OnTheIce OnTheIce:
bootlegga bootlegga:
The doctor doesn't charge that - the health authority charges you for that privilege. It is also optional, it is not mandatory. You can opt for a public room (4 beds here in Edmonton hospitals) if you don't want to pay $30/day for it.
To clarify, you said that you were against charges for extra services? You answered 'Yes' to the question:
Yes, and I meant extra billing for MEDICAL services, which I'm pretty sure you understood but chose to be purposely obtuse about.
Whatever.
OnTheIce OnTheIce:
$1:
What would fall into your definition of extra billing? Charging more for the same service and billing the customer the difference or offering extra services not covered by our health insurance?
What's the difference who charges you for extra services? You said you're against charging for extras but now it's OK if the hospital does it? Please clarify.
The system we currently have allows those who have money to have their own private room and amenities while the rest are jammed in rooms like cattle.
As I said above, it should have been obvious that I meant extra billing for medical services, but clearly you couldn't figure that out.
I further said the word mandatory. If a hospital wants to charge patients extra so that they can have Tim Horton's instead of hospital food, or for a TV, or for a private room, let them, I don't care. Those who want it will pay and those who don't, won't pay. It's not like those things are critical to a patient's medical needs anyways.
But perhaps I should clarify, you seem as thick as a post today.
Doctors/hospitals/whoever/whatever should only be allowed to charge whatever is in the provincial fee schedule for medical services. For other non-medical services, I don't care what hospitals charge as long as they aren't mandatory. If I can opt out of 'premium' services for things, let them do whatever they want.
Private rooms are optional for any who want it (space permitting of course) and I don't know about Ontario, but the charge here is $35 a day (not $30 as I originally posted) - which is pretty affordable for most people. Even if I didn't have private insurance, I could still afford it, unless I spent the next year in the hospital, at which point I probably wouldn't care anyways.
OnTheIce OnTheIce:
bootlegga bootlegga:
Extra billing, IMHO, is a doctor charging the provincial health organization $50,000 for heart surgery and then charging the patient and extra $50,000 as well. When that happens, it will be the death knell of the public system here in Canada.
I highly doubt that happen. As I mentioned before, you and those that have the same thoughts on this subject resort to worst case scenarios in somewhat of a misguided attempt at fearmongering.
Canada will never resort to the American system and throw away everything which is why change needs to be considered.
You may doubt it, but there are plenty of advocates all across the country who want a separate private health care system so they can pay a few bucks extra and don't have to wait with the rest of us.
It's funny that some conservatives on CKA decry posters here who argue that the radical muslims are a small minority, yet seem to have no problem assuming exactly the same thing about the numbers of people who want privatized healthcare (that they are a tiny minority) for themselves so they don't have to wait as long as everyone else.
The numbers of both are very different than conservatives are willing to admit - so they just ignore it and hope no one will point out their hypocrisy.
CKA Uber 
