Skiers, MTBers, anybody active, beware

[XXX-er]

IME the small town emerg is often FASTER than the big city, localy we got 3 MD who share most of the on-call emerg/anesthetist, I could probably go over and be admitted right away

I don't think the treatment is any different from the USA , just who/how it gets paid for, the way I understand billing the MD knows whats gona go thru and he just submits

I have never heard a fellow Canadian talk about an ambulance bill and for a hell of a copter rescue IME somebody will show up from SAR and give you a PEP #

and when people get too old we just put them on an ice flow

[Beaver]

IME the small town emerg is often FASTER than the big city, localy we got 3 MD who share most of the on-call emerg/anesthetist, I could probably go over and be admitted right away

I don't think the treatment is any different from the USA , just who/how it gets paid for, the way I understand billing the MD knows whats gona go thru and he just submits

I have never heard a fellow Canadian talk about an ambulance bill and for a hell of a copter rescue IME somebody will show up from SAR and give you a PEP #

and when people get too old we just put them on an ice flow

Helicopter or wheeled ambulance both cost $80 if 911 is called. If you call 911 and they pluck you off a mountainside with a helicopter and 15 SAR techs = $80, a 2 block ambulance ride to the ER = $80. Kinda nice to know it's not going to bankrupt you to get to the hospital.

[iceman]

When I fucked my hip at Solitude, patrol told us it would be $15 grand for an ambulance ride down the canyon so I rode in the back seat of a car. It hurt.

[XXX-er]

Helicopter or wheeled ambulance both cost $80 if 911 is called. If you call 911 and they pluck you off a mountainside with a helicopter and 15 SAR techs = $80, a 2 block ambulance ride to the ER = $80. Kinda nice to know it's not going to bankrupt you to get to the hospital.

I was in a self rescue with some ski bro's to get the doc plucked out of Big Simpsons, far as I know it was free, a gal from SAR just showed up at the heli base and offered a PEP #

[Kenny Satch]

The cost of private health care is great if you own ambulances.

When you here the word "mother" replace it with "Rapist"

[zion zig zag]

When I fucked my hip at Solitude, patrol told us it would be $15 grand for an ambulance ride down the canyon so I rode in the back seat of a car. It hurt.

They were full of shit. By a factor of 5, at least.

[Mazderati]

For the Canadians, two questions:

1. What percent of your gross paycheck goes to taxes?
2. What is the federal tax rate you end up with at the end of the year?

[teledad]

My wife got an air ambulance ride from Nelson to Vancouver - on an IV the whole way, constant monitoring, ambulance to and from the airport. Total bill for her as a non-resident (not covered by BC Health Service) was under $5000 CAD - around $3500 USD at the time. I'm guessing that an equivalent trip would have been $50-100K in the US.

[BCMtnHound]

WRT helicopter ambulatory service, a trip out with SAR in a long ranger or other bird will cost the subjects nothing. The air ambulance run under contract through BC ambulance service may have a charge, but in my experience they have never collected an individual from the site of the recovery, only from another staging area such as a rural hospital or from a registered aerodrome.

[XXX-er]

For the Canadians, two questions:

1. What percent of your gross paycheck goes to taxes?
2. What is the federal tax rate you end up with at the end of the year?

whatever it is no Canadian is in danger of going bankrupt if they get sick

most Canadians really don't know exactly what the word "Copay" means

[GeezerSteve]

Trauma fees? HC free market in action!

What happened re Trump campaign promise?

You’re going to have such great health care, at a tiny fraction of the cost—and it’s going to be so easy.

[Kenny Satch]

For the Canadians, two questions:

1. What percent of your gross paycheck goes to taxes?
2. What is the federal tax rate you end up with at the end of the year?

Yes we get taxed to death (pun intended) but it's better than getting million $ bill for a serious illness.

[BCMtnHound]

For the Canadians, two questions:

1. What percent of your gross paycheck goes to taxes?
2. What is the federal tax rate you end up with at the end of the year?

