky to have enough money to buy gas for my car. DF is self employed so he has no ins. so God forbid he gets sick. and now to boot, I am on Work Comp for a terrible accident at work, going on 90 day now, and will likely have to start paying COBRA.Next week, unless my company takes me back "light duty" which they already refused to accomodate once, Which, I assume, is going to be about 1600. a month ( but I think that is being a conservative guess)... My injuries are covered under WC, but if I have to drop my ins. my kids will have no coverage. THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN> and it really doesn't seem as if anyone is listening... or anyone cares.
sorry, just had to rant!!! ahhhh breathe, see, this will save me on my therapy bills at least!!! Thanks

And the truth is you would have been better off if you had no insurance.

That is the sad fact in most instances you are better off with no insurance where you can freely negotiate your bill than you are paying hyper inflating premiums on continually decreasing coverage.

The politicians love to point at the evil insurance companies but the truth is you need to look at where the people are making the most money to figure out where the problem is... it isn't the people selling insurance or the nurses pricking your finger... its the doctors. We have a shortage of doctors that was created by the doctors in the 1980's when they started pushing to limit any new medical schools... the end results is you have a shortage of doctors and anytime you have a shortage you get very high prices... look at lawyers, there is no shortage of lawyers and you can find one in a phone book for peanuts.

 

[angwill]

And the truth is you would have been better off if you had no insurance.

That is the sad fact in most instances you are better off with no insurance where you can freely negotiate your bill than you are paying hyper inflating premiums on continually decreasing coverage.

The politicians love to point at the evil insurance companies but the truth is you need to look at where the people are making the most money to figure out where the problem is... it isn't the people selling insurance or the nurses pricking your finger... its the doctors. We have a shortage of doctors that was created by the doctors in the 1980's when they started pushing to limit any new medical schools... the end results is you have a shortage of doctors and anytime you have a shortage you get very high prices... look at lawyers, there is no shortage of lawyers and you can find one in a phone book for peanuts.

Did you even read what bankgirl05 wrote? She did negotiate her bills down with insurance.

 

[twinboysmom]

Actually the reasons against fertility treatment are much more than that... In a country where you have a abundance of children that could be adopted why waste money on creating more kids? Not to mention in the vast majority of couples with fertility issues there is a genetic reason for the infertility, it is natures way of keeping that problem from multiplying in keeping the person with the defect from reproducing, by jumping past nature you aren't fixing the genetic defect you are only making sure it has a chance to pass to another human - the child the couple have. Now in a few cases where the infertility was caused by an accident or other outside force you might make an argument for the treatment... but not in the majority. Spend the resources on helping someone that is already alive and trying to live instead of squandering resources trying to play god.

Once again, you decide to comment and out your opinions down and claim they are facts. You are incorrect that the vast majority of infertility is caused by genetic factors. I really appreciate you telling me that I wasted money creating my children. Know what? I didn't steal any of your precious paycheck to pay for my children. My DH and I slaved away taking care of other people to pay the $50,000 "playing God" to create my very loved twin boys. I had genetic testing. No problems. I had every test you can think of and the cause of our infertility is unexplained. I suggest you do a quick google search regarding the causes of infertility, most specific the genetic factor, before you show your ignorance.

Not that it is any of your business, we tried to adopt for years. We were ruled out from many agencies due to a medical problem my DH had. We also did not feel comfortable paying for a mothers living and medical expenses with no guarantee that she would relinquish her rights to her baby. Also many of the mothers we were paired with had admitted to drug and alcohol use for significant portions of their pregnancy.

I am not sure why you feel you have the right to decide who should and should not have children. I don't believe I played God in the creation of my children. I believe my children are very precious gifts from God and that I am the most blessed mother in the world.

 

[Belle599]

Another Canadian who prefers our healthcare system, but admits not knowing all the ins and outs of the US system. I do know 2 friends who lived in the US and both developed cancer and had to return to Canada for free healthcare (canadian citizens) as they were a million dollars in debt and lost everything trying to fight it.

I also like the fact that everyone has access to care regardless of the insurance they have, occupation or bank account figures. Yes some people wait for certain tests/procedures if its not considered urgent, but i will gladly wait to have a mri on my knee and let the person needing a mri on their brain for suspected brain cancer have it done the same or next day (as was the case with my mother, but no cancer thank god). And having had a premature baby with a NICU stay i am also greatful that i did not have to incur that expense as it was already stressful and unexpected and financially difficult without worrying about a huge hospital bill or losing my house over.

I would love to move to the US for a mild climate, but dont think we could afford to live there full time so will stay put and settle with a vacation home somewhere warm..........

As a fellow Canadian I feel like I could have written this post myself (minus the NICU baby). I agree 100%.

I absolutely LOVE visiting America and as much as I would love to live in Florida, I could never make the move solely because of the worry of healthcare costs.

To all my American friends, I do not envy you because of the stress that this must cause you. Let this be another lesson for your children to teach them to continue to pursue higher education so that they can have a career where they hopefully never have to choose between food on the table vs. healthcare.

