I ran across this group of articles on MSN Money and thought they might be useful for some folks. I've excerpted titles and a short beginning paragraph with the active links to the full article:

COBRA rights articles:

Know your COBRA rights
If you find yourself out of work and facing the end of your health insurance coverage, here's what you need to know about this safety net.
By Insure.com. Source: Kaiser Family Foundation, Updated Nov. 3, 2009

If you lose your job, continuing your group health coverage may be a challenge. Whether you receive a pink slip, resign or are cut down to part time, you should know your COBRA rights.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Insurance/KnowYourRights/KnowYourCOBRArights.aspx?page=all


COBRA subsidy ends? Now what?
If you can't afford your health insurance premiums, here are some options.
Posted by Karen Datko on Friday, December 4, 2009

The economic stimulus package passed early this year included a subsidy to help laid-off workers pay for COBRA -- a continuation of the health care coverage they used to have through their workplace.

This week, the nine-month subsidy ran out for the first group of unemployed people who qualified. This is bad news. Paying for COBRA without government help will be a challenge -- an impossibility even -- for many folks.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SmartSpending/blog/page.aspx?post=1413603


Your 5-minute guide to health insurance
These 29 tips can help guide you through a sometimes bewildering array of options.
By MSN Money staff, Jan. 8, 2010

Access to health insurance is protected by federal law if your employer offers group coverage. But if you need to buy insurance on your own and you have a history of medical problems, finding affordable insurance can be a challenge.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Ins...e.aspx?page=all


7 health insurance myths debunked
Think that insurers are what make coverage so expensive? Think Canadians have it better or that your company's plan is the cheapest for you? Think again.
By Insure.com, Aug. 10, 2009

According to the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, the following myths are alive and well in the minds of most folks.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Ins...d.aspx?page=all

I noticed the reference to Canadian health insurance.

May I speak?

I am Canadian, born in Canada. So not clueless how my health care system supports me, which services/areas the Canadian medicare insurance system does not cover. I am a Canadian resident and since I was 21 yrs. old, as a Canadian taxpayer.

If I am sick I can still go see my family physician and not be charged for base services even though I am still looking for work. Remember I still pay annual income tax, property tax and all other taxes as a resident here.

I have to pay my own dental, travel medical insurance, physio services. But yes, if I had a heart attack, I would be treated immediately and not charged except for the ambulance ride.

My taxes are funnelled through the Canadian federal govn't, then the Canadian federal govn't makes transfer payments to each province. There are other budget allocations from provincial income tax also.

Many Americans need to be reminded that they should live in Canada for 2-5 years and pay taxes just like any other resident just to see how how our health care system works.

oh yea, i forgot I pay a monthly amount to govn't for medical insurance whether or not I use it. For families i think it's over $60.00CAN per month. if you are employed, often an employer will pay it as a benefit. It is not mandatory, but desired basic benefit offered by many employers.

Part of me right now is incredibly angry. If it weren't for the Canadian health care system, my father who has prostate cancer could not afford to to to cancer specialized hospital for testing and later chemo. (Hasn't happenend yet?) Up until now, his 8lst year., he has been a very healthy person. No heart, no respiratory system. He is not a patient sucking the system dry..because he has observed healhty habits most of his life.

If you are using the COBRA law for your insurance, be sure you sign up for the extension (beyond 18 months) at the same time that you sign up for COBRA, or you will be without insurance! Of course, if you know that you will have other insurance within the 18 months you do not need to worry.

Trust me - I found out the expensive way.

orchid, I'm not sure why you think the last article infers that any Canadians are 'sucking the system dry'. It is simply that a nationalized healthcare system, by its very nature, has to make decisions about who to treat and how much to pay for said treatment.

Almost every country with nationalized healthcare is slowly moving to a two-tier system where those who can afford it, pay for supplemental insurance to avoid waiting in line. It is commonplace in the UK, for example, to purchase such policies. The well-documented 'graying of Western economies' is putting terrific financial strains on every country, not just the US, UK or Canada.

What Canadians pay in taxes and healthcare premiums is dwarfed by US citizens' costs. We spend twice what nationalized healthcare countries spend per capita, yet our mortality is worse. We have the best acute and emergency care in the world, but the worst preventive care of almost any industrialized nation. Even Cuba has better mortality than the US!

My DH and I have retiree medical benefits almost as good as the Canadian system. The HMO premiums, paid mostly by the employer, are $1,107/monthly for 2010. Had DH left or been terminated before retirement age, we would have had to pay the entire amount on our own, for as long as COBRA would carry us (usually 18 months, although the extension passed by Congress allows an additional period).

There are not many unemployed people who can afford to carry a $12,000/annual premium by themselves. Still, some can, and therefore I posted the article links about applying for COBRA medical. I hope that clarifies things.

Some people in the UK may opt for a private policy..a self employed dentist friend does so he if ill can decide when and where he will be treated..some firms do offer a private package..

but no way commonplace in the UK..believe me.

What will happen in the future since we now have a coalition in parliament (Yes girls we had an election here and a coalition is ruling)Change in many areas is planned..

