Posts Tagged ‘insurance’

Healthcare: Canada v.s the U.S.A.

July 13th, 2009

According to the  USA Today, President Obama has begun his health care push.

child medicineAnd you know what that means.

Like it or not, President Obama wants to give you a great big taste of Canadian style healthcare.

So, I thought that I would take a few minutes to let you know a little bit about my experience with the Canadian health care system.

  1. It is a massive (government) bureaucracy that eats up a lot of money and can frustrate the people who rely upon it.
  2. It’s full of hardworking doctors/nurses/technicians/etc who work long hours trying to keep sick people from dying
  3. It’s seems to work fairly effectively – according to the CIA, Canadian life expectancy is 81.23 yrs. (#8 in the world)

So, let’s compare that to the current American health care system.

  1. It is a massive (medical insurance) bureaucracy that eats up a lot of money and can frustrate the people who rely upon it.
  2. It’s full of hardworking doctors/nurses/technicians/etc who work long hours trying to keep sick people from dying
  3. It’s seems to work fairly effectively – according to the CIA, American life expectancy is 78.11 yrs. (#50 in the world)

Hmmm, seems pretty similar to me.

Except of course, the Canadian system is a public health care system. And everyone knows that a public system is essentially socialist, which is another word for communist, and dammit, no way is America going to have a communist health care system.

wow

I got a little excited there…sorry about that.

But seriously, other than this political/ideological argument, what are the differences between our two systems of health care?

1. Quantity of Life (longevity): We all want to live a long life. And without nitpicking, it looks like both countries are doing pretty good at increasing longevity.

Let’s call quantity of life a tie.

2.   Quality of Life: This one is a little trickier. Is there a difference between the general health & vitality of Canadians and Americans? According to all of the latest studies, both nations are growing more fat and less fit year after year. And as far as I can see, both of our health care systems are based on treating illness instead of  preventing illness.

fat couple exercise

So, once again, let’s call this a tie…both countries stink.

3.   Cost: In 2006, per-capita spending for health care in the U.S. was US$6,714; in Canada, US$3,678. (dollar amounts adjusted for purchasing power parity)

healthcare costs

Winner: Canada

And now for a personal story.

My wife blew out her back a few months ago…by sneezing.

I’m not kidding. Excrutiating pain, incapacitation, inability to work, sleep, sit, etc….

So, how did we deal with it?

Because of our personal experience with acute injuries such as my wife’s bad back, we knew that treatment needed to begin as soon as possible.We did not want this acute injury to become a chronic injury.

And that is the biggest problem with Canada’s public health care system. SPEED of SERVICE. Acute injuries become chronic injuries.

So, instead of going through the normal channels (go see the family doc, get an x-ray, wait for a consult, start public-pay physio, etc…), we began a series of physical therapy treatment – chiro, massage, acupuncture, laser and finally osteopathic. All on our dime. Yes, this is possible in socialist Canada.

We also made an appointment (the next day) with our publicly funded sports medicine doctor. Great guy, lots of experience working with professional athletes. And while my wife isn’t exactly an athlete, we like the fact that they focus on optimum health not just pain management.

At the sports medicine doc, my wife was assessed and given an x-ray at the first appointment.(public pay)

The x-ray showed nothing wrong…Yippee!!!

The next step was a requisition for an MRI. Here’s where it get’s interesting.

If we had followed the “normal” procedure, my wife would be getting her MRI in late November.

However, because my wife is in a lot of pain and is a pro-active kind of gal, she made a few phone calls, day after day and less than 2 weeks later, she had her MRI. (public pay)

Supposedly, this is impossible in the Canadian health care system. When I tell people that we got an MRI in 2 weeks, they don’t believe it. They have bought into the mind virus that Canadians are supposed to wait in line like a good little socialist patients and wait their turn.  Like sheep.

So, what’s the moral of the story?

The Canadian health care system isn’t perfect. But neither is the American system.

  • Wait times in Canada can be longer than in the U.S.
  • Medical expenses are the #1 cause of bankruptcies in the U.S. (Pre-Recession stats) That doesn’t happen in Canada.
  • Both systems ignore disease prevention
  • Both systems spend huge amounts of money trying to save very old, very sick patients
  • In a large part, the Canadian system is run by our government
  • In comparison, the American system is run by insurance companies

Pick your poison…I mean medicine.

