I am well aware that we are paying for our service through our taxes but if I, my wife or my children would get sick before I reach the age of 35, we would never be able to afford medical care. If I’m paying 10K in taxes more than the average American per year for free health care and education, I think it worth it after all.

“But your healthcare is NOT free.”

Of course it is not. It is paid through government levied taxes.

“You pay for it in the ridiculously high taxes you pay”

Ridiculously high? How’s that? According to the OECD, that “ridiculously high taxes” is not more than 2% than the United States!!!! (http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusinessnews/publish/printer_1000article_10005354.shtml)

The difference between the taxes levied in the United States and the taxes levied in Canada (very similar as you can see) is what you actually do with those taxes: do you buy Apache gunships, missile defense systems, and or do you provide universal health care?

“and you pay for it for all the people who are mooching off the system and not paying their fair share.”

Yes, and I proudly do so. There are injustices, there will always be, but I prefer not to make the situation worse by denying the vast majority of valid claims with anecdotal claims of “mooching off the system”

“And if the Canadian system is so great then why are the border towns in Washington overflowing with Canadians coming down to get health care here because they have to wait ages and ages there.”

Ahh, the old canard. Did you know that a study published by the government of Ontario in 2006 revealed that more than 37 000 fake health cards were used by American citizens to get free treatment across the border!?! Yes, 37 000!!! Of course these are people who can’t afford it.

It is a recognized problem in Canada that people with a lot cash can get faster treatment in the United States. No system is perfect. But it is also true that a huge black market exists where Ontario pays through the roof for American citizens to get treated at our expenses. But if have to make a choice, I prefer to have some rich Canadians get treated in the US (they have already paid their taxes after all) than have more than 47 millions (yes, 47 millions in the United States!!!) citizens with no health care whatsoever.

“Or the people who end up DYING because their surgery is postponed due to the “free” system.”

Hundreds of thousands die every year in the US…because they don’t even have a chance to get on any “waiting list”. Is that better? A New York times article published in the 1990’s detailed a doctor’s dismay at a system that forced him to ignore dying people on the streets for fear that bystanders may not be able to afford his pricey treatments or that lawsuits that too often followed.

“Sometimes you get what you pay for.”

Oh thats true. According to the OECD, Canada ranks 17th in the world for health care. We used to be, in the 1990’s at the very top. We haven’t invested in our system recently and we are consequently paying a higher price as a result. The United States, however, ranks 35th! That is the bottom of all industrialized nation! Indeed, the OECD said that lack of any universal plan meant that the United States ranked similar to developing nations when it came to infant mortality! Of course you get what you pay for. You are right after all.

“There’s never really anything for free and it drives me bonkers to hear people expecting a free lunch.”

It is not free. All Canadians are paying for it. Many think that their health care is “free”. They are wrong. But as it is you are equally completely wrong in saying that the US system “is better than anything out there”. The OECD, the highest recognized body of authority in this matter, summed in up quite succinctly in its report: “France has the best health care in the world. The United States has the best emergency care in the world. Provided you can afford it.”

The U.S. system is not perfect but it’s better than anything else out there.

I also read Brip Blap’s post, which was also interesting. It really saddens me to realize that there is no debate at all about a public health care system in the United States. I just cannot understand why the average American is not rising up to bring this kleptocratic, corporate-led country down. Honest. If a small portion of the hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars that go to National Defense was spent on treating and taking care of US citizens, the United States would be the best country to live in the world. I lived in Europe for a few years and I can tell you that taxes are higher, yes, but poverty is down, way down. In Sweden a child born in a poor family has 4/5 chances of escaping poverty through the benefits and the existing social net provided by taxpayers (yes, those dreaded taxes…). In the United states, only 1/5 child born in poverty has any chance of escaping the fate of his parents.

I just do not understand why the prospect of raising taxes is considered as worse a fate as banning automatic rifles and semi-automatic pistols. How can that be?

Giving part of your salary to your government so that it can redistribute it to poorer segments of society is part of a social contract: helping out your neighbor, giving him cheap housing and allowing him to be given the same health care rights as everyone else e is expensive, true, but it is the socially responsible thing to do.

Marquis

So I’m under no illusions that Canada’s system is perfect but after seeing the train wreck of the American health care system up close through my wife’s two pregnancies, I’d be willing to try a different model, although our three presidential candidates aren’t really proposing anything dramatically different from our current (broke) system.

thanks for a very thought-provoking post!
–Steve

Jesus: You are right that our system is not perfect, However, I feel better knowing that we can still have free healthcare !

The true cost of health care (anywhere) is astounding. The other thing is that don’t assume a private system would involve no wait times.

I’m going to have to post about this.

Habs still suck (but I’m cheering for them)