MovieChat Forums > Sicko (2007) Discussion > Canadian here.. dumb question but...

Canadian here.. dumb question but...

posted 11 years ago by somepersons
8 replies | jump to latest

In America if you went to a doctor do you have to pay for each visit? If you do how much would it be just to talk to the doctor?

[–] donutninja20 11 years ago

Yes, you have to pay for every visit. If you have insurance you will have to pay a co-pay. It could be anywhere from $0-70$. The last time I went to the doctor without insurance it was $70 for a 10 minute visit. Of course we do have a free clinic where I live, but because of the amount of people with no insurance, it could take around a week to get an appointment.

[–] somepersons 11 years ago

*jaw drops... ive been to 4 doctors in a day just because i wanted second opinions and didn't know it cost that much

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] JaneSchmo 10 years ago

I'm American, born in NYC, life-long NYC resident.

Over the summer, I had to see a psychiatrist to determine whether I have ADHD or not. My insurance had to pay 300 bucks just for talking to the *beep* It lasted about 30 to 40 minutes (maybe not even that).

And I swear he was doodling in his notes half the time.

On top of that, I had to pay 60 or 70 bucks for the EKG (if I am remembering correctly) to make sure I could handle the medication. Also, I had a co-pay of 20 bucks.

Also, the pills cost over 220 dollars. For just one bottle. And I paid a co-pay for that, too. Like 20 bucks.

Also, he had me take a computer test. And that was 100 or more.

[–] vmelkon 8 years ago

Doctors take advantage of people everywhere. It has always been like that. Same with lawyers.

I'm in Canada. Although going to the doctor, taking an EKG, blood test etc cost me nothing, we are all in fact paying for it in taxes.
Quite a few canadian doctors and nurses went to the USA since they can make more money there.

220$ for pills! It would probably cost you 10 to 30$ in Canada, but again, we pay for the rest of the cost with taxes. Chemicals can cost quite a lot. That's the reason why drug manufacturing is costly and it gets passed to the consumer. I know since I do a little chemistry.

[–] terminator56 8 years ago

God... A lot of money... I live in croatia and people mostly think our health care sucks.... But after reading thias, I'm happy with HC.... Every doctor visit is free, medicines are mostly free or you have to co-pay something small...90% of the country has HC insurance...

i'll be back

[–] JaneSchmo 8 years ago

Actually, it was even worse than that. I should amend my first post.

So that doctor kept sending my insurance company bill after bill after bill after bill. He kept finding new stuff to charge for.

I didn't have to personally pay, of course, but my insurance company did and they kept forwarding me the information.

So for just seeing him and having him briefly interview me, he charged well over 500 bucks. Maybe 600 or 800.

Of course, this happened years ago so my memory isn't fresh. But to the best of my recollection, that's what happened.

All this for a routine interview that lasted a few minutes.

For what it's worth (this is a completely separate incident) a female neurologist once tested me. She wasn't even the one who did it, btw. A grad student of hers did. This was over a 2-day period.

She ended up charging over 2 thousand bucks for that. The insurance company paid for most of it, though. I was only stuck with a 200 or 250 dollar bill, if memory serves.

[–] FridayOnElmStreet 8 years ago

Sure do.