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I Smoke, I'm Fat…and it's Your Problem!

July 24th, 2008

According to a new survey from The Vitality Group, most Americans – 82%, think that they are responsible for their health.

They also agree that lifestyle choices, like smoking, over-eating and under-exercising, have a direct impact on the health and health care costs.

However, nearly half of Americans – 44%, believe they should not have to pay for their health care.

What?

Am I missing something here?

How can 82% of people claim responsibility for their health while at the same time expecting someone else to pay when something goes wrong.

That just sounds wrong; and I am from Canada, the land of socialized medicine.

What’s Behind the Numbers?

When I first read this story, I was blown away by the hypocrisy.

And then I looked a little closer.

Vitality Group is the health promotion branch of Discovery Holdings Ltd. And according to Google Finance:

Discovery Holdings Limited

Discovery Holdings Limited is a South Africa-based holding company that operates in the international health and life assurance markets. The Company operates through five businesses: Health South Africa, Health United States of America, Health United Kingdom, Life South Africa, Life United Kingdom and Vitality. Health South Africa administers and provides managed care services to medical schemes and renders administration services to other business segments within the Company. Health United States of America offers consumer driven health insurance products to employer groups and individuals in the United States of America. Health United Kingdom offers consumer-engaged private medical insurance products to employer groups and individuals in the United Kingdom. Life South Africa offers a range of insurance and financial solutions to the Company’s clients against the financial impact of lifestyle-changing events.
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155 West Street PO Box 786722
Sandton, 2146
South Africa
+27-11-5292888 (Phone)
+27-11-5392958 (Fax)		 Company website:
https://www.discovery.co.za
News Releases, Investor Relations, Financial Information, Corporate History/Profile, Executives, Employment Opportunities

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So, can anyone think of a reason why an insurance company would encourage an employer to set up a health promotion / disease prevention program for it’s employees.

Hmmmmm

How about reducing claims and increasing profits.

My two cents

Okay, so we have two sides to this story.

On one side, we have an American (obviously, not just the U.S.A. – I see lots of fat Canucks every day) public that doesn’t want to actually take responsibility for it’s increase in obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.

Wrong, so wrong.

On the other side, we have an insurance industry that is using guilt along with the economic pressure of America’s employers to increase their own profits.

Even wronger.

But looking at this mess, I can’t help but think:

What happens if because of this initiative, America’s employees become fit and healthy?

Does that mean that these two wrongs actually make a right?

Here is the original article with all of the details.

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Corporate Workplace Fitness – Has your desk been replaced by a treadmill?

May 27th, 2008

More and more employers are instituting voluntary health / fitness programs for their employees in an attempt to reduce rising insurance costs.

In the U.S., the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) allows employers to adjust benefits and insurance premiums based on whether their employees have met the standards of a corporate wellness program. The new rules apply to group health plans and went into effect last July.

While the new rules prohibit discrimination, they do allow employers to offer rewards to nonsmokers, employees with a LDL cholesterol level under 200 or a BMI below 25.

Here is where it gets a little bit 1984.

While employers can’t tell an obese employee to lose weight or a smoker to quit, they can require the heavy employee to participate in nutrition classes and the smoker to track their smoking habits.

Usually these programs are administered and monitored by a third party company. This company’s responsibilities would include assessing the health risk of the employees, helping them set goals, providing the wellness services and monitoring their efforts/results.

They are also the judge of whether or not the employee achieved their wellness goals. If the employee met their particular goals, they would receive their wellness incentive (usually a reduction in their insurance contribution). If they didn’t, there would be a financial penalty.

So what do you think?

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

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Employers get the fitness bug

April 16th, 2008

Ahhhhh… the wonders of the free market system.

I was reading todays newspaper when I came upon this article .

For those of you who don’t want to read the whole article, here is a 10 second synopsis:

Employee fat and out of shape

Employee less productive

Company lose money

Company pays for employee to get in shape

Employee more productive

Company make money

Now, depending on the size of the company and the value of the employee to that company, funding for employee fitness can vary between a small contribution towards a gym membership to a personalized fitness consulting package including nutrition, personal training, fitness equipment and psychological support.

But at the end of the day, these businesses are looking at the bottom line. Their employees are valuable to them because of what they can or can’t produce. If an investment in their employees health will help them turn a profit, you can bet they will make that investment.

My question is: Why don’t most people make that investment in themselves?

Any answers???

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