Comments on: How many Canadians kept their health care plan they had through insurance companies?

By: Bamford1000

Bamford1000 — Sat, 01 May 2010 12:48:55 +0000

Private Health Care in the UK is going through a tough time at the moment.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/5100101/Depression-sees-first-fall-in-private-health-spending-in-20-years.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/may/17/healthcare-depression

12.5 per cent of the population has private Health Insurance last year in the UK, mainly through employer schemes, but this figure has fallen by 10% more recently as the depression has hit. So nearly 90% of people in the UK don’t use private insurance and rely on the NHS.

It should be prominent that the major University Teaching Hospitals in the UK are NHS and NHS Family Doctors run there own private surgeries seeing NHS patients. So to suggest that people with private insurance don’t use the NHS is a fallacy.

As for taxes Britain has one of the lowest tax rates in Europe, with a maximum top rate of around 40%.

As for cervical screening for under 25′s, it has been argued by the British Medical Association itself that such screening may in fact be detrimental, and this backed up by recent research. They have but backed HPV vaccines for all school children, in order to further reduce the chance of Cervical Cancer developing in the first place.

http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/news/archive/newsarchive/2009/july/19289068

In terms of Jade Goody, she has campaigned for under 25′s screening to be made available on the NHS and was not some fantastic spokes self for private medical care. Indeed Jade Goody was treated for her Cancer at London’s Well-known Royal Marsden Cancer Hospital, which is an NHS Hospital.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7168321.stm

Finally Private Medical insurers in Britain are cutting cancer cover, with many refusing to help those who need palliative care.

The changes come as increasing numbers of patients seek help paying for drugs that could prolong their lives.

As the costs of cancer treatments soar, insurers are looking at ways of containing costs. Only three – Bupa, PruHealth and Exeter Friendly Society – offer full cover for cancer, including palliative care, that is treatment designed to ease, not cure, symptoms.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1199689/Insurers-cut-cover-cancer-treatment-costs-soar.html

By: tgr1013

tgr1013 — Sat, 01 May 2010 12:07:39 +0000

Private Health Insurance in Canada is alive and well…for those things not covered by gov’t health care…eg. Dental…drugs…etc.
As it stands right now Private Insurance is far more expensive than Gov’t health in surance or Gov’t Auto insurance.
Private insurances operate on the “greed is excellent” principle

By: Unka Dano

Unka Dano — Sat, 01 May 2010 11:30:10 +0000

I don’t know. Canadians have a lot more taken out of their pay check if they acknowledge national health care. But most do.

By: Robert K

Robert K — Sat, 01 May 2010 10:47:18 +0000

When I lived in Canada, I had health care through my provincial government.

By: tribeca_belle

tribeca_belle — Sat, 01 May 2010 10:24:31 +0000

Your question is not relevant to the health care reform legislation being proposed in this country. Canada has an entirely different system.

By: Robert

Robert — Sat, 01 May 2010 09:38:43 +0000

i would keep it because we still pay insurance on medicine and some Specialist i would know my Premium won’t go up because of a doc’s trip or an emerge trip, let alone the possibility of paying for an emerge trip, one less stress to wiry in this area.

By: Forget War Buy More

Forget War Buy More — Sat, 01 May 2010 09:37:00 +0000

And this is relevant because?

We aren’t adopting that system here.

By: ME

ME — Sat, 01 May 2010 09:18:18 +0000

Zero, because in Canada private health insurance is illegal.

In the UK though, you can have private health insurance, BUT you can’t opt out of National Healthcare, so if you want excellent healthcare, you are still stuck paying the high taxes for government healthcare that you don’t even use.

But many in the UK still choose to have private insurance, normally after a relation died because he or she had to wait several years for basic surgery that they could have recieved within hours with private insurance.

Jade Goody who died at age 27 from Ovary cancer because she was too young to be screened for it under government healthcare, was a huge advocate of private insurance before she died.