Maple leaves and police on horses. There is no interrogate that the United States has its obvious differences from Canada. But aside from the snow and French, there may be a incompatibility we might want to adopt. Universal Health Care. Currently, in the US, 46 million people do not have health care. Up north, as well as in other developed European countries, as long as you breathe, you’re covered.
Basics of Canadian System
sadly, breathing is not the only criteria. The CHA (Canada Health Act) does explain an Insured Person as “a person lawfully entitled to be or to remain in Canada who makes his home and is ordinarily present in the province, but does not include a tourist, a transient or a visitor to the province.” So if you dart at Niagara, you still have to charge your US carrier. However, this definition does cover MANY people. In fact, there is not fair one system. The CHA consists of interlocking plans for each of the 13 Canadian provinces and territories. Breaking the system up in this manner does have many advantages, such as spreading the paperwork over the country and letting residents contact a more local agency.
Where does the money come from?
It all comes down to this. Even in the most advanced countries, people with higher insurance get the better care. So how does Canada avoid this scrape? They actually use something called the 70/30 split. That means that 70% of funding comes from the public, and the other 30% comes from the private sector. Before you jump out of your seat at the word “private”, let’s recognize who this money goes. For example, most private money goes to services beyond hospital care. Drugs, vision, and dental services are generally private source oriented services. This is more closely related to the health care provided by employers in the US.
How can the US use a system like this?
As we have seen, Canada splits up the system into geographical sections. The US already has that down; the states! Bewitch my home state of Pennsylvania’s youth health insurance program, CHIP. This program provides free and shameful cost health coverage up to age 19. Also, establishing a system where private companies team up with the federal and state government to make a new cost split can be effective. The most important thing to remember is this: we need to avoid the regular politics as mighty as possible. This directly deals with people’s physical well-being. Doctors must have a bigger say in a decision than politicians. It is not that hard to do, and we can keep our country healthy.
Sources http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hcs-sss/medi-assur/cha-lcs/overview-apercu-eng.php
http://secure.cihi.ca/cihiweb/products/FundRep_EN.pdf
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Filed under United Health Care by on Jul 18th, 2011. 
If you will be moving abroad to live overseas in Bulgaria and will also be taking up employment in the country you may be interested in the health care system of the country. As an employee in the country you will have to pay in mandatory contributions to the Bulgarian social security system, which funds the public health care system in Bulgaria. Under the Bulgarian social security system, known as NOI, anyone that makes contributions is entitled to receive free or subsidized medical services and treatment as well as dental services and treatment from the public health care system. Any dependents that you may have are also automatically eligible for benefits based upon your contributions to the system.
All residents of Bulgaria, even those that are not employed, are required to pay in contributions to the Bulgarian social security system (NOI). By paying in the required contributions all residents of Bulgaria are eligible for free medical treatment from a family doctor or GP. All referrals to specialists are also at no charge. And medications are available at reduced prices and are sometimes available at no cost.
The Bulgarian health care system does have some reciprocal health care agreements in plot with a few other counties including the United Kingdom. Under the reciprocal health care agreements, citizens of the favorite countries are able to receive free medical, dental and hospital services and treatment while in Bulgaria. However medications are not free and must be paid for. If you are not from a country that has a reciprocal health care agreement in location with Bulgaria then you will need to have your own private health care insurance or travel insurance conception that will screen you if you are not eligible for medical services and treatment under the Bulgarian public health care system.
As a member country of the European Union, any national of a European Union country is able to come by health care services and treatment in Bulgaria at no cost or at a reduced cost. All that is needed for this to be the case is that the European Union national must have a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) with them when treatment or services are sought out. The European Union national also must be in the country on a temporary basis with a stay not lasting longer than 90 days in duration.
Note that many people prefer to have private health insurance, even those that are entitled to the free public health care. The quality of services that are received in the private health care sector are considered to be considerably better than what is offered in the public sector.
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Filed under United Health Care by on Feb 12th, 2011.
There is no doubt that our health care system is in dire need of an overhaul, despite the new Health care Act passed by Congress and signed by President Obama earlier this year. The new law enacted provides insurance coverage for millions of citizens, and while there may be some regulations that are not favorite, the basics of the law are a step in the right directions.
However, once the Republicans became the majority after the November, 2010 elections, many of them stated the first thing on their agenda was to repeal the Health Care Act. Throughout their campaigns for reelection, quite a few candidates (including independents and some Democrats) spouted claims that the new law would give the government too much control over people's lives. They claimed it was in violation of our Constitutional rights, and mentioned we were headed for the hated “socialized medicine”, among other things.
Although we do have plot funded Medicaid or Medical Assistance, not everyone qualifies for those benefits. Many citizens who do not have private insurance or Medicaid do off seeing a doctor because they don't have personal funds to cover the office visits, any tests required and medications they may need. Those with serious or life-threatening conditions will automatically go the their local emergency room where they may pay the minimum for entry into the ER, but any testing and/or admittance to the hospital will be billed to the patient. A hospital will not turn away a patient for inability to pay. However, since the uninsured patient may not have the necessary funds to pay for testing or hospital stays that include doctor fees, supplies and meals, those bills may never gather paid. The hospitals, doctors and technician associations can send the unpaid bills to a collection agency (which costs money), or they can file judgments or liens (for which they pay lawyer fees and court costs). If the patient has absolutely no blueprint to make payments, the hospital may eventually have to write-off the whole bill, losing precious revenue. The patient may end up with a judgment against him or her, and the doctors, nurses, technicians and other hospital staff may never receive payment for their services.
Other uninsured citizens who may wait too long to spy a physician may end up with a serious condition, such as diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease and cancer. Not only are they taking unnecessary risks with their health and experience suffering they may be able to avoid, but the costs for ongoing treatments will increase exponentially. There are some charities and funds that cover some costs but not all of them. When or if the funds become unavailable, the patient may go without further lifesaving treatment.
Socialized medicine has negative connotations that are not necessarily deserved. In Australia, important health care is the responsibility of their federal government with a system called Medicare. Except for low-income earners, the average citizen contributes a 1% tax levy (high-income earners pay 2%). Their Medicare system allows citizens to have regular doctor and dental visits, diagnostic and surgical procedures. Citizens may purchase private insurance for prescriptions but are not required to by law.
Canada also funds their insurance programs through a government fund and requirement of citizens to contribute 5% of their disposable income towards the fund. The fund covers doctor and hospital visits, diagnostics and surgery. Citizens must pay for their maintain prescriptions, but can purchase private insurance for that purpose.
England's National Health Service, residence up in 1948, is funded by taxpayers and managed by the Department of Health. Once a citizen chooses a primary physician who is contracted with the NHS, all visits are free of charge. The NHS covers referrals to specialists, hospital and surgery charges and meals. Medical personnel receive a standard fee. Citizens must pay for their contain prescriptions and can purchase private insurance to veil that. Prescriptions have a fixed price of 7 pounds, except patients under sixteen and over fifty-nine years of age pay nothing.
The per capita expenditures for health care in the United States is $7,290.00, while in Australia, it is $3,137.00, in Canada it is $3,895.00, and the United Kingdom comes in with the lowest of $2,992.00. There are fewer complaints over health care in countries that do have different types of health care systems. Socialized medicine may not be right for America. However, there are some forms of health care systems we could incorporate into our existing system to invent it work for all citizens.
Instead of pandering to the health insurance and pharmaceutical companies who contribute to their campaigns, our lawmakers, who we elected to office, need to do what is right for their constituents, not what is honest for their reelection efforts.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Filed under United Health Care by on Feb 11th, 2011.