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We Canadians are paying high taxes to cover the cost of our healthcare so its not actually free but you are covered for most aspects of your healthcare as your case points out. I wonder how your case would have played out under the USA system of healthcare..
The higher taxes point is moot, anyway. One trip to the hospital in the US with my "platinum insurance" cost me more than 5 times what the same thing would have cost me in Australia if I was a foreign tourist visiting the country. The copay cost of that singly, insured hospital visit in the US was enough to pay my Australian Medicare Levy tax for FOUR YEARS.
I'll never understand why Americans are so frightened by taxation. Do they not realise how much less they are earning because their employers provide "health care" as part of their income package?
Unfortunately I have had a lot of health issues over the past 20 years or so. I had major surgeries on both my knees, one complete wrist reconstruction, 5 major shoulder surgeries including a complete rebuild of my left shoulder involving bone grafts, tendon and ligament grafts. In addition to that I have had two cochlear implants. The amount of aftercare visits to the hospital, physio and Dr's clinics are uncountable.
I have never had to pay one red cent for any of this. Thank the Lord I'm a Canadian and my country supplies universal healthcare to everyone. Does it not just drive you Americans nuts that we manage to do this and spend only about 50% per capita on healthcare that your government spends?
Unfortunately I have had a lot of health issues over the past 20 years or so. I had major surgeries on both my knees, one complete wrist reconstruction, 5 major shoulder surgeries including a complete rebuild of my left shoulder involving bone grafts, tendon and ligament grafts. In addition to that I have had two cochlear implants. The amount of aftercare visits to the hospital, physio and Dr's clinics are uncountable.
I have never had to pay one red cent for any of this. Thank the Lord I'm a Canadian and my country supplies universal healthcare to everyone. Does it not just drive you Americans nuts that we manage to do this and spend only about 50% per capita on healthcare that your government spends?
I'll never understand why Americans are so frightened by taxation. Do they not realise how much less they are earning because their employers provide "health care" as part of their income package?
We observe the absurdities of Medicare and Medicaid and VA care and other government-foisted programs like non-portable employer-funded health insurance and HMOs and mandated coverages whether you need them or not and then we ask ourselves, "do we trust this government to administer health care for all of us??"
Emergency rooms across the nation are used as doctor offices for minor illness by people who have no insurance because it is illegal not to treat them, this is why you saw such a mixture.
I know that. I was responding to a post that stipulated Illegals were the single demographic choking the ER's when in fact it's across the spectrum of society that utilize those services due to no other choice being affordable to them.
Well, given your article was written by a rep for the Fraser Institute, a well know Conservative biased org. I'll simply slap up another link by a guy from Harvard instead.
Australia's big health care controversy at the moment is whether we should charge a $5 fee for emergency room and GP visits.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nemspy
The higher taxes point is moot, anyway. One trip to the hospital in the US with my "platinum insurance" cost me more than 5 times what the same thing would have cost me in Australia if I was a foreign tourist visiting the country. The copay cost of that singly, insured hospital visit in the US was enough to pay my Australian Medicare Levy tax for FOUR YEARS.
I'll never understand why Americans are so frightened by taxation. Do they not realise how much less they are earning because their employers provide "health care" as part of their income package?
No, most of us don't. I do, though. I've always thought it was absurd that it was down to the employer to provide benefits. All that does is shackle you to that job with golden handcuffs...you never want to leave, but you are screwed if you do.
Now a lot of jobs in my field (IT) are on a temporary/contract basis with no benefits. We're like fast food workers, only slightly better paid...and that's changing. Wages are going down, not up. And we have to buy our insurance out of pocket. I went from having relatively decent insurance to a major medical plan with a $10k deductible. That'll squish most peoples' entrepreneurial spirit right there. Thank god I don't have kids to support.
Unfortunately I have had a lot of health issues over the past 20 years or so. I had major surgeries on both my knees, one complete wrist reconstruction, 5 major shoulder surgeries including a complete rebuild of my left shoulder involving bone grafts, tendon and ligament grafts. In addition to that I have had two cochlear implants. The amount of aftercare visits to the hospital, physio and Dr's clinics are uncountable.
I have never had to pay one red cent for any of this. Thank the Lord I'm a Canadian and my country supplies universal healthcare to everyone. Does it not just drive you Americans nuts that we manage to do this and spend only about 50% per capita on healthcare that your government spends?
Canada has cut off illegals from health care so they do not provide healthcare to everyone. I realize this wasn't your point. They don't allow just anyone stream across the border and avail themselves to all the welfare programs.
Canada's system isn't nationalized. While I am no expert each providence runs their own system. We could get something like that done here far easier. The handful of states that would argue to cover illegals want no part of that though.
So can I assume you would suggest we throw out all the illegals and make sure none of them had access to healthcare like in Canada?
Your lower tax rates rise from 15% to 25% at the income level of $34,501.00 while our lower tax rate maintains at that level of 15% until we reach income level $41,544.00. How much healthcare would that fund for you?
Your upper tax rate kicks in at a lower income level than Canada's sooooo..........?
Now let's hit the U.S. corporate tax rate of 40% for a real eye-opener. Although this would not normally serve to foster an argument for universal healthcare it should help to mitigate that "higher tax" boogyman you folks love to trot out when discussing anything Canadian.
Take your deductible from your insurance package and pay that just once and as other posters have already pointed out; you could have had multi-years of higher taxes paying for your stupid healthcare without having to worry if you're going to go through one of those arbitration processes after being denied coverage because you forgot to declare that prescription for Prozac you got back in 1972 for post partem depression.
You people crack me up with this nonsense of comparing marginal tax rates against the nightmares of co-pays, multi-$K deductibles, possible denials, dispute processes, not to mention the outrageous cost of insurance packages to begin with and claiming those 'comparable to your taxes' we pay are exhorbitant in nature. Wow, just wow!
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