Technically I did, since my taxes pay for it. What I didn't pay for is the overhead of clerical work from two different corporations for mailing me letters informing me of how arbitrarily priced my doctor visit was.
The fact that you would go without thought of the cost but in a similiar situation would avoid because of the direct costs shows why the Ontario system is a poor model. The costs are hidden so more services are used. If costs were direct paid for out of your Ontario fund (a yearly budget that if not used would be carried forwarded or removed from your taxes) than a better balance could be found.
> The fact that you would go without thought of the cost but in a similar situation would avoid because of the direct costs shows why the Ontario system is a poor model
The pricing is hidden from me regardless, except that in one case people get the care they need and go on with their lives, and in the other I hear stories of people getting a surprise 4-digit bill in the mail three weeks later, after already paying through the nose for insurance.
When you look at international rankings of standard of living, the Ontario system is considered a good model (along with other similar healthcare systems such as those in nordic countries). The US model is poorer on several fronts, from pricing opaqueness to availability for low income people, and let's not even go into medical bankruptcies...
Lol. I wish. For me it was 5 digits. Closer to 6 than 4. And I had a $1,800/month premium for a family of 4. Spent multiple hours per week for months on end playing phone tag for the hospital and insurance company until it got resolved. Hospital billing also told me to not worry because nothing ever gets paid until both sides start suing eachother.
Yeah, this is peak efficiency. I just love taking up "resolving medical bills" as an unpaid part time job for the better part of a year.