Canadians Being Gouged

ChrisC wrote:

snoresliketrain wrote:

cpap'er wrote:

snoresliketrain wrote:Hey, I thought all Canadians had "FREE HEALTH CARE". That's what the politicians in Washington D.C. having been saying and the USA was the only country that didn't have it. Another lie. Who would have thunk it. (sarc. off).

We do have free healthcare meaning we dont pay to visit the doctor or the hospital but thats it....god help us if we need a prescription especially if you have to be on for the long term. If your lucky enough to have medical insurance thru work or privately on your own you can get your drugs a little cheaper but depending on your province where some have assistance programs to help with CPAP while my province doesnt help at all and CPAP is not cheap here as i mentioned before....

No Sir, you do not have "FREE HEALTH CARE". You and every citizen of Canada pays for it. It's called taxes! Nothing is FREE.

It's like having "free roads" or "free firefighters" in that you don't go bankrupt if your house catches on fire and the fire department comes to put it out. The stark opposition to socialized medicine in the US has always baffled me. The concept is in place for emergency services, education and a plethora of other services. Sure, fundamentally, the healthcare here in Canada isn't "free": an omniscient third-party isn't paying for it.. but it's "free" in terms of how much we have to cough up (excuse the pun) whenever we're sick.

Probably the biggest opposition comes from those who have the most to lose......like the entrenched insurance companies, the medical lobby, the lawyers' lobby and politicians who are getting huge contributions from them. Not to mention that in order to set up a single-payer system, someone need to pay for it and the current system would have to be dismantled (or seriously altered). Another problem is that (a large percent of) the population doesn't trust our politicians enough to set it up in a way that wouldn't eliminate the waste, fraud and abuse.......and screw everybody in the process.


Den

Wulfman wrote:
Another problem is that (a large percent of) the population doesn't trust our politicians enough to set it up in a way that wouldn't eliminate the waste, fraud and abuse.......and screw everybody in the process.


Den

But you are already being screwed by the aforementioned "insurance companies, the medical lobby, the lawyers' lobby and politicians "
How could it possibly get worse? Unless of course you like group gropes.

BlackSpinner wrote:

Wulfman wrote:
Another problem is that (a large percent of) the population doesn't trust our politicians enough to set it up in a way that wouldn't eliminate the waste, fraud and abuse.......and screw everybody in the process.


Den

But you are already being screwed by the aforementioned "insurance companies, the medical lobby, the lawyers' lobby and politicians "
How could it possibly get worse? Unless of course you like group gropes.

Hey! These idiots are capable of almost ANYTHING!!! (and they've been proving it over and over, throughout the decades)
It could be much, much worse. I have "faith" in their incompetence. (and crookedness)
All you have to do is read up on the ones who have avoided their own taxes (there's a couple in the news right now) and others who are in (or have gone to) prison.......(there's more who should be there).
There are reasons why the "Tea Party" groups are growing and getting so much attention. Those "fat cats" in Congress have had their way for far too long and don't like us rocking their boat.


Den

What drives me crazy about our Canadian system is the fact that they will pay for people abusing doctors visits because every time they get the sniffles they are going to the doctor for the docter to tell them to go home drink plenty of fluids and get some rest....and the old people who go every time they get a hangnail for their weekly chat sesson with the doctor on the public dime....meanwhile there are other services people should have covered that are not covered and people are suffering because of it.

What happens in this country when you get a cavity and have a toothache and dont have medical insurance through your work?? You either have to come up with about $600 or more to get a filling and your tooth fixed or suffer with the pain till you go to the tool box in the garage and rip it out with a pair of Vise Grips. You dont even have the option of having the tooth pulled at a reduced rate rather than fixed because you will be hard pressed to find a dentist who will extract a tooth...they always want to save the tooth first because thats where the money is in the repair not the solution.

I do realize there are alot of people on here who believe that we need less regulation but in cases like these the government need to step in and cap the prices that are being charged by dentists and other medial professionals who charge what they do because they are for the most part ripping off the insurance companies with their high prices...while those of us without medical insurance have to pay whatever ridiculous prices our Mercedes driving dentists wish to charge. Thats also why insurance is also so expensive too because of the high cost of services charged by these medical professionals.

I don't know if the medical professionals are the villains that people make them out to be. There's a ton of expenditure, from education, staffing costs, operating space, insurance etc;. Who cares what kind of car the dentist is driving? Can you fault someone for being a successful business person who has worked their butt off to get where they are? I think the medical profession (dentists/pharmacists/etc;) is an easy target for people because they feel it's an essential service that's being provided.

I don't begrudge my dentist a cent. He didn't charge me when I puked all over his shoes during an asthma attack when I needed an abcessed tooth pulled 2 days before Xmas. And he certainly didn't charge $600 for the other cavity either.

And yes I went to the CLSC when I got the flu in January - I could feel it turning into pnuemonia. Since this requires a 3 hour wait I don't exactly do this all the time. I am not sure where you are finding these people who spend all their time in a doctors office but they sure aren't around here.

