how does healthcare work in Canada..?

[higgy1]

Hi all

I'm an RN in England and I was wondering if anyone could tell me how the healthcare system works in Canada-particularly in BC.

Is it publicly funded, like in Britain, where anyone can get any care they need?

Or is it private, where if you don't have insurance then you can only get what you can afford?

Does it vary from province to province?

Any help/clarification greatly appreciated.

Thanks very much.

[epg_pei]

Healthcare in Canada is almost exclusively publicly funded. There are private providers who charge for some services, but federal legislation (The Canada Health Act) prohibits direct patient billing for medically necessary services. That's my understanding, hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

Care does vary somewhat from province to province, because it's the provinces responsibility to deliver the actual services. We don't have an NHS equivalent....I think we should, just for uniformities sake...

Private insurance covers things like medications or therapies not included in provincial formularies, loss of income support, equipment, etc...it generally does not cover charges for essential services. Because those services cannot be billed to the patient in Canada. Oh, ambulance are not in the middle I guess, because some provinces provide free transport, while others have private companies fulfilling this need, and charging the patient directly....

Those with the means to do so are going to the US, or overseas to places like India and the Phillipines for services...avoid waiting times and receive top quality services for a fraction of the US price....

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

Most provinces have at least a couple of free-standing private clinics. Most of them don't actually bill the patient though; they provide surgical services and bill the public system. Physicians may not work in both the public and private systems at the same time, but they get around that by providing public services in private facilities so that they can keep their slates full. There are also many private lab services and diagnostic imaging facilities popping up around the country. Most of their workload is what has been contracted out by the public system.

Just recently there was a big flap here in Alberta because a clinic in Calgary was offering "concierge" service... they guaranteed immediate access to a physician 24/7 for an annual fee of $3500. This was deemed to be a violation of the Alberta Medical Association rules, as well as in violation of the Canada Health Act and they've had to refund the money already collected. Meanwhile our lame duck premier is continually referring to his plan for a "third way" of providing health care that would neither be private nor public, but a hybrid of the two that would allow people to purchase insurance for "non-emergency" health care. He's not really good at giving us details of how this will work, but I can't see it being a good thing. Since non-emergency health care pretty much covers everything that doesn't immediately threaten life or limb, I interpret his "third way" to mean that we'll be paying out of pocket for everything but trauma care. And the number of people who would qualify for and be able to afford this insurance he's so big on would be rather few. The legislature reconvenes next week and the "third way" is expected to be the only thing discussed during this session. I'll be attending some of the rallies the opposition is planning, no question.