A Usenet persona calling itself BCITORGB wrote:

Scott Weiser:
==============
"The average Canadian family pays about 48 percent of its income in
taxes
each year, partly to fund the health care system. Rates vary from
province
to province, but Ontario, the most populous, spends roughly 40 percent
of
every tax dollar on health care, according to the Canadian Taxpayers
Federation."
================

This is perhaps an interesting basis for discussion. While I'm not sure
how accurate these figures are, let's just accept them, for the time
being, and try to establish a discussion around healthcare costs.

By those figures, a Canadian earning $50,000 per year pays $800 per
month for full coverage (no deductible) medical care (for his/her
entire family -- let's assume a family of 4). Now we need to know how
much a family of 4, in the USA, would pay for full medical coverage.

First you need to recognize that Canadians aren't paying for "full coverage"
for themselves, they are paying for full coverage for everyone, whether they
themselves ever need any medical care at all, whether they like it or not,
and they have absolutely no choice in the matter.

In the US, if you pay for full coverage, you are at least only paying for
YOUR coverage, not for covering some chain-smoking, 450 pound diabetic with
emphysema and heart disease.

Thus, you'll get far better care in the US for your $800 than is even
possible in Canada, because all of those premiums are dedicated to your
benefits, not the benefits of everybody else in the country.


What we know from Frederick is that it is, from his perspective, an
onerous amount (greater than his mortgage). Perhaps Scott can provide
us with this information and others can confirm the veracity.

The second thing you need to realize is that each person's (or family's)
health care needs are different, and are the responsibility of the
individuals affected, not the taxpayers. If Frederick doesn't like his
situation, it's up to him to change it, or accept that he may not be able to
afford the finest of all possible health care for every sniffle and scraped
knee. Kids in the Sudan, and most everywhere else in the third world don't
get much, if any, health care, so whining about how much one's insurance
costs seems rather petty and insignificant.


--
Regards,
Scott Weiser

"I love the Internet, I no longer have to depend on
friends, family and co-workers, I can annoy people WORLDWIDE!" TM

© 2005 Scott Weiser