New year's Rving Resolutions

Hmmm. My comment was made simply because so many Americans that we meet think the Canadian Medicare plan is free. Everyone must realize that anything supplied by a Government is not free. Ours is factually one of the most expensive in the free world. It is also one of the worst for actually providing quality care and it covers only the very basics. Please don’t think that the medical professionals that we have are poorly qualified or don’t have the skill or compassion to do the job. I think we have some of the best.....but many of our best also head south to much GREENer pastures. The quality of our care is compromised by the bureaucracy that comes with Government involvement. Okay, now I’m getting a little political only because it is the problem with our system.

Lets get back to the facts; Your disclosure states that you pay > $12.000 US for, what sounds like a reasonably comprehensive plan. I suspect that you probably meant < $12 K (as in greater than 12) but lets just use the 12. The Canadian Government has a hard time disclosing the actual cost of our plan but it is safe to say that they pay out about $6,600. Cdn per person https://nationalpost.com/health/how-much-does-the-average-canadian-pay-for-public-health which does not include any prescription, physio, long term and a lot of elective etc. Follow the link for what they should cover but don’t expect a lot of disclosure https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/canada-health-care-system.html . Each province is responsible for the procedures that are covered and not all provinces are equal. Now add to the equation the fact the every province except Alberta charges a premium for the coverage. In BC I believe it cost me about $200.00 month for the both of us. 66 X 2 + 24 = $15,600. So in US dollars it would cost $11,468. Very close to what you pay. But the kicker comes in value. You have a policy that spells out your coverage. We have coverage for what a board will decide is necessary. You have access to medical procedures. We have waiting lists....for some over a year long. You have medical services where ever they are required. We have many communities that can not attract doctors, nurses etc nor do they have any emergency service. Wait times at most emergency rooms can be 8 – 10 hours so you had better really have a need.

We have an additional plan with a private carrier that will cover ambulance, physio, a semi private room but No prescriptions, dental, glasses or hearing. That costs us about $250.00 month.

Finally, you get to choose your carrier, your coverage, how you pay, when you pay etc. We are forced to pay and have no say in what when or how.

And so I have to add....Don't criticize what you have until you know what the alternatives are like.

Darrell

 

I hear and understand you. But the one place where there is a disconnect is that the $6,600/head paid out for each person in the plan is being paid by the government, not the individual. All the costs I provided are being paid by my wife and me out of our retirement income. Previously, we had all been taxed at the several percent level during the entirety of our working lives.

I recognize that anything the government pays ultimately comes from the individual taxpayer, but my calculations didn't include payments by the Medicare insurance system for the care of patients. I don't know what Medicare says is the average payout per enrolled person but it has to be at least several thousand dollars per person.

The bottom line is that medical care is expensive in both countries; at least in Canada everyone has access to a standard of care even if you aren't all that impressed by it. In the US there are still quite a few million people who fall through the cracks and have no insurance of any kind. This isn't a political statement; it's simply the reason my wife and I volunteer two days a week helping to staff a free medical clinic in Corpus Christi for those who don't earn enough to afford health insurance.

Joel

 

My wife and I pay the standard $134/mo ($135.50 for 2019) that's deducted from most people's Social Security retirement check for our Medicare Advantage plan coverage, plus $17/mo for the mandatory Part D drug coverage. That totals $1812 per year for each of us. We do have modest co-pays for doctor visits and drugs though, with our primary care visits at $10 and drug co-pays starting at $3.

 

The numbers I used included the actual costs of drugs purchased through our Part D plans (which, BTW, are not mandatory). We each incurred prescription drug costs of ~$2500 last year even after the plan's benefits. OTOH we have no out of pocket costs for doctor visits, labs, or hospital stays because we have a supplemental Medicare plan rather than an Advantage one.

This clarification was for the benefit of our Canadian friends.

 

While a Part D coverage plan is not actually mandatory, one does a face a potential lifetime financial penalty for not enrolling in one when first eligible. Our domicile is NY though, and the state gives us old folks a secondary coverage plan called "EPIC" at no cost that covers our higher cost drugs with much lower co-pays, but Part D coverage is mandatory to enroll. I was likely thinking of that requirement when I initially said "mandatory".

 

I hear you Joel. Both systems have issues. My point was simply, Our Health Care is not free. The actual cost of our system is just too hard for the average person to calculate. I used the only numbers that meant something. The pay out costs are, I hope, the largest single piece of the pie. There is no disclosure of government admin fees, the stick and brick buildings and equipment etc. One would have to get court orders for some and then the data would probably be "distorted" (I didn't say lies). My point was made only using easy to verify, basic, rough numbers.

Many Americans envy our system. Perhaps it is better than yours in some respects. But ours too, has large cracks that people fall through. People die thinking they had a system that would "look after them", In reality, it has many problems. "Universal" it is supposed to be, and how it was "sold" to the public back in the day. Universal it isn't though.

Anyway, this discussion is now becoming too political for me. I'm going to leave it be. In closing I want to thank you on behalf of your fellow Americans for volunteering your time to help those less fortunate. The world needs more people like you.

Darrell