Re: Insurance, Canadian Style
C. Hewitt (hewitt@cyg.net)
Thu, 28 Mar 1996 20:07:13 -0500
Yes, everyone, Hillary Clinton was right, you guys need health care help :)
Alex was 96 days in NICU, we paid $180. That was for the parking garage
pass. Since then he has had follow up by everyone, testing, PT, OT Speech
and I have not paid anything (except parking!) They told us that the
hospital's cost (if they were to bill us) for Alex in NICU was $96,000.
($1000 a day) It included doctors fees because the hospital pays the
neonatologists a flat salary, its cheaper that way. The doctor got $268
for the delivery. That included a bonus for a nighttime delivery. I had a
private room at no extra charge because I was too freaked out to put in
with moms with full term babies. There was some advantage to being
hysterical I guess.
The downside - You don't get a choice which hospital you get, whichever
NICU has an open bed, so you could end up on the other side of the
province. All NICU's are teaching hospitals so you have to deal with
bonebrained students. By the end of Alex's stay I was teaching med
students about his condition. (A new batch of students had just started).
Try delivering a preemie under terrible circumstances in front of 20 med
students. I since refuse to even talk to a med student. Other bad things.
There is a lack of specialists in rural areas. Our county just got a
second OB/GYN last year. Before that it was one guy, 20,000 women. Not
everything is covered under government insurance and you can't buy private
insurance.(you can buy insurance for medical stuff that does not occur in a
hospital) Alex has a bad scar on his leg caused from an IV that got
infected that needs plastic surgery but it is considered cosmetic so no
coverage. Even though it was caused in the hospital. His teeth are also
malformed and green from some of the drugs. No coverage. Yes there are
waiting lists. I waited 9 months for an appointment with a psychomitrist
(sp) for Alex, but it was at the ultra deluxe regional centre and was worth
it. (ps. I waited 6 months for a MRI on my torn ACL knee and another year
for surgery. I could have had faster surgery but I kept getting pregnant!
My knee wasn't considered urgent. I could still walk, you know.)
The really good thing is that you can have many costly births and no one
will ever deny you coverage. My husband often said that if we had lived
in the USA, we would still be a one child family because no one would
insure me due to my OB history. You can change jobs and not have to worry
about coverage.
We had several nurses that also worked in Detroit part time and they said
the part of the job they hated was having to account for every tube and
band-aid for billing purposes.
Last year our combined family income was about $30,000 Can ( 2 cents US,
ha ha), about $21,000 US, I guess and we paid income tax of $5500 Can about
$3800 US. There are no health premiums it is funded by taxes, and also by
the lotteries. So, how much do you guys pay in insurance premiums,
anyway?
I am so glad my boys are here and I don't ever think of the cost. I would
figure out a way to pay anything if I had to.
Catherine Hewitt