360k+ wrote on 07/14/12 at 11:09:58:


Yum,.. cat food!...
..tastes better if you call it pate'...  ...

Keep spirits up,.. my best to you both...  

WebsterMark wrote on 07/14/12 at 11:39:16:

Did you bother to read the entire post? I stated exactly how much it costs.
"Currently in Ontario, people who earn salaries above $20,000 must pay an annual health care premium ranging from $300-$900. Funding for medicare in Ontario also comes in part from a dedicated Employer Health Tax (EHT) that ranges from 0.98%-1.95% of employer payroll. Eligible employers are exempted from EHT on the first $400,000 of payroll."
Mine is about $700.
You can't argue that it is not a good deal.
BTW, one year our medical expenses were high enough (Powered wheelchair, standard wheelchair, stair lift etc) that we paid no Ontario tax and therefor no OHIP premium.
The more "incidental" medical expenses you have the less OHIP costs you.
As I get older the only things I will have to worry about will be the price of cat food, rent, and whether or not I can get my leg over the bike.

Bill- those benefits are built into the salaries. Some places here allow you to opt out of benefits, and receive more pay. It's a good deal for the youngsters that are not likely to need large amounts of drugs.

arteacher wrote on 07/14/12 at 17:55:55:

You don't understand it a insurance company can give a better rate per person to a company with 100 people than they can one person.I never had heath insurance I paid for my 4 kids and any doctor bills myself.My wife went to work so she had insurance that paid for her and all her cancers bills,which were around $200,000 25 years ago. Once she died I didn't have insurance.I got a girl friend and she said I should have insurance so I did for 5 years,Then I saw how much it was going up ever year is when I decided to go to the VA .So I paid for insurance for 5 years. My brother and partner in business never had insurance he's in the VA now too.He was in National Guard,Back then he didn't even have to go for 6 months. If I get cancer tomorrow it want cost the government much because I want take radiation or chemotherapy.

  The only reason America has not embraced socialism is because we all feel we will become millionares..

360K, I would most likely go see a lawyer on that hospital bill, file bankruptcy, or file suit for overcharging/gouging..

Why an MRI costs $1,080 in America and $280 in France
Source Washington Post

<snip>

There is a simple reason health care in the United States costs more than it does anywhere else: The prices are higher.

That may sound obvious. But it is, in fact, key to understanding one of the most pressing problems facing our economy. In 2009, Americans spent $7,960 per person on health care. Our neighbors in Canada spent $4,808. The Germans spent $4,218. The French, $3,978. If we had the per-person costs of any of those countries, America’s deficits would vanish. Workers would have much more money in their pockets. Our economy would grow more quickly, as our exports would be more competitive.

There are many possible explanations for why Americans pay so much more. It could be that we’re sicker. Or that we go to the doctor more frequently. But health researchers have largely discarded these theories. As Gerard Anderson, Uwe Reinhardt, Peter Hussey and Varduhi Petrosyan put it in the title of their influential 2010 study on international health-care costs, “it’s the prices, stupid.”

As it’s difficult to get good data on prices, that paper blamed prices largely by eliminating the other possible culprits. They authors considered, for instance, the idea that Americans were simply using more health-care services, but on close inspection, found that Americans don’t see the doctor more often or stay longer in the hospital than residents of other countries. Quite the opposite, actually. We spend less time in the hospital than Germans and see the doctor less often than the Canadians.

<end of snip>

...healthcare in America is a racket and will stay a racket as long as our health care needs, decisions, choice of doctors, treatments etc. are decided by the "for profit" insurance companies.

How can Americans be so DUMB that they WANT private (deny the claim) insurance companies to manage their health care???

We need a single payer system because insurance companies openly engage in price gouging hurting those least able to pay.

Providers largely charge what they can get away with, often offering different prices to different insurers, and an even higher price to the uninsured. It's criminal.

I wish my last set of MRI's had only cost $1080... contrast MRI was billed at just over $3400. My health insurance has a $25K yearly maximum benefit amount. Over 10% for 1 procedure...

Had a wisdom tooth taken out a week ago. $202 out the door. For a 5 minute procedure. Self pay, the kid ahead of me with state dental coverage was supposed to be charged $329, coverage only pays $235. So I did get a hefty self-pay "discount". $202 for a $50 non-surgical extraction... And since when is a set of x-rays and a cleaning worth $268... Was talking about all this with a German friend the other night online. Same procedures would cost less than $100 each.