Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Archive for the ‘Health Insurance’ Category

So Michael James and Larry MacDonald both commented last week about Hospital and Medical clinics and their User Fees, and I was exposed to those and a few other interesting charges as well.

This past weekend I hung out in the Emergency room at CHEO (Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario), due to my daughter assuming that her knee can bend sideways (I guess I should be happy she didn’t try to bend it like a dog’s back leg like Napoleon MacCallum did in the NFL). The visit was long and I believe I have been exposed to most of the respiratory illnesses out there, however there was another interesting charge that came up.

Yes, I had to pay for parking which wasn’t cheap ($13 for 5 hours), however, the interesting charge that came up was the cost of having to buy crutches for my daughter (whether we really need these crutches remains to be seen). The crutches cost $30, and I had to pay with direct withdrawal or cash (no credit cards). The no credit cards part seemed quite odd, given not many people I know wander around with $30 cash in their wallets, but the fact that the Crutches only cost $30 was interesting.

The last time I got crutches, it wasn’t that much either (it was for me, I decided running fast and then placing my foot in a gopher hole and almost shattering my ankle might be fun), so are these aluminum crutches somehow subsidized? I think I can claim them on my insurance so I am not that worried, but I was more curious about whether these were somehow subsidized, or are crutches just that cheap? Anyone know?

Whether any of the odd bacteria/viruses I was exposed to take hold in my body, remains to be seen.

Now that the Rideau Canal Skateway has opened for it’s 40th year of operation, I think we can say that Winter has come to Ottawa. The canal is one of those things that you just assume is there and when it is not, you wonder why not. Will I skate on it this year? I don’t think so, but it is still a possibility (how ever slim that might be) that I may.

Given the horrible sites we are seeing on TV from the Haitian earthquake I urge my readers to find Aid Groups (the Red Cross, or your Church) and give what you can to help out. For those who are going there to help, you have my respect and my hope that your good works help those in need.

Birthday Blogs

Given it was someone’s birthday this week, what was new in the Personal Finance blogosphere? Let’s just poke around and see:

• Michael James points out that not all Hospital User Fees have anything to do with the care you receive at your hospital. Luckily he didn’t try to buy something in the cafeteria!
• Larry MacDonald continues this discussion with his post about the Inner workings of walk-in clinics and the other fees you can incur if you simply want a wart removed!
• Million Dollar Journey is most definitely putting their money where their keyboard is, with My Financial Goals for 2010, I am astounded by his (her?) intestinal fortitude to write that kind of challenge for themselves.
• Preet at WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo.com points out that January’s Returns Predict Rest of Year’s Performance 74% of the time, which is an interesting idea. I have found that the team that scores the most points in most NFL games, win, but I can’t be sure.
• Gene (a frequent commenter on this blog) asked the Canadian Capitalist about Opening a US Dollar Self-Directed RRSP account with Qtrade and the Capitalist (as usual) brings up some important points to consider. Glad to see Gene knows who(m) to ask these kind of questions to (i.e. not ME).
• Gail Vaz-Oxlade comments on the problems with a prominent golfer with her article Out of the Woods?, OK, it has nothing to do with that, but still an interesting article about the CDIC.
• Ellen Roseman asks Who has seen the wind? asking if anyone has started dealing with Wind Mobility, I await to see someone say “Yes it works for me”, before I change my carrier.
• Can Skinner Conditioning be used for aversion therapy to stop folks from buying into Ponzi schemes? Canadian Financial DIY wants to know.
• The Four Pillars tries the daunting task of explaining how a Metropolitan Mass Transit system thinks with The TTC’s Idiotic Approach to Fare Increases hopefully they won’t look at Ottawa’s OC Chancepo, or they may go off the deep end

Enjoy the winter!

For my regular readers, I am so lazy swamped over the holidays that I am taking some time off and putting up a “Best of” anthology until the New Year (January 4th to be exact). Enjoy two Best of posts a day over the Holidays and have yourself a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

The year slowly draws to a close, but fear not good reader, I still have a few more morsels of financial fun for your reading satisfaction. Tomorrow will be a real corker, but I don’t want to get you too excited so here are three more interesting post from the past year.