Socialised medicine has worked here since the Beveridge Plan after WW.2

Hey, thanks for clarifying your position. Re cost of health care in U.S.: this is why I would not to live in the U.S. at this time of life. I did apply for jobs in the U.S. several years ago. I would only consider it for a short time period. Yes, I was flown down to California and interviewed, but not successful.

As for supplemental, private insurance in Canada to get "faster" service: you know if there are only a few dermatologists or gastroentrologists in our region and they already have a full caseload of patients with necessary procedures that are more medically urgent, me waving around my private insurance privileges isn't going to push me up the line a lot faster, unless I'm physically collapsing.

that's the catch of private health insurance marketers for certain situations. For other situations it may help. i know for my father, they were fast to get to see a specialist at a teaching cancer research hospital. How's that for social medicine? It helps that he lives in a major Canadian city with several teaching /research hospitals.

We have to get real..are there enough physicians to do the specialized procedure at the "right" time? of course, physicians exercise control over their own work schedule, much more so than 50 years ago.

I just found out that my family physician will be on extended maternity leave for child 2. Hmmmm...too bad. Now that situation would have occurred less 50 years ago, but now 40% of Canada's new doctors graduating, are women. Statistic courtesy of my dear-sister doctor who is also a mother of 2 young children.

The problem in the US is not the lack of specialists. It's the lack of primary care (general practitioners) physicians. Our Medicare system pays specialists more generously than primary care doctors, so the emphasis for the past 40 yrs has been to push medical students into specialty medicine.

As a result, it's hoped that the health reform bill will begin to shift the medical education system back towards family practice doctors by offering incentives, such as forgiving student loan debt for those who go into primary care.

Of course specialty doctors get paid more than family physicians (primary care)..as in Canada also.

Why not? At least in Canada they have to take additional years of specialty medicine. After finishing their primary care medical studies.

I am not certain about the U.S. medical schools. But here in Canada, the university medical schools (severely) limit enrollment annually of medical interns entering into specialty areas of medicine. I think the original rationale was supply and demand market. But of course, that gets skewed in reality because medical interns are free to move wherever they wish in their state/province/country.

'Course by then, some the medical interns are exhausted and want to get on with earning real money.

It's great there are incentives for primary care physicians.

Um....another reason why some people go into speciality medicine: it's more interesting. There are some unpleasant routine things of being a family physician.. and heavy patient caseload if there aren't other physicians in the practice group.

I'm not defending the doctors, just giving inside knowledge since I have a sister who is primary care physician and emergency services physician at a hospital: small city of approx. 75,000. Having alot more female physicians is changing the nature of the profession, including availability to patients.

The issues in the US would be laughable if they weren't so pathetic. It's why other industrialized countries are so flabbergasted at the idea that the richest country in the world allows middle-class citizens to be destroyed by bankruptcy when faced with crushing medical care costs. And it has been this way for decades, with only a little progress made.

Although my DH and I belong to the largest and best-run HMO in the US, in thirty years we have had six different doctors. We're in danger of losing our current one, too, who is tired of dealing with huge workloads and tons of paperwork. As has been shown in numerous studies, the best quality healthcare is delivered by a stable medical staff that doesn't experience high turnover.

I thought you might find this article interesting in explaining some of the issues of US healthcare - Excerpted from "Doctor shortage looms as primary care loses its pull"
Full article at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-08-17-doctor-gp-shortage_N.htm

"...The number of U.S. medical school students going into primary care has dropped 51.8% since 1997, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).

Considering it takes 10 to 11 years to educate a doctor, the drying up of the pipeline is a big concern to health-care experts.

...In March 2009, U.S. medical school graduates filled only 42% (1,083) of the 2,555 resident positions for family medicine. More than 200 of the positions were left unfilled nationwide. The majority of other spots were filled by non-U.S. citizens educated internationally (20.7%), graduates of colleges of osteopathic medical schools (10.5%) and U.S. citizens educated internationally (18%).

Even the graduates of international medical schools and colleges of osteopathic medicine are showing signs of losing interest in primary care. Osteopathic training is nearly identical to traditional medicine but focuses more on the inner workings of the musculoskeletal system and puts a big emphasis on the importance of family care.

Bates says only 26% of the University of New England's grads chose family practice this year, compared with 40% "when I started this institution 20 years ago."

The shortage, which Epperly calls a "crisis," has gained the attention of the politicians looking at revamping the nation's health-care system."

The stringent laws about overseas people has had an effect on the Health Service here.Fear of terrorism has mean a cutback,,and as the UK has tradionally accepted medics from oversea this has had a knock on effect.When there are conflicts in Europe it spills over to other areas..
The whole Nation Health Service and UK relied on workers from the Carribean..there is recognition that the nurses bus drivers and families from the Carribean kick started post war recovery..

What did happen here is that a GP that is who we see as first line medics have had recognition and are now paid accordingly if they meet their targets..also now have better working conditions..a shorter week and less burn out due to this.

Global politics and war have a ripple effect on everyday life..economic and healthcare included