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The Canadian health care system is funded by general government revenues. Those revenues include income taxes, sales taxes and other taxes. There is no such thing as a specific health care tax on gas or alcohol.
Thanks for the clarification! The fact that there is no specific health care tax could lead people to believe that health care, per, se, makes gas more expensive.
How come we never get any Europeans on these comparative health care threads? Well, other than the occasional Brit... These discussions always tend to be the Canucks vs. the Yanks.
Maybe because they're sittin' pretty with great health care?..
Maybe because they're sittin' pretty with great health care?..
Well, that's why I'm posting (see post #58)--because people I know or have known in the past, living in Germany and Sweden say their system's worthless, and to get a doc who actually takes you seriously, you have to go to an independent doc. This is a side of European health care we never hear of in the public debate in the U.S.
Thanks for the clarification! The fact that there is no specific health care tax could lead people to believe that health care, per, se, makes gas more expensive.
Gas would certainly be cheaper if all taxes were eliminated from the cost of gas. Heck, most consumer products would be cheaper with no sales taxes. However, income taxes would probably go up to compensate for the lost government revenue.
However it's done, Canadians pay for their health care indirectly. Unlike Americans, they don't pay extra to provide a profit to the providers of most health care services.
A further point about how medical education and research is funded in Canada.
All of the hard science courses, at our Universities, have tax payer subsidized funding, so that a person attending a Canadian University, who is a Canadian citizen, pays only a portion of the actual cost of their education. In addition, medical research is supported by Government grants, and new techniques and equipment, that have been developed by a Canadian University, are frequently spun off, as commercial enterprises, with the University receiving a share of the new corporation's profits.
The University of Toronto has a specific department, that does just that kind of corporate start up.
One example of a business, that grew out of a University research program is Research In Motion, the maker of the Blackberry device. The two founders of the company were faculty members at Waterloo University, here in Ontario, and they started the company with the financial help of U of W. The city of Waterloo has benefited greatly from RIM, through public recreation centres, public parks, and child care centres, all built by RIM, from their profits. They also employ hundreds of people at their plants in Waterloo.
U of W also has a number of new buildings, that were entirely paid for by RIM, again out of it's profits.
On the subject of taxes, in Canada, for medical services. Yes we do pay higher taxes, for both income, and sales taxes..................BUT we also ALL benefit from it, when we need medical , and hospital services.
Canada is a more progessive country, than the USA. We instituted a national old age pension that covered all of out citizens years before the USA did. In 1941 we brought in a national unemployment insurance program, and workers compensation insurance. In 1960 we began the movement towards national socialized medicine. Maternity leave legislation here is miles head of the USA, in both scope and length of the allowed leave period. Gay marriage, abortion on demand, gays in the military, racial harmony, and a lack of religious bigotry, are all hallmarks of our forward thinking, that are still hot button issues, in the USA.
Our national motto sums it up very well.
Peace, Order, And Good Government.
And of course, we also add, we take care of everybody, as it is the right thing to do.
Well, that's why I'm posting (see post #58)--because people I know or have known in the past, living in Germany and Sweden say their system's worthless, and to get a doc who actually takes you seriously, you have to go to an independent doc. This is a side of European health care we never hear of in the public debate in the U.S.
What do you mean by that? All doctors are supposed to be independent and to take you seriously. I can't comment on the Swedish system but the one in Germany is not worthless at all. The only flaw is that there is still a separation of private and public health insurances.
What do you mean by that? All doctors are supposed to be independent and to take you seriously. I can't comment on the Swedish system but the one in Germany is not worthless at all. The only flaw is that there is still a separation of private and public health insurances.
See bolded. Why is that a flaw? I would hope that a mix of both private and public insurance would be competitive, or a mix of both, meaning the public can pick and choose regulated private insurance that suits them, a supplement, while public insurance is always there as a safety net.
See bolded. Why is that a flaw? I would hope that a mix of both private and public insurance would be competitive, or a mix of both, meaning the public can pick and choose regulated private insurance that suits them, a supplement, while public insurance is always there as a safety net.
That scenario certainly would have helped my wife and I after paying premiums for private insurance for decades. And when the chips were down the private insurance failed us but medicare didn't, but came very late in her illness.
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