Health Care questions. Please help

My last post (and it was a long one) did not show up.

Questions about your health care system.

Is dental, vision, and prescriptions included?

If you wanted to see a dermatologist what would you have to do? Would you need a referral? How long would it take you to get an appointment? Then would your health care pay for monthly follow ups?

Pregnancy - Do you have to go to a clinic? Do you have monthly, then later term weekly appointments? When you go into labor does the hospital take you in immediately? What if you start having trouble like a stressed baby or double footling breach? Have any of you posters had recent experiences with this?

Do your children see regular pediatricians or do you have to go to a clinic for immunizations? That may sound stupid but it seems like a lot of you go to clinics for health care. Do you get the same doctor each time when you go to a clinic?

Does your health care pay for abortions (early term, late term, or partial birth)?

Does your health care coverage pay for birth control pills or intrauterine devices?

How long would it take to get an MRI and then surgery for a tumor in most cases? My husband had a rare tumor in his spine if surgery would have been delayed he would have been crippled because the tumor was pushing his spinal cord. Due to a fantastic surgeon he has survived 10 years and counting when most people die within three years. He was diagnosed and had surgery in less than two weeks with another follow up surgery a month later to make sure they removed it all. Would this happen as quick in Canada?

Why do you have a shortage of doctors, nurses, and hospitals? Do you think Canadian doctors migrate to the US? (seems like your actors do! just kidding)

If your spouse, children, or parents had cancer would you trust the Canadian Health care system to work efficiently and provide the best health care as humanly possible in an acceptable time frame?

sorry the first one did not go thru and it was long so I did a test and then edited it.

Lemme see if I can answer some of your questions, being an immigrant myself.

Dental, glasses and prescriptions depend on your benefits (from your employer). I don't have benefits, so I have to pay them all myself (except for a couple of prescriptions, the are on a list, google that one), for my kids too. My daughter had a cavity, and with the cleaning, that cost me $ 300.

If you have no urgent issues, there is no need to go to emerg, so yes, I would say you need a referral from your familydoctor. Depends on where you are how long it takes to get that appointment. Here in the sticks, it is quite fast.

Pregnancy: from what I have been told, you get your check-ups done regularly by a gyneacologist, and give birth in the hospital. I wish home-births and midwifes were more common though, I delivered both my kids at home, and I would do it again if I had the urge to get through it all again :lol:

The care is good here, we are not Kenia, so yes, they take you in immediatly.

What is wrong with clinics, btw?

I thought abortions were covered, I dunno about birthcontrol, that should probably be in your benefit package.

If it is life threatening, yes. Just remember, you are an immigrant, and you have to apply for a visa. Current medical conditions might get you denied. It also might make you not covered for all expenses that come from the condition existing before you became PR.

Yes I do trust the system, although every system has its flaws.

Another thing there may be more people in the US without medical coverage but from my own personal experiences in my area of the US, I actually think people without coverage get even better care than I do in most instances.

I have a friend who as long as I have known this person (about 8 years) has not paid a dime into the system or ever had health care coverage. This person has been to the hospital no less than 3 time a year since I have know them. This person also regularly goes to doctors and I do not think they have ever find any thing seriously wrong with the person. This person has never been turned away or refused treatments of any sort. This person has had more tests than any person I know and has never paid a cent. I do not go to the doctors or hospital for symptons more serious than this person due to the copays and out of pocket expenses. This person even has a breathing machine for snoring which is not used. This person does make money and also has as much material possesions as I do and I work 60 to 70 hours a week during some parts of the year and probably 2 months out of the year 30 to 40 hours a week. We are pay for the poor and not so poor by having higher premiums'

I also have relatives (nieces) that are on assistance and have never been turned away. One with a 4 year old diabetic daughter.

I also had a girl that worked for me (I pretty much know she was stealing from the business) who had two children and was on assistance had a third child and went to school but doesn't like what she went to school for. She quit her job and is on assistance again because she doesn't know now what she wants to do and she had no problem getting into the hospital without insurance to have her third baby and never had to pay a dime and this is a healthy young woman. Mean time she had another part time job and they caught her stealing. She has been on assistance that I know of for 10 years at least. Her first two children have medical coverage from their father (who I know) and I think her third is on assistance (I have no problem with this because it is not the childs fault her mother is trash) because she did not name the father of the third child.

I personally do not know any one that has ever been denied medical treatment in the US.

Well I am not crazy about the clinics in the US and usually you don't see the same doctor which I would prefer. I only use an emergency clinic for something minor when I am not be able to see a doctor during office hours such as a minor burn or cut.

My first child was double footling breach and could not have been delivered vaginally.

Oh, another thing, you are not covered for BC health the first 3 months after you land. That means you have to pay for everything. See a doctor for 5 minutes in a family doctors office: $ 40. To be paid before he sees you. That is different in every province though. You could get insurance for that with BLue Cross. You could do that for everything that is not covered anyway.

Anyway, do you have plans to move to Canada, or are you just comparing the 2 systems?

No I do not want to move to Canada. IT IS TOO COLD UP THERE!

If I was having some serious back problems, how long would it take me to get an appointment with a specialist and then get an MRI? Then is the MRI covered?

Sorry I was never thinking about moving to Canada just checking out the universal health care. Then started reading the other posts. Just trying to find out why you guys like it so much.

Yeh I use an emergency clinic for minor things. I would not go to an emergency clinic for stitches or a broken leg. I would go for a minor burn or say an earache that was too excruciating to wait until Monday when I could see my regular doctor. If it was something serious like stitches or a broken leg or worse I would go to an emergency room at the hospital where they have more specialized doctors and better equipment.

I am sorry I should have clarified. We call those clinics "Urgent care" or an "Emergency" clinics. They are not used on a regular basis by too many people. You can't get a check up or anything and usually you would not go back for a follow or you would not take your child there for immunizations.