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Cowboy89 · 08-03-2009, 06:14 PM

I missed the bulk of this thread because ironically enough I was in emergency at the Foothills dealing with an unfortunate fluke accident after the football game Saturday night. I was reasonably pleased with the care I recieved and was provided with most of the equipment needed to recover at home with no discussion of cost. Thank God for that, lord knows that if this had been in the US I probably could have shaved hours off of my stay but ultimately would have had to fork over thousands (which for me is affordable, but would have hurt).

One thing I've noticed is that our system overall is quite good at treating trauma. If you suffer a terrible life threatning injury, or develop a life threatning condition you get treated promptly, well, and do not have to foot the cost out of your pocket. However if you aren't in danger of dying within the week, have a condition that requires a lot of diagnostic work, or have a 'quality of life' issue our system tremendously fails you in completely unacceptable ways.

The reason why the cost is cheaper is because all those 'quality of life' things get pushed back and back when there is scarcity of resources thus care is rationed. If we charged a $500 deductable or something of that nature the province would be able to afford more minor care and diagnostics tests that are clogging up the system and bed blockers wouldn't even bother because it would cost them some cash. Yes there are people who cannot afford $500 and but we could have a program to ensure that anyone who truly cannot afford it can get covered.

08-03-2009, 06:14 PM	#143
Cowboy89 Franchise Player Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Calgary AB Exp:	I missed the bulk of this thread because ironically enough I was in emergency at the Foothills dealing with an unfortunate fluke accident after the football game Saturday night. I was reasonably pleased with the care I recieved and was provided with most of the equipment needed to recover at home with no discussion of cost. Thank God for that, lord knows that if this had been in the US I probably could have shaved hours off of my stay but ultimately would have had to fork over thousands (which for me is affordable, but would have hurt). One thing I've noticed is that our system overall is quite good at treating trauma. If you suffer a terrible life threatning injury, or develop a life threatning condition you get treated promptly, well, and do not have to foot the cost out of your pocket. However if you aren't in danger of dying within the week, have a condition that requires a lot of diagnostic work, or have a 'quality of life' issue our system tremendously fails you in completely unacceptable ways. The reason why the cost is cheaper is because all those 'quality of life' things get pushed back and back when there is scarcity of resources thus care is rationed. If we charged a $500 deductable or something of that nature the province would be able to afford more minor care and diagnostics tests that are clogging up the system and bed blockers wouldn't even bother because it would cost them some cash. Yes there are people who cannot afford $500 and but we could have a program to ensure that anyone who truly cannot afford it can get covered. Last edited by Cowboy89; 08-03-2009 at 06:16 PM.