Cost of Health Care Continues to Rise

[noonereal]

well it seems that this is relative and a power company/government should be able to satisfy the demand for the populous if it is run properly

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by whell

Not necessarily, though Hydro is a great way to go if you can do it.

I guess you didn't read - or didn't understand - Merrylander's earlier post. Ontario Hydro is just a name, dating from an earlier era. It now exists as five separate and distinct power companies, all components of the earlier one. They have nukes and coal-fired plants as well as hydroelectric plants. In fact the nukes and the coalers outnumber the hydros. On the other hand, Hydro-Quebec generates 3/4 of its power from hydro.

It simply means that the demand for electricity is generally less that it is in the US. Lots of reasons for this. One example: geography. Lot less demand for electricity on summer months than in the US given that the summer average temperature in Saskatoon, Toronto, Montreal or Edmonton is less than St Louis, Richmond, Tampa, Miami or Houston.

Um, Saskatoon, Montreal and Edmonton ain't in Ontario. Also, did you consider the greater demand in winter? Electricity ain't just for A/C.

John

[whell]

Originally Posted by Boreas

I guess you didn't read - or didn't understand - Merrylander's earlier post. Ontario Hydro is just a name, dating from an earlier era. It now exists as five separate and distinct power companies, all components of the earlier one. They have nukes and coal-fired plants as well as hydroelectric plants. In fact the nukes and the coalers outnumber the hydros. On the other hand, Hydro-Quebec generates 3/4 of its power from hydro.

I fully understood. I guess you didn't read, or didn't understand - that I wasn't responding to Merrylander's post. I was responding to a question from noonereal. It doesn't diminish that fact that hydro contributes about 60% of the electric power consumed in Canada, nearly double any other source.

Originally Posted by Boreas

Um, Saskatoon, Montreal and Edmonton ain't in Ontario. Also, did you consider the greater demand in winter? Electricity ain't just for A/C.

John

noonereal's question was not about Ontario specifically. It was about Canada. I guess you didn't read, or didn't understand that. Also, the majority of Canadian households are heated with natural gas by a large margin, not electric.

[BlueStreak]

Coconuts are not migratory.

But it could have been carried here by a migratory bird.

Like a Swallow, perhaps?

What? Grip it by the husk?

Would that be the European Swallow, or the African Swallow?

Oh, definitely the African Swallow. European Swallows are much too small........................................


Dave

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by whell

Not necessarily, though Hydro is a great way to go if you can do it. It simply means that the demand for electricity is generally less that it is in the US. Lots of reasons for this. One example: geography. Lot less demand for electricity on summer months than in the US given that the summer average temperature in Saskatoon, Toronto, Montreal or Edmonton is less than St Louis, Richmond, Tampa, Miami or Houston.

Probably my fault again, by how did we get to talking about power generation in a thread about Health Care?!?

August temperatures in Ottawa are approx the same as DC. Both forefathers seem to have decided to build both capitals in swampland. I had to install AC in our house there. Days are shorter further north, winters are colder. Believe it or not Canadians have TVs and all sorts of electric gadgets.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by whell

I fully understood. I guess you didn't read, or didn't understand - that I wasn't responding to Merrylander's post. I was responding to a question from noonereal.

Okay, yes. Sorry.

John

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by merrylander

August temperatures in Ottawa are approx the same as DC. Both forefathers seem to have decided to build both capitals in swampland. I had to install AC in our house there. Days are shorter further north, winters are colder. Believe it or not Canadians have TVs and all sorts of electric gadgets.

Most Communists live in cold countries. Like Russia, North Korea, Rhode Island, Vietnam and Cuba for example.

They have t.v.s and such? How can they afford that, what with the high cost of Single-Payer Healthcare and all? I've heard Canadians have to eat their own dead.

Dave

[noonereal]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

Most Communists live in cold countries. Like Russia, North Korea, Rhode Island, Vietnam and Cuba for example.

They have t.v.s and such? How can they afford that, what with the high cost of Single-Payer Healthcare and all? I've heard Canadians have to eat their own dead.

Dave

lol, great post! I love your cynicism!

[Deczor]

We just had a new hospital built down the road to replace the old one. The old one was adequate, but a bit old. I'm not talking a small hospital either, it's the main one in the capital.

If people get sick or hurt, they go to the hospital. They get treated and leave. If they're too far gone, they die. Such is life... and death. When I had my appendix out they just did it. No question of money ever came up. A friend of mine had his finger broken quite badly. He was treated and didn't even have to give his name. He's getting physio now as well.

If I go to my GP around the corner I spend US$10 on the consultation. If I need drugs she gives me a prescription and I go to the chemist and get what I need. It costs $3, (about a buck fifty in US money) no matter how much of any kind of drug I require.

I'm not on any special health plan at work. I don't get any special subsides from the government. It's just how it is here.

You can get private health insurance. My parents are on that. They pay a couple of hundred bucks a month for some really extensive cover. Mum was bragging just the other week that she only had to wait two months (which is about the same as the public health wait time for non-urgent stuff), and that being treated in a private hospital would have cost $2500 without insurance, but she only has to pay $600.

I didn't have the heart to tell her that she's paid more than twice that in insurance cover in the last couple of years and they'd have done the same thing in the public system for free.

They believe in a user-pays system and buy into this whole 'socialised medicine' rubbish that gets spouted on TV (yes, US telly is very dominant, even here, where it's opinions are not relevant). Thanks to Fox and christian TV my parents are paying twice for the same service. Cool, eh?

[d-ray657]

Originally Posted by Deczor

We just had a new hospital built down the road to replace the old one. The old one was adequate, but a bit old. I'm not talking a small hospital either, it's the main one in the capital.

If people get sick or hurt, they go to the hospital. They get treated and leave. If they're too far gone, they die. Such is life... and death. When I had my appendix out they just did it. No question of money ever came up. A friend of mine had his finger broken quite badly. He was treated and didn't even have to give his name. He's getting physio now as well.

If I go to my GP around the corner I spend US$10 on the consultation. If I need drugs she gives me a prescription and I go to the chemist and get what I need. It costs $3, (about a buck fifty in US money) no matter how much of any kind of drug I require.

I'm not on any special health plan at work. I don't get any special subsides from the government. It's just how it is here.

You can get private health insurance. My parents are on that. They pay a couple of hundred bucks a month for some really extensive cover. Mum was bragging just the other week that she only had to wait two months (which is about the same as the public health wait time for non-urgent stuff), and that being treated in a private hospital would have cost $2500 without insurance, but she only has to pay $600.

I didn't have the heart to tell her that she's paid more than twice that in insurance cover in the last couple of years and they'd have done the same thing in the public system for free.

They believe in a user-pays system and buy into this whole 'socialised medicine' rubbish that gets spouted on TV (yes, US telly is very dominant, even here, where it's opinions are not relevant). Thanks to Fox and christian TV my parents are paying twice for the same service. Cool, eh?

It never ceases to amaze me how much influence television has on the choices people make. Staying away from the TV for the last couple of years (and listening to NPR) has made it much easier for me to cure my consumerism. Don't really want to give up my doctor though, but his practice has been bought out by corporate medicine. Hope they and my insurance company get along.

Regards,

D-Ray