President Obama In Canada! Maybe He Will See Good Healthcare! (gallon, highway)

[oberon_1]

Instead of arguing about Canadian healthcare lets have Canadians chime in and tell what they think. You may be surprised.
Every country on the globe struggles with healthcare and nobody has an easy solution: capitalists, communists, socialists or totalitarians. Living in the US and praising others without understanding them, is...strange.
It is true, if you take a bunch of poor and sick people to Cuba, they may find solutions that aren't available here. But only when you live there, you can see the whole picture and it isn't pretty.
The healthcare situation in the US needs urgent improvement, but I cannot tell what the best solution is.

[KevK]

Originally Posted by Finn_Jarber

What was your tax rate there?

For people between $30K and $100K, taxes in Canada are about the same as a higher taxed state here- California, Mass, NY

[KevK]

Originally Posted by Finn_Jarber

Quick look revealed that in US average person pays 29.1% overall taxes if earning average salary, and in Canada it is 31.6%. Then, of course in US we throw in the additional money for health insurance, which is an additional 15-20% for an average wage earner. The problem is that the cost to the individual and to the employer is increasing, and will double and re-double again and again until practically no one can afford it. It is already putting the employers in the world of financial trouble,

That is about correct. In the USA some states are low tax, others are higher. Taxes in Canada are about the same for a person that makes less than $110,000 or so in New York or Los Angeles.

[sanrene]

One problem of Canada is that they have so few doctors

And WHY do they have so few doctors (many go into practice in the US)?

Because the Canadian system has made it virtually impossible for a doctor to make a good wage.

[mcmastersteve]

Here is a sample of the kind of editorial comments that appear in Canadian newspapers regarding health care
Health care needs radical surgery | Editorial | Comment | Toronto Sun

Note that while universal standards in health care remain the jurisdiction of the federal level of government. Here in Canada, the provinces are responsible for funding, provision and administration.

Canada's respected think tank the Fraser institute has made several recommendations and reports critiquing Canada's health care system.
Bypass patients have a greater chance of dying in Ontario than their U.S counterparts
http://www.fraserinstitute.org/newsa...news/6488.aspx
Canada need to follow the current European example and increase private-partnership involvement in health care.
http://www.fraserinstitute.org/newsa...news/6488.aspx

50% of provincial revenue will be swallowed up by health care within a generation.
(Well it's better than, 50% wasted on defense spending!)
http://www.fraserinstitute.org/newsa...news/6263.aspx


I think Michael Moore may have forgotten to read these reports.

[sanrene]

What was your tax rate there?

Provincial, Federal income taxes PLUS the GST/PST of 15% tax on everything - total about 45%.

We had a good deal however, the company compensated us for those "extra" taxes.

[NCN]

Originally Posted by KevK

Hopefully President Obama will see the good health system in Canada and use it to start designing a similar one here. The healthcare system in Canada is far superior to this one here and at less cost. Canadians like their system and would not trade it for ours in a billion years (you can go to the Canada board and ask them!). You can get the same prescription in Canada for half of what it cost here.
And the fact that NO Canadian politician advocates cutting or doing away with it is evidence of how good Heath/Sante Canada really is. Not even the current government of Stephen Harper, a Conservative, would touch it because it would mean political death.

Yes, like the Canadian citizen who came to our area to have an operation and pay for it himself rather than wait the length of time necessary in Canada. Yes, we really need THAT
really good health care!

[bryan61]

I drove rural transportation for five years in one of the most remote areas of the United States. The local Hospital in the nearest town (pop 17000) had a dialysis center. I can remember picking up very poor elderly folk most in wheel chairs at public housing facilities (very nice apartments paid for by the government) and taking them to dialysis 3 times a week. I probably had 8 to 9 dialysis clients on that schedule. Dialysis and all their other medical needs including the ride I provided were taken care of by medicaire and one government entity or another.

I can remember when I was getting assitance and on a medicaire spend down. This is where Medicaire will pick up 100% of your hospital bill after a pretty large deductible. For me I think it was around $750 and it was good protection from a catastrophic illness wiping me out because I did work and had assetts to protect I was just low income at the time. When I did use the Medicaire spend down I was told by my case worker to go to the Hospital assistance program (whcih was run by an order of Catholic Nuns) and see if they would help. Sure enough they picked up the deductible for a whole slew of very expensive tests and several procedures that would have really hurt me financially at the time. Free health care all I wanted when I wanted in the most modern state of the art facilities on the planet. What a lucky poor American I was, eh?

There are programs already in place in this country to take care of the poor and vulnerable. It is the people who fall between the cracks of the being able to afford health care and having to turn to the government for help. Its really not that big a number when you remove the children who are always eligible for Medicaide and the people who opt out of Health care plans. Just a few million left who we should be able to find private means insuring them.

The problem is blown way out of proportion Universal health care is a crock

[bryan61]

Not even close. You might want to do some income tax research

Originally Posted by KevK

For people between $30K and $100K, taxes in Canada are about the same as a higher taxed state here- California, Mass, NY

[Greatday]

National Health Insurance - UHI - is NOT in the cards for this country