Posted on 06/14/2009 3:43:56 PM PDT by SilvieWaldorfMD
As a Canadian living in the United States for the past 17 years, I am frequently asked by Americans and Canadians alike to declare one health care system as the better one.
Often I'll avoid answering, regardless of the questioner's nationality. To choose one or the other system usually translates into a heated discussion of each one's merits, pitfalls, and an intense recitation of commonly cited statistical comparisons of the two systems.
Because if the only way we compared the two systems was with statistics, there is a clear victor. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to dispute the fact that Canada spends less money on health care to get better outcomes.
Yet, the debate rages on. Indeed, it has reached a fever pitch since President Barack Obama took office, with Americans either dreading or hoping for the dawn of a single-payer health care system. Opponents of such a system cite Canada as the best example of what not to do, while proponents laud that very same Canadian system as the answer to all of America's health care problems. Frankly, both sides often get things wrong when trotting out Canada to further their respective arguments.
As America comes to grips with the reality that changes are desperately needed within its health care infrastructure, it might prove useful to first debunk some myths about the Canadian system.
Myth: Taxes in Canada are extremely high, mostly because of national health care.
In actuality, taxes are nearly equal on both sides of the border. Overall, Canada's taxes are slightly higher than those in the U.S. However, Canadians are afforded many benefits for their tax dollars, even beyond health care (e.g., tax credits, family allowance, cheaper higher education), so the end result is a wash.
(Excerpt) Read more at denverpost.com ...
let me ask you this, if you had to live in a neighborhood of 100% mexican illegals, or 100% inner city blacks, which would you choose and then tell me illegals are the problem.
Socialized medicine: the type of service you’d expect from the DMV or the post office.
Propaganda article.
Expect loads of this bullsh*t as Obama and the Rats seek to Sovietize one seventh of the US economy.
I hear you
Good Lord, man. That’s like asking me whether I want to vote for McCain or Obama. I’ll take “none of the above” or “neither.”
Compare the top 15 Whitest States with the top 15 States with the lowest crime rate.
Same States.
I lived in Canada for 13.5 months in the late 1980’s. The Quebec health care system may be described as follows: If you get sick during normal business hours, except for the fact that the physicians offices are seedier than in the U.S., you can’t tell the difference between it and being on a decent, but not great, HMO. If you get sick any other time, you can’t tell the difference between it and being one of the uninsured poor in the U.S. who have to use emergency rooms as primary care facilities and wait for hours in triage queues.
That’s for routine illnesses. There are horror stories about iatrogenic infections in Quebec hospitals.
Oh, Canadian Federal income tax is only slightly higher than U.S. Federal income tax, but the Provincial taxes make the total tax burden like paying Federal income tax twice. Unless one of the’blue’ states (and not CA or PA) is that bad, there’s nowhere in the U.S. with taxes any where near as high as in Canada. (I know because besides KS, NE, and OK, I’ve paid state taxes to CA and PA recently.)
And that’s just income tax. The gas tax in Canada is almost as bad as gas taxes in Europe, and they somehow through tax policy manage to make products like milk and wheat flour, which they produce more of per capita than the U.S., about twice as expensive as in the U.S., not to mention the confiscatory tariffs they charge on imported clothing (like there’s a huge Canadian cotton industry to protect).
Natasha Richardson couldn’t be reached for comment.
GOOD ONE!!! Thanks for sharing this tidbit of info!
This guy is a dope.
My family Doctor arranged an appt. for me to see a Specialist, for evaluation. The appt. eight months in the future did not make sense. The numeric day did not match the day of the week! The Specialist’s nurse then informed silly me the appt was not this year, but next year, 20 months into the future!
The Canada government rations health care by limiting key gateways to further care. That is one reason so many Canadians go to the US for MRI’s. Anyways, to appease the voters, the Government agreed to provide extra funds for 5 key procedures.
Guess what, we now have a waiting list/shortages for the tests/procedures preceeding those 5 key procedures.
{Prior to my retirement, one of my managers was a Canadian and he said his Canadian tax rate on his American earned wages was 49% of his income.......
How that translates to anything else, I don't know........
Plus, if I'm not mistaken, the healthcare isn't free because everyone has to pay a monthly premium based on their income.........
Whatever........if you want socialized medicine, the Canadian or European way, go for it. I'm all burned out on this crap......
We're screwed! A one party govt. is now in power and they are going to do what the heck they want regardless of me calling my state senators Stabenow or Lenin....oops, I meant Levin.........
“And many of Canada’s taxes are incurred on the purchase of items like cars.”
My current income tax / CPP bill is about 35% of my gross income.
AFTER that is taken off the top of my cheque, I pay a 7% provincial sales tax, and a 5% federal sales tax. On everything I buy new. Let me repeat that for emphasis: these two taxes are on everything except food and water.
Is your tax bill even HALF mine?
Oh, and I’ve not bought a NEW car ever, but I get to pay provincial sales tax on every car I have bought. At least the fedgov has stayed out of that for now.
lol...like the Russian, Iranian, Cuban, Mexican, Somalian, etc living in the good ol USA.....
I'm here in the US because??...???... because??
Don't let the door hit ya on the a$$ on your trip back to your native Utopia!
(as to Dr Hackett and her Dr. husband...Why aren't they practicing medicine in Canada where its so much better?)
Canada doesn’t spend much money to defend itself, so they have more money to waste on health care, but still Canadians come here when they need treatment.
Excellent detective work!
NIVEK, the left wing activist group, was FOUNDED by the author!
I will bet the farm Hackett was instructed to write this BS propaganda in order to get Obama money. The democrats are giving out “grants” to every leftist Dbag in America to steal votes and write endless propaganda. Hackett’s real agenda:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/03/prweb346178.htm
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