Yeah, bitches! Respect my dollar!

[hungrych]

wtf is going on here

[bhd812]

hey is buying prescriptions from Canada illegal here? anyone know of a good site to get these at?

by my place it costs $400 but in Canada it costs $60..WTF?

with my new health insurance (starting the first of October thank you very much) I could get it from Canada for $30.oo maybe..i think..have not looked into it

but since you all know so much the enlighten me..

[postjack]

wtf is going on here

thats what i'm asking.

[philodox]

Are you guys new? Every other day there is a thread like this...

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

hey is buying prescriptions from Canada illegal here? anyone know of a good site to get these at?

Just please, please, please stay out of Canada Billy.

Biggie.

[philodox]

Fuck that, we need to get Billy and Eaphan drunk and tape it.

[909]

I know it wasn't intended this way, but that is a great selling point: "Come to the United States, where our hospitals are incredible, but you are likely to get shot dead."

over the top, joker -- difference in life expectancy is 2 years (i think US 77 and canada 79). i think your get shot dead comment is unlikely.

[philodox]

I think somebody is taking this a little more serious than I...

[909]

I think somebody is taking this a little more serious than I...

so you're taking this seriously

[JBLoudG20]

Fuck that, we need to get Billy and Eaphan drunk and tape it.

Hey I guess if you are into gay porn more power to you...

The only problem I have (so far) with our healthcare system is only a beef with one specific company. IIRC my father's employer uses blue cross blue shield. They only allow packages for 1,3,5 etc. people. Since my sister is off the insurace anyway everyhting was fine and dandy wiht my father, mother and I on the insurance, which had VERY good coverage. They we covering me up until I was 25 as long as I was a full time student. Peachy keen. Then about a year ago, they changed it to 23. Last January I turned 23, and still in school, I now had to find insurance. My dad now has to pay for a package for three people (so he is paying the same), and I am no longer on the insurance. I had to get the shitty one offered by the school that covers almost nothing. Literally, it only covers up to 30% the cost of an emergency visit. No dental, no office visits, nothing. It has now been 7 months since I have been to the dentist, because my office visits cost a lot of money (I had trauma to my mouth when I was 13, and now I have multiple tooth implants). I am waiting until I sign with my new employer before I go back.

All that said, I completely agree with grawk on this issue. Afterall, you can just walk into the hospital and they will treat you anyway, worry about the money later on.

[n_maher]

I just want to know if they're finally going to retrofit vending machines to accept Canadian change? And I guess I no longer have to feel like I got screwed when someone gives me Canadian change, eh?

[philodox]

Um, I just thought they would both be funny drunk. Who's into gay porn?

Worry about the money later? Ok.

[philodox]

Really? Like what?

[aerius]

hey is buying prescriptions from Canada illegal here? anyone know of a good site to get these at?

by my place it costs $400 but in Canada it costs $60..WTF?

The big pharma companies have to pay for all those Viagra ads one way or another.

[Dusty Chalk]

I had a fling with a Canadian chick once.

Chicks >>> dollars any day of the week.

[deepak]

So, the hospitals get to keep more of the money in the US?

I guess I can see how a Doctor would prefer to work in the US given that it is easier to get work. From the perspective of the citizen though, I think our way is preferable... or at least to the middle/lower class.Why?

I think the American hospitals get to keep a bit more, which goes towards all their usual expenses.

Here's a Canadian mishap that happened in the last two years, which one of my dad's old colleague's told him about. A girl came into the hospital he used to work at with a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, a fairly serious emergency case especially if there is significant blood loss. This hospital was in a town just outside Edmonton, I'll have to ask about its catchment area's population. The surgery attending on call couldn't be reached, and apparently for its catchment area there should have been more surgeons (or preferably ObGyn docs available). So she wasn't able to have emergency lap. surgery performed and instead all they were able to do was stabilize her and try and transfer her to Edmonton. I believe she spent roughly an hour or so being stabilized (group/cross match, transfusion, etc). She died before getting to the Edmonton hospital. The reason this happened was because of physician shortage, apparently a hospital that size should have had someone that was able to do the surgery.

