Canadian health care

I'm a Canadian but I have to confess I don't have a perfect handle on our health care system. It is complex and it can be confusing. And being that Canadians hear a lot of the misplaced, error-prone criticism that fills the American airwaves, we get even more confused from being exposed to all the bunkum being bandied about.

The other day I had to go for treatment for my aging, sun-damaged skin. The medical centre I went to is privately owned. In fact, the vast majority of medical centres and hospitals in Canada are privately owned and operated.

The centre in the west end of London is but one in a small chain of medical centre located in various locations across the city. From the looks of this latest addition to the chain, it appears the centres are successful. In fact, the company website promises investment opportunities will soon be offered.

What I do know it that Canadians have a single-payer medical care system. I pay the government in a manner similar to paying premiums to an insurance company. For medical treatements that are covered by our system, and not everything is covered, the government pays the cost.

If my skin treatments are for precancerous skin blemishes, the treatment cost is covered. My skin blemishes discovered during this visit were harmless, purely cosmetic. I paid $45 for the removal.

Does the Canadian system work? Yes, but it has problems and these problems seem to be growing. Health care is expensive.

How does the Canadian system compare to the U.S. system. I really cannot say. There are a lot of conflicting claims. All I can say for sure is that the rare time I had a health care issue treated both in the States and in Canada, the Canadian system finished in first place. But it was not a crushing defeat for the American system. It was a plodding, slow system, Canada's, matched against a speedy, hare, the American system.

The deciding factor was my insurance company. It balked at paying for adequate treatment. I got the minimum of care and was discharged before the excellent U.S. doctors could treat me fully. In Canada, slowly running up a big bill was not a problem but time was a problem. 

The Americans would have been fast if they had been free to give me all the tests necessary but no pay, no treatment. The Canadian doctors were much slower, they had less equipment and so a patient had to be patience. But paying the bills as the mounted in Canada was never in question and over a period of time all necessary tests were done and the cause of my heart condition determined and a pacemaker/ICD inserted in my chest.

The takeaway? If I were a millionaire or had very good insurance at a price I could afford, I'd take the American system. I'm not a millionaire and I have relatives in the States who pay far more for health insurance than I could at my age and with my reduced income in retirement. I could not afford their health insurance premiums. And so, I am happy to have the Canadian system.

Not freezing temperatures nor heavy snowfall harmed the robins

 

Neither snow nor rain nor cold nor gloom of night stays a robin from the full completion of its parental duties.

I recently ran an image showing the tough life of a robin parent-to-be risks encountering in Ontario. Both the bird, sitting on its eggs, and the nest itself were under a deep blanket of snow. I openly wondered if the eggs would hatch. I was concerned. On the plus side, it appeared the two robin parents were taking turns tending the nest.

My nephew, Paul, assured me that the robin parents would succeed and the eggs would hatch. He told me to relax. He was right. It appears three eggs have hatched and today the robins were busy finding and feeding earth worms to their squawking brood.

Ontario's provincial flower grows wild

The trillium is the provincial flower of Ontario. The pretty, white three-petalled flower grows wild across the southern part of the province. Many of the wild wooded areas in the Byron suburb of London are home to thousands of trilliums. It is no surprise that a few have taken root on the hill behind our suburban home.

Neighbourhood asparagus stand opens Friday

 

The little asparagus farm has been in operation for decades. So long in fact, that the asparagus sold there is somewhat unique. Most of the asparagus plants grown in Ontario are hybrids developed at Guelph University an hour east of London. The Greenland asparagus predates most of the hybrid plants grown on Ontario farms.

A few years ago a type of rust destroyed the Ontario asparagus crop. The Greenland farm was one of the few stands selling locally grown spears. The rust rippled through the mono culture found almost everywhere in the province but it didn't affect the older asparagus variety grown in the London suburb.

Today, Guelph University is bragging about a new hybrid it has developed. Apparently this was a tough spring. It was both very warm early on and then there was a late freeze accompanied by a blanket of snow. The Guelph hybrids stood up well to the extreme weather. 

It is interesting to note that the old, heritage variety grown on the Greenland farm had done just fine this spring. I had an early sample and the crop came through the extreme weather just fine.

Last year's plants are today's plants too

My wife and I wanted to visit a local garden centre. It was closed thanks to the covid-19 shutdown. And so last year's plants, the hardy perennial ones like these primulas, are becoming this year's plants as well.

I've been asked a few questions about these flowers. I discovered the following: The primula, also known as the common primrose, is native to western and southern Europe, northwest Africa and parts of southwest Asia. It is not native to North America.

The 2021 Census forms arrived yesterday

 

Running a city is tough. Running a country is even tougher. Yesterday, we got our 2021 Census forms. The numbers the form supplies makes the government's task a little easier. The info is kept private and not open to public view for something in the order of 92 years. 

And how does the government get the info? Do participants use the mail? Not necessarily.  If one likes, the forms can be submitted using a unique identification number and sent directly to the government from one's home computer.

Daffodils are not just bright yellow flowers

It's a daffodil and it isn't yellow.This may not surprise you but it took me by surprise. Hey, I'm not a horticulturist. My only contact with daffodils is the annual Canadian Cancer Society Daffodil Campaign. There are daffodil window stickers, daffodil lapel pins and daffodil pens. And all are, to the best of my knowledge, yellow.

So where were these rare(?) daffodils growing. Uh, I'm embarrassed to admit it but these beautiful, non-yellow daffodils were in my wife's garden a few feet from our large kitchen window. O.K. I'm not all that observant either.