 

[angwill]

Thank you to all the Canadians who chimmed in. It is important that we hear it from the mouth of the people who live in Canada and use the health care there themselves. There are so many false rumors about the Canadian health system that it is sad what people will believe without actually knowing or hearing it directly from the people who live it.

 

[Evi]

I'm really at a loss for words. I read some really awesome ideas and stories about our health care system and then there was some grumbling of belligerent, ignorant statements from one person. To everyone else I agree our healthcare system is in need of a serious overhaul and I thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts.

 

[RadioMom]

Comparing the Canadian health system to ours is a little difficult to do. I found out on another thread that in addition to the costs covered directly by the government through tax payments, many Canadians have additional health insurance to cover the remainder of their costs. And also prescriptions. So I think you really have to look at the overall efficiency of the systems - they both work, they just work differently.

This is true and it's optional. You don't have to have this extra insurance but it helps! Mostly it's through your employer but you can purchase it on your own (BlueShield comes to mind). My insurance covers what OHIP (my province health care) does not.
-Dental visits, braces, bridges, crowns, extractions, etc.
-eye doctor visits for people over the age of 18
-glasses
-prescriptions
-therapy (massage, physio, counselling)
-orthotics
-medical equipment (crutches, walkers, etc)
and a few other incidentals that can cost hundreds of dollars.
My health insurance through work for my entire family costs me about $40 a month. My husband's is even better than mine (covering up to 100% on all dental and prescriptions) and his is about $65 a month. I don't have to have it, but I keep it for emergencies because it's a pain to get reinstated when it's through work.
I can tell you though, the cost of my husband's meds every month would break our family budget if we didn't have this additional coverage. Although if we were on social assistance, it would be covered.

 

[momto2girls]

I think that the majority of Americans would love to have a National Health Care System that covered everyone, but the problem is that we just don't trust our government to run it efficiently and that is why most are vehemently opposed to it.

I agree. I don't trust our government to run our health care at all. It is one of the things I fear most. I understand that our system has its problems, but I really hope that we can find other solutions so that we don't need to resort to a national health care system.

 

[bankgirl05]

Did you even read what bankgirl05 wrote? She did negotiate her bills down with insurance.

Actually, I only negotiated one down after crying to the (almost) worthless Surgeon's office staff numerous times, I think they either got sick of me calling and threatened strike, or one of them was actually his wife!!! The rest would not budge, and while I was trying for months to sort it out and fighting with the insurance co. who's phone tree system is enough to drive any one to drink, most got turned over to collections, which in turn got a judgement with a levy placed on my accounts!!! I replied to the notice to go to court, wanting to peald my case, and take all of my income info etc and proof that I had written letters and made phone calls to try to negotiate, but the collection agent went to a judge BEFORE my court date and got a pro se motion to make me pay (hence the bank levy)??? When I finally got to see a judge, he basically said I was negligient for not paying, that the services were renedered and therefore I owed, regardless... so now my credit (which was previosly pretty good except 1 credit card that I owed 26.99 to (thought I had paid it off) and moved, so never got a bill for 3 months (lovely postal system, when my ex and I split we both changed our addresses, but all of my mail kept getting sent to him, and he would only give it to me every so often) so the credit score reflects a 90 late pay, even though I cleared it up with the card Co. and they even reversed all the late fees, but won't report it to the credit bureau as thier mistake. Any way, with this judgement, which I am paying faithfully, my credit is in the tank so bad that I recently got turned down for a job!!! JOY!!! (I did get the judge to lift the levy, by entering into payment arrangements, but how embarrassing at my bank, (my actual current employer) even after I told them that it's because thier less than stellar Ins paid nothing!

 

[thomas998]

Once again, you decide to comment and out your opinions down and claim they are facts. You are incorrect that the vast majority of infertility is caused by genetic factors. I really appreciate you telling me that I wasted money creating my children. Know what? I didn't steal any of your precious paycheck to pay for my children. My DH and I slaved away taking care of other people to pay the $50,000 "playing God" to create my very loved twin boys. I had genetic testing. No problems. I had every test you can think of and the cause of our infertility is unexplained. I suggest you do a quick google search regarding the causes of infertility, most specific the genetic factor, before you show your ignorance.

Not that it is any of your business, we tried to adopt for years. We were ruled out from many agencies due to a medical problem my DH had. We also did not feel comfortable paying for a mothers living and medical expenses with no guarantee that she would relinquish her rights to her baby. Also many of the mothers we were paired with had admitted to drug and alcohol use for significant portions of their pregnancy.

I am not sure why you feel you have the right to decide who should and should not have children. I don't believe I played God in the creation of my children. I believe my children are very precious gifts from God and that I am the most blessed mother in the world.

So your husband has medical issues but they are not related to the infertility... Sorry I don't buy it. And simply because they can't tell you which gene is causing your infertility doesn't mean it isn't genetic. Doctors have not determined each and every gene and what it does in the human body, simply because they haven't determined which gene is causing your problem doesn't mean it isn't genetic. And if you want to talk about spouting opinion as fact consider what you said, " I am the most blessed mother in the world."... I'm willing to bet that there a lot of mothers that can and do believe the same thing, but surely they can't all be right now can they.

