Private Medical Care in Calgary

[amorak]

Originally Posted by Sr. Mints

I never have to wait more than 5-10 minutes to see my family doctor.

However, it's getting into a specialist that is a real treat. I would consider paying 3k/year if I thought it would help in that regard.

About a month ago I had an MRI on my spine (like I do every few years), and they happened to spot that my bladder holds ~1300cc's of liquid. My family doc got me into a Urologist, but in frickin April!

$3000/year for the peace of mind that my bladder won't explode by then or that I don't have cancer or ebola virus of the bladder or whateverthefck.

I'm actually going to research what options are out there. Thanks, thread.

Is that a lot or a little?

[tendulkar23]

I'm currently a medical student at the U of S and the university just instituted a policy where doctor's notes are no longer required for missed coursework. I've been doing some shadowing at various clinics around town this entire semester and the wait times have decreased quite a bit. It's saving the government a lot of money and it's saving a lot of the doctor's time. Being a student, everyone knows which doctor's to see and what to say for a note, so it's really easy to get a note even when there is nothing wrong with you. Being a future doctor, it's really not that easy to tell if someone is lying about symptoms which you can't really test for. I know they instituted this same policy at the U of A and I think that every other school should follow suit. It'll save a lot of government funds and decrease wait time.

[Sr. Mints]

Originally Posted by amorak

Is that a lot or a little?

I consulted Dr. Google, and apparently it is a lot.

[amorak]

What can it do though? I don't see how that's bad, it seems awesome - no more mid-movie pees!

[Sr. Mints]

Originally Posted by fotze

You must have legendary horse piss's.

Aye.

[Sr. Mints]

Originally Posted by amorak

What can it do though? I don't see how that's bad, it seems awesome - no more mid-movie pees!

Maybe it's a evolutionary thing, what with two and a half/three-hour movies becoming more common.

[Mr.Coffee]

I had a wart on my ugly ass face that needed removing so I could return to normal looking. I scheduled an appointment with my family doctor and they kindly scheduled an appointment for 4 months from the day I called (sweet, thanks).

I roll into doc's office and they make me do the stupid waiting game. Doc sends in some student chick to do the review, who basically says oh yeah, I can't do anything about this, you'll need to see a specialist. Don't worry, we'll set it up (ok, sounds good, thanks).

After 2 more weeks, I don't hear anything so I follow up with my "doctor's" office (more like med student pass-off office) and am told they forgot. The next day, I get a call from the specialists office, and great news, they've booked me into an appointment for 4 months from now.

So I decide I'm not in the waiting mood anymore, and I try to tackle this bad boy on my own. I can assure everybody, this was a bad idea.

I eventually went into see the specialist, who was unable to remove the wart because I would need to freeze it, and it takes time to do that, and so I'll have to come back. So I ask him if I'll be able to do this sometime before my funeral, and he replies, well, we should have some time available in a couple months. I was getting married, and the whole reason I wanted to beautify myself was for the wedding, so I gave him a bit of a sob story. He says, well, ok, I have some time open on Friday, come in then.

Wait, what?

....what's all this come back in 2 months BS?!?

So, moral of the story, is call their bluff- specialist or not- they're likely full of crap.

[joe_mullen]

Originally Posted by fotze

Weird how that doesn't help eh. First appointment of the day, wait an hour after your time.

WTF are they doing back there? Answering emails? Posting here? Researching cancer? I am sure its important, but when I don't know I fill the ingnorance gap with negative assumptions, like they are they just doing it so we get pissed off and phone our MLA and ask for increased funding for doctors.

i would assume they are dealing with medical issues of other patients that take longer than the scheduled time.

of course, all these problems could be fixed if the government increased the amount of primary care health providers...instead of cutting back on medical school funding again.

[Danijam]

Originally Posted by Ice_Weasel

I don't see much difference between this and private schools...we all pay taxes and our kids can go to school for free, but for more $$ your kids can have smaller classes and motivated teachers. Where is the equality uproar with respect to education.

I'm always surprised when people compare the current state of our healthcare system to the education system. The healthcare system here is in complete disarray, particularly in Alberta. Comparatively our education system is in fairly good shape. People send their kids to private schools for a variety of reasons, which I believe are less to do with quality of education than the child's special requirements or the parents' good old fashioned ego. It's completely different to pay for your family to have decent healthcare because you feel your health is being compromised.

[healthyscratchPHW]

A little late on this thread but I joined up my family to one of these private clinics (Provital health - the one in marda loop) about a year ago and I can't imagine going back to my old doc. Whats great is that we have access to an amazing doc who gives us the time when we need it (and no waiting!) but I also have access to an exercise guy, dietitian, psych, massages, etc, etc...and my sunlife benefits actually cover over half my fees. I am not rich by any means but with my benefits covering half teh cost, its been a no-brainer for me and I tell everyone I know they should at least check it out. Sorry for sounding like an advertisement but I just can't say enough about these guys

[vendetta316]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

My old doctor does this now. He was an awesome doctor, so it sucks for me because I go in maybe once every 2 years these days, but my parents ponied up the $3K or whatever and I think it's working well for them so far. His name is Dr. Kreutzer, awesome young South African guy. No clue what his clinic is, Pro Vital or something like that?

My entire family are "members"
This is some of the best money we spend all year. If you have the means, I highly recommend it. I have 3 kids, going to the doctor is no issue, no line up.


Dr Kreutzer is awesome...