Million Dollar Boy

Photo courtesy: Health Insurance is Obsolete. J. Walters.

Million Dollar Boy.

That is what the Respirologist (Pulmonologist) calls our middle boy. Middle boy has had a chronic cough since he was 2 years old. He is now 14 years old.

Some days when the cough was bad it would interrupt his sleep, his school studies, and is just no way to live.

Sometimes the cough would go away, but not for long.

When we lived in Florida the doctors could not find the cause of this cough. Depending on what our healthcare plan of the moment covered, we tried to find out what was causing this. Our son was diagnosed with “acid reflux”. We had a “bravo scope” and some other expensive test done which ruled out acid reflux. These were outpatient procedures in a hospital and our son had to be sedated. They were very expensive tests. There were many diagnoses, and many expensive tests that followed, each ruling out another diagnosis.

In February we went to see the Respirologist in Ontario for the first time. We brought a file filled with his US test results, ex-rays, and doctors notes. She reviewed these and said our son was the “million dollar boy”. She examined him and said that he had a nasal drip from an infection that had never cleared up properly. She put him on a nasal wash and nasal spray and told us to see her again in two months.

Within a couple of weeks of the nasal wash and spray, cough cleared up.

A few days ago the Respirologist's office called to remind us it was time to make an appointment. Very efficient. Went went for the follow up checkup, and everything is cleared up.

It’s a shame he suffered for so many years when his cough was so easy to treat. I wonder if medicine for profit was driving all these expensive tests, rather than finding the cause of the cough.

Cost of treatment: $15.00 for 100 saline packets for the nasal wash.

Cost to see the Respirologist: $0.

A few years ago in Florida our youngest fell off his bike and broke his arm. We were insured, but our insurance carrier paid $0 and we were charged $8,000 for a broken arm. Read our story here.

Wait time for a specialist in Ontario

Last wednesday middle boy went to doctor. Doctor recommended he see a respirologist (pulmonologist) due to his asthma cough. We were told it might be about 4 to 6 weeks before we got an appointment.

Here is an update:

Respirologist's office called today and we see her next Wednesday, only 2 weeks after doctor recommended we see one. Cost $0.00 with no co-pays.

Not bad at all!

In the US, without healthcare, we could not afford to see a specialist regularly for our son. So.....poor boy often went without the medical help that would have helped him manage his asthma.

Wait time to see the doctor in Ontario

A couple of days ago we took middle boy to doctor. He had an upper respiratory tract infection and stayed home from school for a couple of days.

This morning middle boy returned to doctor for follow up.

Arrived for appointment at 9.30.
In to see doctor at 9.30,
out at 9.42.
Total time at doctor, 12 minutes.
Cost $0.00.

Doctor works very efficiently, was attentive, and spent enough time with us to evaluate the situation. X-ray does not show pneumonia. Boy is on mend, but doctor wants further testing, due to chronic asthma cough, and referred us to a pediatric pulmonologist (called a respirologist here). Should get our appointment in approx 4 to 6 weeks as this is not an emergency. He's had the cough for years we can wait a few more weeks.

In Pinellas County, Florida, there is only one pediatric pulmonologist. The wait time to see that doctor was at least 6 weeks!

In Florida I would spend almost an hour at the doctor. I would wait in waiting room, then I would be shown to exam room and wait for quite a long time before the doctor came in.

Shoeless at the doctor

Today we got a chance to try out our new Ohip cards. Middle boy has asthma, and a bad cough that wouldn’t go away. The doctor’s office was due to open at 9:00. It's very cold today and at 8:45 the doors were unlocked and we were able to go inside the warm clinic and wait for them to open.

At 9:00 sharp the clinic opened. There was a receptionist/technician, Sue, who helps the doctor. Sue was wearing a mask, since she had recently had a cold.

As we were new patients she took a few minutes to take our details. She took our OHIP card and swiped it, and that is all that is required for billing. The doctor will be paid automatically on the next billing cycle. Very efficient. Doctor’s practices are quite a bit smaller here because there is no billing staff.

At 9:10 we were taken back to see the doctor. We were asked to remove our shoes to keep the carpet clean. Everyone did, and there were shoe racks, so we walked back in our socks. It makes sense, especially in winter when boots get so muddy, to remove footwear.

Sue put a mask on our son, since we said he had a cough. Now we have both Sue, and middle boy, wearing masks. Another patient waiting in reception was also wearing a mask. They are very much into preventative measures here. Hand sanitizers are in abundance. Every precaution is in place to prevent ‘flu from spreading.

Doctor was very nice, and wanted middle boy to have an x-ray straight away due to excessive wheezing and to rule out pneumonia. He wants him home from school to recuperate and so he does not infect others. He gave us a prescription for an antibiotic, and x-ray. We were seen very quickly and the doctor was attentive. Doctor’s office will call us straight away if x-ray shows pneumonia.

Next we went to an x-ray clinic and were seen straight away. A sign posted just inside asked us to remove our shoes – love it! Staff here was also very pleasant. By 10:00, we were done with the x-ray. In 50 minutes we had seen the doctor, got a prescription, and had an x-ray.

Cost $0.00

In Florida we probably would have refused the x-ray due to cost.

It was nice to be able to afford the doctor’s advice.

PS: School here starts at 9:00. There's no Martin Luther King day here, so today was a school day. At 9:40 the school called us on our cell phone to inform us that our son had not arrived at school and to check with us that we were aware of this. This is done as a safety precaution in case a child goes missing on the way to school.

We always asked the kids' schools in Florida to the call parents if children failed to show at school, but were told it would be too much work, even though there were 3 or 4 people working in the front office. We were concerned that it would be 6 or 7 hours before a parent knew a child was missing. This school in Ontario has only 1 member of staff who runs the front office and is still able to call parents to check on the children.

Our Health Cards arrived today

Our OHIP health cards arrived today, yay!

Hey, isn't that the same guy on the sample driver license?

We have health care!

Toronto General Hospital.

Until today we had a tourist health insurance policy. Our family of 5 was fully covered, no deductibles, no co-pays, for 3 months for a total cost of $500.00. That was not $500.00 per month, but a one time payment of $500.00.

In Canada everyone has health care. Health care coverage is provided by each province, or territory. In Ontario our plan is called Ontario Hospitalization Insurance Plan, or OHIP. There are no co-pays, no deductibles, and no pre-existing conditions. These terms do not exist here. Everyone has health care.

You have to be resident in Ontario for 3 months before you qualify for OHIP.

Today our provincial health care started.

If one of my sons falls off his bike and breaks his arm, I won’t be worried about the cost, only about him getting better.