 

[Tink-aholic]

So your husband has medical issues but they are not related to the infertility... Sorry I don't buy it. And simply because they can't tell you which gene is causing your infertility doesn't mean it isn't genetic. Doctors have not determined each and every gene and what it does in the human body, simply because they haven't determined which gene is causing your problem doesn't mean it isn't genetic. And if you want to talk about spouting opinion as fact consider what you said, " I am the most blessed mother in the world."... I'm willing to bet that there a lot of mothers that can and do believe the same thing, but surely they can't all be right now can they.

Okay, then how about MY situation, then? My infertility is indeed genetic. My particular genetic abnormality means that during the time when the genetic material splits during meiosis, what is supposed to split 50/50 actually splits in different ratios (sometimes 20/80, sometimes 70/30). Even if it is 51/49, the results can be catastrophic birth defects.

We have the technology now to create embryos outside the uterus and perform biopsies on a unicellular level to check for viability before implantation (which means that I wouldn't pass the defect on).

The financial cost to provide this procedure is less than the cost of the thirteen miscarriages and subsequent medical treatments and hospitalizations I have had over the past decade.

 

[CdnCarrie]

So your husband has medical issues but they are not related to the infertility... Sorry I don't buy it. And simply because they can't tell you which gene is causing your infertility doesn't mean it isn't genetic. Doctors have not determined each and every gene and what it does in the human body, simply because they haven't determined which gene is causing your problem doesn't mean it isn't genetic. And if you want to talk about spouting opinion as fact consider what you said, " I am the most blessed mother in the world."... I'm willing to bet that there a lot of mothers that can and do believe the same thing, but surely they can't all be right now can they.

This post is pure harassment.

 

[tinatark]

If you're from a country with socialized medicine, are your annual taxes itemized, so you see what you are paying for health care for yourself and your fellow citizens? Just curious. Is it a % of your income? What about people who either can't or won't work? Who pays their share?

 

[DISNEYSIX]

This post is pure harassment.

I agree and maybe he will change his mind when his daughter or granddaughter has trouble getting pregnant. With all the chemicals that we are exposed to, infertility will only become more prevalent in society.

 

[CdnCarrie]

If you're from a country with socialized medicine, are your annual taxes itemized, so you see what you are paying for health care for yourself and your fellow citizens? Just curious. Is it a % of your income? What about people who either can't or won't work? Who pays their share?

No not at all. It's just part of your lump sum federal and provincial taxes. Healthcare is not separated out at all.

As for those who don't work I guess it's no different than welfare. Some people just don't pay into the system.

Think of it this way - you don't know the exact cost of how much you used the highways, state parks, education, etc that you used. Our healthcare is the same in a way - it's paid for by personal income tax, sales tax, business tax, etc.

 

[thomas998]

Okay, then how about MY situation, then? My infertility is indeed genetic. My particular genetic abnormality means that during the time when the genetic material splits during meiosis, what is supposed to split 50/50 actually splits in different ratios (sometimes 20/80, sometimes 70/30). Even if it is 51/49, the results can be catastrophic birth defects.

We have the technology now to create embryos outside the uterus and perform biopsies on a unicellular level to check for viability before implantation (which means that I wouldn't pass the defect on).

The financial cost to provide this procedure is less than the cost of the thirteen miscarriages and subsequent medical treatments and hospitalizations I have had over the past decade.

And the cost of simply adopting would still be less. I simply believe that covering infertility treatment with insurance is wrong. There is a limited amount of money to go towards health care and it should be used to support humans that are already alive not spent trying to help people reproduce.

 

[dntd]

I think there are a lot less Canadians than you think who would trade. The founder of our healthcare system was voted in as the Greatest Canadian during a national contest. Majority of us love the healthcare system.

Not sure why you think we are all so unhappy with it?

I love my healthcare system. Our taxes are not that high, honestly not enough to equal losing my house to an unforseen accident. I feel sorry for those who have to pay thousands of dollar's when they already paid thousands out in premiums. Of course our system doesn't cover prescription or dentist but when my dd broke her femur landing her in the hospital for 6 weeks I was thankful for the government coverage. In ontario on our taxes we have a health tax that goes by income level, the highest you can pay is $900 at the $200,000+ tax bracket. IDK it's still a better deal then pay oop for insurance.

 

[ilovemk76]

No not at all. It's just part of your lump sum federal and provincial taxes. Healthcare is not separated out at all.

As for those who don't work I guess it's no different than welfare. Some people just don't pay into the system.

Think of it this way - you don't know the exact cost of how much you used the highways, state parks, education, etc that you used. Our healthcare is the same in a way - it's paid for by personal income tax, sales tax, business tax, etc.

Do 50% of Canadians pay no income tax? In the US that is the case. That 50% will be surprised when they have to start paying.