# Canada and the Coronavirus **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [March 30, 2020, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-and-the-coronavirus/850643 "2020-03-30T05:02:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 714
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2021, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-and-the-coronavirus/850643/714 "2021-11-16T02:31:46Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > How is a Covid test different from a PSA (if done out of hospital)? Is universal coverage just semantics? Is the concept so inflexible one cannot charge, unless one does? It’s not testing that’s the issue, at least as far as I understood from @elbows and @Horatius. **Elbows** was suggesting that non-vaxxed patients should pay $100 / day for their hospital treatment, and **Horatius** was suggesting that they should pay full freight, “no medicare for you!” > [@elbows](#): > > They should make the unvaccinated pay toward the hospital costs. (Not the full cost, that could be financially crippling!) But why should the 85% vaxxed, be footing the bill for those who won’t get it? They should be informed, no vax + end up being hospitalized? $100 per day for your hospital stay. > [@Horatius](#): > > Nope, screw that, make them pay the full freight. If they’re not willing to take a free, safe and effective vaccine to help out their community, why should the community help them? Publicly Bankrupt a few of these idiots, and make it clear the rest are in danger of being bankrupted, and we’ll see some real action. The problem is that those approaches would completely undercut the basic principle of Medicare: any Canadian citizen or permanent resident has a right to go to any hospital and get medical treatment, without paying. It’s a basic right, without any moral judgment about how you got there: - long-term smoker and need cancer treatment? Medicare covers you. - engaged in risky or even illegal physical activity, like rock-climbing or [elevator riding](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riding-on-top-of-elevators-anyone-else/951354), and got hurt? Medicare covers you. - drove drunk, got in an accident, killed someone, and got hurt yourself? Medicare covers you. - tried to rob a bank, got shot and rushed to the hospital? Medicare covers you. That’s one of the rock-solid foundations for the Canadian medicare system: if you arrive at a hospital and need medical treatment, Medicare covers you. The proposals here would drastically change that basic principle: Government gets to decide if you’re morally worthy to get hospital care, in a system where Government has an effective monopoly on medical care. That’s different from testing. If a test is ordered in a hospital setting, it’s covered by Medicare, as a result of the _Canada Health Act_’s funding conditions. If a test is ordered by a physician outside a hospital setting, the provinces have discretion whether to cover those tests, because they’re not part of the core of Medicare: medical treatment in a hospital. But as I understand it, **Elbows** and **Horatius** are not talking about covid tests; they’re talking about charging patients in a hospital for medical treatment. That goes contrary to the fundamental principle of the _Canada Health Act_. It imports a moral judgment into access to health care. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-and-the-coronavirus/850643)._