# Are Those Provided With Universal or Single Payer Healthcare Happy With the System?



## SeaBreeze (Aug 21, 2014)

Are members here from other countries like Canada, UK, etc. happy with the healthcare system they are provided?  Please share your opinions with us. ositive:


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## Warrigal (Aug 22, 2014)

I'm very happy with our healthcare system which is a hybrid of public and private.
We pay for our own private healthcare and have done so since we were no longer able to be included on our parents' policies.

This allows us access to doctors and specialists of our own choice and admission to private hospital care without waiting too long. Pathology and radio imaging is also covered. The funds pay some of these costs, the government pays part and there is sometimes a gap which we have to pay ourselves, however a lot of doctors and specialists bulk bill and we pay nothing at all. Our private healthcare fund subsidises allied health care such as podiatry, physiotherapy, optometry and dentistry.

Private health insurance is encouraged using a carrot and stick approach. All taxpayers above a threshold pay 1.5% tax surcharge which funds the public Medicare system which is available to everyone. It is a universal entitlement, however if a high level earner decides not to take out private cover, they pay a higher levy. People who opt out of private cover when young and but who decide to take it out later in life also pay a penalty. Those are the sticks but the carrot is the government subsidises private premiums amounting to roughly 30%.

We also have a subsidised pharmaceutical scheme. Most prescription medications are approved for this scheme and because the government is the effective buyer they are able to strike a good deal with the drug companies. All prescriptions cost the same amount with a reduced rate for pensioners. The government pays the rest of the cost and generics are encouraged where appropriate. As well, there is a safety net for the chronically ill in that once your expenditure reaches a certain level all scripts are free for the rest of the year.

It sounds like a complicated system but it is affordable and fair. Anyone who needs medical treatment can get it although there are waiting lists in public hospitals for elective surgery.


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## oldman (Aug 22, 2014)

I have Medicare and a supplemental insurance program. I have had several procedures done and have never paid a dime out of pocket No referrals needed, no co-pay and no out of pocket. I can go to any doctor. It's great and wouldn't change a thing.


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## Lee (Aug 22, 2014)

Here in Ontario Canada we have OHIP, Ontario Health Insurance Plan. It works for the most part, covered by taxes we pay nothing for doctor or emergency visits. For the most part medical tests are covered, a few exceptions one of which I can't understand, women do not pay for mammograms but the gents pay for PSA tests for prostrate cancer.

Emergency rooms are crowded and patients are taken on a "emergency" basis. In otherwards a possible heart attack gets in quick, a drunk teen that got in a bar fight and sports a cut lip can wait.

It is a system prone to abuse when one lives in a border town. Windsor, Ontario for example is a mile away from Detroit, Michigan. Examples of phoney addresses abound, and a lot of the downtown bar fights result in treatment being given to Michigan teens who then skip without paying. Try to never need emergency treatment on a Saturday night, you could wait for 8 hours.

So our system works for the most part but like anything else it has it faults.


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