Canadian health insurance (comparison, between, color)
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Yeah and supposedly Canada's top tax bracket is 29% (at least that is what I read). I pay in the 28% bracket in the US & don't get the same level of services back at all.
You would have to look deeper to see the real story with US taxes. In the US, people are not taxed at flat percentages if income is over $7,825.
2007 Federal Tax Rate Schedules (http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/article/0,,id=164272,00.html - broken link)
Here is a comparison of Alberta (where I currently live) and California (where I lived before moving to Canada). This is how a taxes would look in both areas using a baseline of $200,000 per year income.
Alberta
29% federal tax on $200K = $58,000
10% provincial tax on $200K = $20,000
Total = $78,000
California
Flat federal tax on the first $160,850 of taxable income = $39,149
33% federal tax on the last $39,150 of taxable income = $12,919
9.3% flat state tax on $200K = $18,600
Total = $70,668
In the end, I pay more in taxes ($611/mo in the example above) for what is, in my opinion, substandard healthcare. I personally don't care all that much because I don't have any health problems and the extra tax isn't all that big of a deal.
Sorry for digressing. We can stop the comparison of the US and Canadian health systems and get back to the topic of the thread...
Well in the US you could easily spend more then $600/month for substandard medical coverage & you'd still have to pay taxes so...
Quote:
Originally Posted by ZX14TJ
You would have to look deeper to see the real story with US taxes. In the US, people are not taxed at flat percentages if income is over $7,825.
2007 Federal Tax Rate Schedules (http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/article/0,,id=164272,00.html - broken link)
Here is a comparison of Alberta (where I currently live) and California (where I lived before moving to Canada). This is how a taxes would look in both areas using a baseline of $200,000 per year income.
Alberta
29% federal tax on $200K = $58,000
10% provincial tax on $200K = $20,000
Total = $78,000
California
Flat federal tax on the first $160,850 of taxable income = $39,149
33% federal tax on the last $39,150 of taxable income = $12,919
9.3% flat state tax on $200K = $18,600
Total = $70,668
In the end, I pay more in taxes ($611/mo in the example above) for what is, in my opinion, substandard healthcare. I personally don't care all that much because I don't have any health problems and the extra tax isn't all that big of a deal.
Sorry for digressing. We can stop the comparison of the US and Canadian health systems and get back to the topic of the thread...
Well in the US you could easily spend more then $600/month for substandard medical coverage & you'd still have to pay taxes so...
Anything is possible. I can only speak for my own personal experience. In the US, I paid less taxes (as per my example), paid nothing for healthcare (outside of tiny co-payments), and had far superior care (on the rare occasion I went to the doctor).
As with anything, individual experiences may vary. I think the Canadian media has overplayed Alberta's "healthcare crisis" about as much as the US media has overplayed the US "health insurance crisis". In both cases, the number of people that are actually negatively affected is very low. It's easy for the uninformed to make a mountain out of a mole hill.
You guys have to stop believing the myths about wait time and quality of care regarding Canada's health care system. As I get older I find myself using the system more and more. All of my tests and procedures have been done in a very timely manner. Perhaps there are problems in some areas of the country, but not here.
I pay $54 per month and for this I live in a country that has one of the lowest infant mortalities and longest life spans on the planet.
ZX14TJ...Your information is not correct regarding Canadian income tax.
I also see a lot of misrepresenting our tax system on this forum. We have a graduating tax system and federally we pay 15.5% on income up to $37,178....22% on earning between $37,178 and $74,357 and 26% from $74,357 to $ 120,887 and 29% above $120,887. This figure is on taxable income. First we deduct our personal exemptions and credits from the net income which in my case is about $12,000. We also pay provincial tax which is about 1/3 of what we pay federally.
Our taxes aren't that bad considering what we receive for them.
ZX14TJ...Your information is not correct regarding Canadian income tax.
I also see a lot of misrepresenting our tax system on this forum. We have a graduating tax system and federally we pay 15.5% on income up to $37,178....22% on earning between $37,178 and $74,357 and 26% from $74,357 to $ 120,887 and 29% above $120,887. This figure is on taxable income. First we deduct our personal exemptions and credits from the net income which in my case is about $12,000. We also pay provincial tax which is about 1/3 of what we pay federally.
Our taxes aren't that bad considering what we receive for them.
I stand corrected. This was my first year paying taxes in Canada. I use an accountant so I'm not as close to the numbers as many. I just know I get dinged more here than when I lived in the US
I'm no longer young, and in the past two years, have had two serious health problems. One, a heart one, could have been fatal, the other blinded me in one eye. Both were cured, not helped, alleviated, but CURED, by expert medical care I received from two of the excellent medical specialists practicing in Toronto.
The cost, in both cases - nothing, nada, zilch (except for a yogurt I bought myself while waiting for the opthamologist. $1.25). You see. first rate medical care is everyone's right - not a privilege to be bought with a well-stuffed credit card. . You proponents of the U.S. system have your work cut out for you if you think you can convince me your system is better.
Personally I prefer BC Medical over the medical we have here because there was no STRESS to fight claims (worse when you are sick trying to fight them to pay your claim because they misfiled a paper or something silly). Total cost for having a baby - around $15000. Total amount I had to pay in USA $2000 (coinsurance and deductible). Cost of having my first child in BC $0.00.
ctvbc.ca
British Columbia will be the first Canadian province to pay for acupuncture with public health insurance money, the province's health minister announced on Sunday.
Anyone earning less than $28,000 per year will be able to get reimbursed for visits to an acupuncturist, who puts sterilized needles beneath the skin to treat conditions such as back pain, said George Abbott.
"Acupuncture is recognized worldwide as a safe and effective way to treat or manage a variety of health conditions," said Abbott
Healthcare is not free to Canadians, we pay in the form of higher taxes.
Hospital wait times are exagerated to some extent.. I went into the hospital with a sore throat and I was looked at within an hour and out the door to the drug store.. My wife went in with sore chest (anxiety attack- didnt know that at the time) and she was looked at within in a minute after talking with the triage nurse.
Government and private health and public policy analysts have compared the health care systems of Canada and the United States. The U.S. spends much more on health care than Canada, both on a per-capita basis and as a percentage of GDP. In 2005, per-capita spending for health care in the U.S. was US$6,401; in Canada, US$3,326.
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