Federal income tax rates:
15% on the first $46,605 of taxable income, +
20.5% on the next $46,603 of taxable income (on the portion of taxable income over 46,605 up to $93,208), +
26% on the next $51,281 of taxable income (on the portion of taxable income over $93,208 up to $144,489), +
29% on the next $61,353 of taxable income (on the portion of taxable income over 144,489 up to $205,842), +
33% of taxable income over $205,842.
https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-age...ous-years.html

BC tax rates add another 5% to 17%
https://www.taxtips.ca/taxrates/bc.htm

Deductions, which are numerous and varied, obviously greatly impact the final amount owing.
We won’t talk about the added sales, sin, and petro taxes on top of the payroll taxes

[LHutz Esq]

Taxes depend on where you live, and how you make your $ - but generally:

https://www.ey.com/ca/en/services/ta...8-personal-tax

From this I take that "on average" we pay about $3,000 more per person per year - but it would really depend on so many factors

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/07/cana...s-a-catch.html

I used this:

https://goodcalculators.com/us-salary-tax-calculator/

to compare 200,000 cad to $151,000 usd - and they seemed to work out to around $3,000 more in taxes in Cad.

A few years ago a biffed it in the Whistler Bike Park. Concussion, shattered wrist, severely bruised ego. Within an hour I had been delivered to the emerg (I remember none of that), had two ct scans (I also remember neither of those) The next day (labour day Monday) I had reconstructive surgery on my wrist.

Total bill - a six pack for my buddy who picked up my bike and drove me home. It will take many, many years of good living to make that extra $3,000 not worth it. Plus, I like the idea that my grandma isn't going to be bankrupt if she needs a new hip. Although, maybe if she had to pay for her hip she would stop dancing on tables down at the legion - but what would be the fun in that.

[zion zig zag]

Depends where you live, and how you make your $ - but generally:

https://www.ey.com/ca/en/services/ta...8-personal-tax

From this I take that "on average" we pay about $3,000 more per person per year - but it would really depend on so many factors

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/07/cana...s-a-catch.html

I used this:

https://goodcalculators.com/us-salary-tax-calculator/

to compare 200,000 cad to $151,000 usd - and they seemed to work out to around $3,000 more in taxes in Cad.

A few years ago a biffed it in the Whistler Bike Park. Concussion, shattered wrist, severely bruised ego. Within an hour I had been delivered to the emerg (I remember none of that), had two ct scans (I also remember neither of those) The next day (labour day Monday) I had reconstructive surgery on my wrist.

Total bill - a six pack for my buddy who picked up my bike and drove me home. It will take many, many years of good living to not make that extra $3,000 not worth it. Plus, I like the idea that my grandma isn't going to be bankrupt if she needs a new hip.

I was talking about ambulance rates in Utah.

[LHutz Esq]

ya - quote mishap - edited.

[XXX-er]

don't don't forget Canadains (12th) live longer than Americans (31st

you will be less likely to die from obesity

you will be less likely to die from gun violence

you will be happier

[GeezerSteve]

yeah but you will be a Canuck

[XXX-er]

eh

[Kenny Satch]

yeah but you will be a Canuck

eh

Fk'n eh !

[GeezerSteve]

give that man a loonie

[skaredshtles]

don't don't forget Canadains (12th) live longer than Americans (31st

you will be less likely to die from obesity

you will be less likely to die from gun violence

you will be happier

So how hard is it to emigrate to Canuckistan? If I bring a good job with me? I've heard good things about interior BC...

[rideit]

Easy Peasy.
Just show up at the border, and tell em' that you are the shit.

[Kenny Satch]

So how hard is it to emigrate to Canuckistan? If I bring a good job with me? I've heard good things about interior BC...

Cross the Quebec border illegally and put on a thick foreign accent and you're in. You can thank our fearless leader for that.

[evdog]

I don't think the treatment is any different from the USA , just who/how it gets paid for, the way I understand billing the MD knows whats gona go thru and he just submits

I've had experiences with both health care systems including ACL repair in both countries, so here are some thoughts... Overall the level of care is pretty similar - the difference is less wait time in US for some treatments, but you have to deal with the nightmare that is US health insurance. If given the choice I'd take Canada's system any day.


In BC I had surgery for broken wrist, broken hand, ACL repair, and various ER/urgent care visits for concussion, stitches, etc. I never saw a medical bill for any of those. My total out of pocket was around $6-8.00 copay for percocet / oxy prescription each surgery, and I had to pay $25 for crutches and buy a cryo-cuff for the ACL surgery. Hard goods like those weren't covered by BC MSP. The number of PT appointments covered wasn't great, so I paid for a handful of those once coverage ended.