Den[/quote]

But you are already being screwed by the aforementioned "insurance companies, the medical lobby, the lawyers' lobby and politicians "
How could it possibly get worse? Unless of course you like group gropes.[/quote]

Being screwed by insurance companies and medical lobby? The people who are screwing the American people are the politicians who are running our government. They stole all of the money out of Social Security, they stole all the money out of Medicare, they stole all of the money out of the Highway Trust Fund, and I could go on and on. Why should I believe they would not steal all of the money out of a Health Care System.

The debt our government has put on the next generation is unbelievable. The money they are spending now will have to be paid for by people who have not even been born yet.

The insurance companies, and I don't like them either, are angels compared the politicans who run this country.

Rant off, Now give me a cold beer.

You good people have a nice day.

I'm actively networking at work to help others, and get help from them.
A lady I work with has had excellent service from Vitalaire in Mississauga. Hope this helps someone!
Meantime, I'm looking
* new sleep doc!
* reasonable prices for cpap and autopap equipment
* reasonable prices for masks

Wish us all healthy sleep! and continued compliance.

Best,
DaveL

nanwilson wrote:Alberta won't pay for cpap either, and we're supposed to be the "oil/gas rich" province. I'm a senior and a widow, with no help at all paying for my machine. What I've got is what I could afford, at least it will keep me alive!!
Cheers
Nan

I was told at first that Blue Cross would not cover the machine, but in the end they did, I was lucky I have several firends in your situation and had to pay out of pocket.

I had to pay the tests $150 for part 1 (one night) and $75 for part 2 (a week on a CPAP)

My doctor explained that Alberta Heath Services does not consider Sleep Apnea a Significant health issue so they won't cover it and they should.
I guess the over $630 000 they had to pay out when they fired Steven Ducket could have gone to cover a few machines.

DaveL wrote:I'm actively networking at work to help others, and get help from them.
A lady I work with has had excellent service from Vitalaire in Mississauga. Hope this helps someone!
Meantime, I'm looking
* new sleep doc!
* reasonable prices for cpap and autopap equipment
* reasonable prices for masks

Wish us all healthy sleep! and continued compliance.

Best,
DaveL

Be cautious. Vitalaire in Mississauga is the same outfit whose a$$e$ I fired for incompetence.

It's probable that it depends on the actual technician / RT that you get (this likely holds true for most DMEs). I dealt with two different ones from Vitalaire and was 0 for 2 with them.

The upside for our Canadian friends could be that on big ticket items, a medical road trip would be a win-win.
Welcome, visitors.

Thanks for your comment.
I had great help from the lady with Shoppers Home Healthcare who handles cpap for them.

DaveL

[quote="Hose_Head
Be cautious. Vitalaire in Mississauga is the same outfit whose a$$e$ I fired for incompetence.

It's probable that it depends on the actual technician / RT that you get (this likely holds true for most DMEs). I dealt with two different ones from Vitalaire and was 0 for 2 with them.[/quote]

chunkyfrog wrote:The upside for our Canadian friends could be that on big ticket items, a medical road trip would be a win-win.
Welcome, visitors.

Why a road trip? Cpap.com ships to Canada (except for Resmed, which I will no longer purchase). It's worth it for all but the smallest of orders.

DaveL wrote:Thanks for your comment.
I had great help from the lady with Shoppers Home Healthcare who handles cpap for them.

DaveL

If all that you need are supplies (e.g. a replacement mask, hose, filters), you don't need the "help" that a DME supposedly offers. All you need are fair prices and fast and reliable delivery. FP&FRD are not available in Canada, or at least not to the best of my knowledge. The reason for this is a complete lack of competition in our market, and to some extent, due to restrictive practices by a certain manufacturer. CPAP.COM could corner the Canadian market if it were to open a branch here, with free shipping within Canada.

M.D.Hosehead wrote:It's the inverse of Yanks getting gouged by the prices of prescription drugs compared with what Canadians (or, for that matter, Mexicans) pay. FDA says it cannot guarantee the quality of Canadian prescription drugs (as though Canadians have been dropping dead from inferior prescription drugs), and at one time was considering asking U. S. Customs to seize medicine imported from Canada. So far, they haven't done that.

I thought NAFTA meant "free trade", like the name says. But no. I wonder why? Surely it couldn't be due to corruption in high places.

The price disparity partly comes form this.

There are two costs to a pill.

1) Cost to make a pill at the factory
2) R&D and US Regulatory compliance costs.

Number one is a cost to make each pill. Number two is a fixed cost that needs to be packed onto cost of pills for companies to recoup their investment. Not only do these costs represent those costs for the drug at hand, it includes all the failed drugs that the companies need to get compensated for or go out of business.

In Canada, they negotiate prices down to just above (1) or they simply don't allow the drug to be sold. The company will then redistribute the R&D and Regulatory costs into the US marketplace only. And since they are making the pills anyway for the US marketplace, making more pills even if they are being sold slightly above the cost to manufacture, still bears some small profit. At least vs. not selling any pills in Canada.

Except this doesn't just happen with Canada. Most other nation refuse to bear the R&D and Regulatory costs. So basically the US gets to carry the R&D, much of the Regulatory Cost, and most of the profit incentive to make new drugs for the rest of the world and not just the US. And if the US wasn't bearing those cost, the rest of the world would be out of luck for any new drug development. At least at the pace we have it now.