andrewducker: (Default)
andrewducker ([personal profile] andrewducker) wrote2011-09-15 02:30 pm

Dentistry Poll-ish

[Poll #1778718]

Clearly there is a missing "i" in the second option.

[identity profile] anton-p-nym.livejournal.com 2011-09-15 03:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Except that it's not: your own provincial plan will cover health care anywhere in the country... I can use my OHIP card in Alberta without having to apply for coverage in Alberta for a minimum of three months. Now, OHIP won't cover any treatment I receive in Alberta that they don't cover in Ontario and will only cover what they'd have paid an Ontario doctor for it, which may be an issue, but this isn't even remotely close to medical serfdom.

-- Steve's dental coverage is, alas, solely provided by a supplementary insurance plan from work and only covers 80% of billings... though he could pay extra to have that coverage raised.

[identity profile] anton-p-nym.livejournal.com 2011-09-15 05:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, the Canada Health Act was written to prevent that sort of lock-in... as a condition of receiving federal money to support provincial health insurance, that money has to be available to any Canadian citizen.

-- Steve thinks this is why a comparable system won't work in the US; there are just too many jurisdictions to make such a system functional. (52, instead of Canada's mere 13.)

[identity profile] anton-p-nym.livejournal.com 2011-09-15 05:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, but IIRC there isn't a similar system of transfer payments to ensure that American citizens have comparable care throughout the country; that's tough enough to negotiate with 10 premiers, and doing so with 50 governors just sounds unmanagably complex. (Not to mention smacking too much of teh ebil soshulism.)

-- Steve also likes that his system doesn't have to worry nearly as much about "in-network" and "out of network" providers; a benefit of the single-payer insurance scheme that's often overlooked.