Any health care bill that doesn't meet this criteria is worthless.

[Cleita]

I took this from the Canada Health Act and it's what we need to look at.

The Criteria

Public Administration (section 8)

The public administration criterion, set out in section 8 of the CHA, applies to provincial and territorial health care insurance plans. The intent of the public administration criterion is that the provincial and territorial health care insurance plans are administered and operated on a non-profit basis by a public authority, which is accountable to the provincial or territorial government for decision making on benefit levels and services, and whose records and accounts are publicly audited.

Comprehensiveness (section 9)

The comprehensiveness criterion of the CHA requires that the health care insurance plan of a province or territory must cover all insured health services provided by hospitals, physicians or dentists (i.e., surgical-dental services which require a hospital setting) and, where the law of the province so permits, similar or additional services rendered by other health care practitioners.


Universality (section 10)

Under the universality criterion, all insured residents of a province or territory must be entitled to the insured health services provided by the provincial or territorial health care insurance plan on uniform terms and conditions. Provinces and territories generally require that residents register with the plans to establish entitlement. Newcomers to Canada, such as landed immigrants or Canadians returning from other countries to live in Canada, may be subject to a waiting period by a province or territory, not to exceed three months, before they are entitled to receive insured health services.

Portability (section 11)

Residents moving from one province or territory to another must continue to be covered for insured health services by the "home" jurisdiction during any waiting period imposed by the new province or territory of residence. The waiting period for eligibility to a provincial or territorial health care insurance plan must not exceed three months. After the waiting period, the new province or territory of residence assumes responsibility for health care coverage.

Residents who are temporarily absent from their home province or territory or from Canada, must continue to be covered for insured health services during their absence. This allows individuals to travel or be absent from their home province or territory, within a prescribed duration, while retaining their health insurance coverage.

The portability criterion does not entitle a person to seek services in another province, territory or country, but is intended to permit a person to receive necessary services in relation to an urgent or emergent need when absent on a temporary basis, such as on business or vacation.

If insured persons are temporarily absent in another province or territory, the portability criterion requires that insured services be paid at the host province's rate. If insured persons are temporarily out of the country, insured services are to be paid at the home province's rate.

Prior approval by the health care insurance plan in a person's home province or territory may also be required before coverage is extended for elective (non-emergency) services to a resident while temporarily absent from their province or territory.

Accessibility (section 12)

The intent of the accessibility criterion is to ensure insured persons in a province or territory have reasonable access to insured hospital, medical and surgical-dental services on uniform terms and conditions, unprecluded or unimpeded, either directly or indirectly, by charges (user charges or extra-billing) or other means (e.g., discrimination on the basis of age, health status or financial circumstances). In addition, the health care insurance plans of the province or territory must provide:
reasonable compensation to physicians and dentists for all the insured health services they provide; and
payment to hospitals to cover the cost of insured health services.

Reasonable access in terms of physical availability of medically necessary services has been interpreted under the Act using the "where and as available" rule. Thus, residents of a province or territory are entitled to have access on uniform terms and conditions to insured health services at the setting "where" the services are provided and "as" the services are available in that setting.

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hcs-sss/medi-assur/cha-lcs/overview-apercu-eng.php

Our problem is that our law makers are still thinking of health care as a commodity. The Canadians think of it as taking care of their citizens. None of the plans offered up so far meet the above criteria with the exception of HR 676.

[slipslidingaway]

1. knr ... see this letter

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6311506&mesg_id=6311506

Letter sent to Obama and members of Congress, full text at above link...


"...Our system speaks volumes about the character of our nation. It provides all Canadians with equal access to care on the basis of need, not wealth or privilege or status. Previous generations understood that sickness doesn’t discriminate and they made the collective moral decision that health care shouldn’t discriminate either. It was a courageous initiative by visionary men and women that changed us as a nation and cemented our role as one of the world’s compassionate societies. We will always defend the proud legacy we have inherited from previous generations of Canadians.

Indeed, Canadians today still strongly support the core values on which our system is premised – equality, compassion and solidarity. In fact, our Medicare system is now tied to our understanding of citizenship. More than just a social program, Medicare to us represents a birthright and an identifying mark of “Canadian-ness”. It is, we believe, the clearest reflection of who we are and what we value....


...Times of great need, we are told, are the times when true leaders emerge and display the ability to separate fact from fiction and the courage to set aside political agendas for the sake of the common good. The challenge facing health care reform in the U.S. demands that kind of ability and courage from each of you..."

[Cleita]

2. I hope Obama gets to see it and I hope Congress reads it before it

goes into the shredder.

[slipslidingaway]

3. Probably has already gone to the shredder or filed and forgotten...

thanks for your post.

[JeffR]

4. K & R

As an American living in Canada, I've come to take health care as a right and a given. It should be in America as well.

Simple as that.

[Cleita]

7. It should be a human right here but apparently our citizens are so

brainwashed that we can't run a program outside of our capitalistic system that a system like yours isn't even being considered even though the majority of Americans and doctors want it. I just listened to Bernie Sanders and he affirmed what I know that a health care system like yours is what we need.

[sandnsea]

5. Then everybody's current health insurance is "worthless"

I really don't understand why anybody thinks it helps to use such emotionally charged words.

My subsidized health insurance is most certainly not "worthless".

A public option that accomplishes 90% of the goals, without necessarily stating them in the same way, is most certainly not "worthless".

Your post serves absolutely no useful purpose.

[Cleita]

6. Can you travel and still get health care without jumping through a lot of hoops?

I'll bet no. My husband was denied coverage because we were out of the area of his primary care physician when he had a stroke. We were out in the woods camping and I had to run a mile to the nearest phone booth. I called an ambulance because time was running out. The HMO he was with denied ten thousand in medical bills because I didn't call them first to get approval. Many other Americans with similar plans are vulnerable in the same way, so portability is essential.

I don't know who subsidizes your insurance but if it's Medicaid then you are under a program that does recognize the above criteria.

[slipslidingaway]

8. kick nt