An American hospital of that size would have probably had at least few G.S. attendings and a few ObGyn attendings. I highly doubt if this happened at a similar hospital in the US this girl would have died. Of course if she was treated in the US I'm sure her insurance premium would have went up quite a bit, but she'd have lived to talk about it \

But philodox is right, physicians have more incentive to be in the US. Salaries are considerably higher, tax brackets at those levels are much lower than Canada, physician health care for themselves and the rest of their family is usually amongst the best, etc, etc.

So yes I am biased towards the American system (just as you guys are biased towards Canada's), but I feel somewhat less because I know a lot about both systems. But IMO the American health care system is much better.

And I feel this needs to be emphasized: if you can NOT afford health care in the US a hospital (every single hospital that I know of) will not turn you away. Its built into their margins to treat these patients. It's not advertised for obvious reasons.

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

The American health system causes unneeded stress and baggage for the poor. You guys are selfish.

Biggie.

[aerius]

Got the link to the article on LA hospitals dumping patients on skid row. Absolutely fucking disgusting.

Link #1

Link #2

Excerpt:

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? In an unprecedented crackdown on a practice experts say is shamefully common around the country, prosecutors accused a major hospital chain Thursday of ridding itself of a homeless patient by dumping her on crime-plagued Skid Row.

A surveillance camera at a rescue mission recorded the demented 63-year-old woman wandering around the streets in a hospital gown and slippers last March.

In announcing the criminal and civil charges, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo said a Kaiser Permanente hospital put the woman in a taxi and sent her to the neighborhood even though she had serious, untreated health problems.

"Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, part of Kaiser Permanente, the largest HMO in the nation, will be held accountable for violating state law, its commitment to its patients, its obligations under the Hippocratic oath, and perhaps most importantly, principles of common decency," Delgadillo said.

This is your system at work. I have no words for this shit.

[909]

i haven't been to a dentist in 4 years, because my school insurance doesn't cover it, but i have very hard teeth and pretty good oral hygiene. my supplemental insurance has dental, so i'll make an appointment soon...

but you afford high-end audio equipment

my wife and i've have excellent dental coverage, though, isn't accidential coverage. we pay a flat yearly $120 premium, which covers both of us for two check-ups, two dental cleanings, one yearly exam ray and then 70 - 90% off any other necessary stuff.

[909]

Got the link to the article on LA hospitals dumping patients on skid row. Absolutely fucking disgusting.

Link #1

Link #2

Excerpt:

This is your system at work. I have no words for this shit.

it is wrong and agasint the California Health Code, which requires all hospitals to make "appropriate arrangements for post-hospital care" and for "continuing health-care requirements" before discharging any patient. "

this isn't our system, but this is a criminal act that some people commit and those responsible need to be held accountable.

[bhd812]

I had a fling with a Canadian chick once.

Chicks >>> dollars any day of the week.

thats my spewing style dude...i like it.

[recstar24]

I love the concept of a socialized healthcare system, and I think Canada as a whole is a very clean and beautiful country. But there are issues with that system as well. Essentially, aren't you put on a waiting list and depending upon your injury or sickness, you may have to wait a bit for treatment? Even though not the same, my cousin in Denmark (they have a similar system of healthcare set up) had to wait 6 months before treatment of her sprained ankle.

Also, I believe there is a company in lower Canada that offers patients service sooner by bringing them to a facility in Buffalo. The company was toted as being very profitable, however cannot think of the name right now.

[grawk]

Not only is it not legal in california, but california has health care coverage for everyone. So it's an example of how universal health care isn't the panacea some people seem to think it is.

[aerius]

But there are issues with that system as well. Essentially, aren't you put on a waiting list and depending upon your injury or sickness, you may have to wait a bit for treatment? Even though not the same, my cousin in Denmark (they have a similar system of healthcare set up) had to wait 6 months before treatment of her sprained ankle.

Of course there's waiting lists, people who need surgery the most get first dibs. I don't see the problem here, they'll eventually get to you before things get too bad. Someone with a dislocated shoulder needs help a bit more than a guy like me who has a low-level nagging shoulder injury, he goes straight to the emergency room while I might have to wait a few weeks or months.

[aerius]

Not only is it not legal in california, but california has health care coverage for everyone. So it's an example of how universal health care isn't the panacea some people seem to think it is.

I suggest checking your facts first. Look up the date when the universal health care bill passed in California. Then look at the date on the articles I linked. As of the end of August, the bill still hadn't been signed, though it's probably gone through by now. The incidents I linked to took place way before that.