Taboo Subjects With Kids (2009/12/01)

Larry MacDonald asked me a few questions for an article he is working on, and it caused me to think a bit more about a subject that it is important as parents to talk to our kids about. This subject is taboo in most families and is certainly not a normal dinner table topic, and I must say that as a child growing up my parents never brought this subject up, and I must also admit that most of what I learned about it initially I learned “on the street”……

Click here for the complete Post

Men’s Health  (2009/12/17)

More studies are coming out that are pointing out that thanks to Erectile Dysfunction medications (like Viagra) men seem to be getting healthier…….

Click here for the Complete Post

Sometimes the Problem Changes (2009/10/20)

As part of my every day life, I help out at my Church with the computers (remember volunteering is a good thing to do), and one of the weekly events that should happen is back up of the computers at the Church (as it should for all of us, are you doing backups?). For the longest of times I used a CD-RW (read write CD) to back up this data, but over time the data set grew, and eventually we had to use 2 CD’s to accomplish the task……..

Click here for the complete post

More studies are coming out that are pointing out that thanks to Erectile Dysfunction medications (like Viagra) men seem to be getting healthier.

I said it, I meant it.

Think about it, most men go to the Doctor when their arm falls off or their skin turns purple (i.e. never). “I’ll just walk it off”, or “Nothing to worry about”, are typical excuses by men, who believe that going to the doctor is a sign of being a Wuss.

I don’t remember who wrote this, but she was female, and she pointed out that if men poop’ed blood, they’d simply go to the bathroom with the lights off, so they wouldn’t have to see it (I have to agree with that one).

Then the MIRACLE of E.D. medications arrived. All those men who felt that somehow their virility was not what it should be, now started to flock to their Doctors to get themselves a “little blue pill” (or whatever the other pills look like).

How did this stunted (if not weird) conversation go between patient and Doctor?

Patient: Hey Doc.
Doctor: Hey Mr. X haven’t seen you since you stepped on that board with the rusty nail and got gangrene in your foot, what was that like 10 years ago?
Patient: Yeh Doc, I’ve been kind of busy, but I wanted to talk to you about a problem I’ve been having.
Doctor: Really Mr. X? What kind of problem might that be…..
{fill in your favorite uncomfortable explanation about how Mr. X.’s plumbing does not work the same as it did when he was 18}
Doctor: Well, I think we can do something for you, but I’ll have to give you a complete physical first.
Patient: What for?
Doctor: Well, if you have heart problems, or high blood pressure and I give you this medication you might die.
Patient: I guess so Doc, if I might die…

That is why Men may start living longer, because they want to have the ability to bang a nail in without a hammer. Their view that their partners will not love them unless they can do something for 4 hours, that most folks don’t do for more than 3 minutes.

An entire industry is now created around men wanting the ability to hang their hats without a nail, and due to this, there is a better chance Men will live longer. Yes, we men are a very complicated species to understand, but at least now we know what might motivate us to go to the Doctor more than once every 20 years (aside from our Doctor’s having a stunningly beautiful receptionist).

Health is more important than wealth, but most men don’t figure that out until they are very unhealthy (and can’t get back to healthy easily either). Work on your wealth, but remember without health, all you are doing is making sure your estate has lots of money for your kids.

Go see your Doctor, if you haven’t seen him (or her) in more than 5 years.

If they could figure out this kind of association for Financial Health, just think where we might be?

Christmas Laziness and Cheer

I am planning on doing a Top 10 postings for the Christmas/New Year stretch (given I may or may not be around), so if you have any suggestions for this kind of a list (top 10 for this year), please leave a comment with a title or story you may have particularly liked (written by me, that is).

There is a lot of information out there about Swine Flu and H1N1, so as a public service, here is a useful video from the CDC about what Swine Flu is, and better still, what symptoms might suggest you have it (and what to do about it).

I am not going to comment about whether you should get vaccinated or not, because so far I have personally heard of:

• Parents at my son’s Nursery school getting into an  altercation shouting at each other about whether their children should be vaccinated.
• Seen incredibly long lines of folks who are NOT in the high risk groups all wanting to get vaccinated (ahead of the high risk groups).
• People writing letters to the editor implying that if you don’t get vaccinated and you get H1N1, you should be denied hospital care (see the Friday Ottawa Citizen).

Let’s all be calm (like we were during the Great Financial Meltdown of ‘09), and take a pill (or not, if you so choose).