Hand surgery was done the next day. Wrist surgery was 4 days after breakage - had to get a referral from the Whistler clinic to a surgeon in Van, then scheduled surgery for 2 days after that. The ACL repair was 2 years after the injury. Part of that due to misdiagnosis by the ER based on complete lack of swelling "see a doc in 6-8 weeks if it isn't better". When I finally went to see a doc for a referral, the surgeon he wanted me to see had a 10 month wait. It turned out to be the NHL Canucks team surgeon. After that I had my choice of surgery dates, chose a time the following winter during biking low season. I did not get an MRI, probably would have had a long wait for that too....


My first US healthcare experience was splitting my knee open for about 25 stitches. The ER had a wait similar to Canada of a few hours, then after sewing me up they referred me to a specialist to supervise recovery. Everything went well until I started getting bills. Even though the hospital was in my network, the ER doc and radiologist who saw me were not. Guess I was supposed to ask every person who saw me about insurance? So insurance co paid what it was willing to, and I got bills from those docs totaling $5-600 for the remainder of their claims. Balance billing is illegal in CA now, but wasn't at that time. Fortunately our company's broker was very helpful and talked both docs into accepting what insurance paid as full payment.


2 months ago I had ACL surgery. I tore it the last week of March. I skipped the ER and made an appointment directly with surgeon of choice. Had to wait 2 weeks to get the initial appointment, then got an MRI 2 days later and was able to schedule surgery the first week of May. Recovery is going well and I'm still doing weekly PT with just a few more sessions covered by insurance. Have been keeping busy with home exercises and tracking the continuous inflow of bills and explanation of benefits (EOB). So far, insurance has rejected part of the surgeon's bill saying they did not request prior approval for that part of surgery - surgeon has now sent me an already past-due bill for that part of the claim (full amount too, no discount if it isn't covered by insurance!) even though the EOB says provider is prohibited from billing that rejected amount. No doubt they will send it to collections before we get it resolved.

The MRI provider charged me one amount and then reported a lesser amount to insurance so I haven't gotten credit for the excess towards my deductible. The surgeon collected his estimate of what I would owe which also seems different from what was reported to insurance. Other providers like surgery center ($40k bill ) and anesthesiologist didn't collect up front but presumably I'll have to pay my part of those bills at some point too. PT has been sending their claims to the wrong place. Any time there is an error by the provider or insurance co the patient seems to be held responsible, so I expect to see bills from PT in good time. I really have no clue what I owe, or to who, at this point. The EOBs are pretty much indecipherable so I'll be making a call to insurance company in the next few days to get some answers. It doesn't look like the surgeon submitted a claim for my brace, so I presume that isn't covered by insurance. Who knows....


So yeah, the wait time to see the knee surgeon in Canada sucked. Had I gone into the ER bleeding and broken I wouldn't have to wait long for treatment. But I was biking a ton those couple years without the ACL so the wait wasn't a big deal. The nice thing is you go get treated and focus on getting better. In the US, you'll get treated and possibly treated faster, but you'll endure weeks or months of frustration dealing with billing departments of providers and insurance companies who don't give a shit. And the patient is never right.....

For the Canadians, two questions:

1. What percent of your gross paycheck goes to taxes?
2. What is the federal tax rate you end up with at the end of the year?

My tax rate the last years I lived in Canada was very similar to my tax rate the first few years I lived in the US.

I have since bought a place and have other deductions which makes the US tax rate lower. But there have been health insurance premiums paid by me and/or employer plus a deductible and out of pocket limit for care received. That total cost can vary a lot based on plan selected, what family members are covered and how much care is needed in a given year. My premiums have been anywhere from $200-350 (single, no kids) and deductible $750-3500, with out of pocket limit double that amount. Most years I don't use the insurance at all.

In BC there was only the medical services plan premium that is usually paid by your employer. It was around $75/mo.

Hard to compare income, tax rate and expenses without looking at other things though. There are a lot more taxes and fees in Canada than just income tax, which make it a lot more expensive than the US. Almost everything is cheaper down here and salaries tend to be higher.