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> what makes you think that this is reasonable for government to provide? [disclosure: am Canadian] Pragmatically, the fact that it works well and has reasona

> what makes you think that this is reasonable for government to provide? [disclosure: am Canadian] Pragmatically, the fact that it works well and has reasonably good outcomes in every first world country other than the United States.

refurb 9y ago
You need to do more research. There are several first world countries where medical insurance is private. I'll let you google and find out which ones. They seem to work just fine.
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  Every OECD country except the United States and, at one point, Mexico—though they may now, too—has universal healthcare largely driven by government mandates, though the systems may be either direct government programs, mandated private insurance, or a combination.
- tonyarkles 9y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_universal_health_care https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_univers... looks like a pretty reasonable list. The US definitely stands out on the No lists.
  - refurb 9y ago
    Uh... that's universal health insurance. It has nothing to do with whether or not the system is private.
    - tonyarkles 9y ago
      Either way... I personally don't care much whether it's run by the government or not, but rather that the government does what's necessary to have free/super low cost health care for everyone (On the order of $20 for a doctor's visit). Maybe the government runs it itself; maybe it provides the funding for private organizations to provide the health care. Know what's awesome? Knowing that I can break my arm and have it taken care of with virtually no out-of-pocket cost. Tax-wise, I'm totally speculating here because I don't know the ins-and-outs of the American tax system, but here we go. https://simpletax.ca/calculator https://simpletax.ca/calculator https://www.irscalculators.com/tax-brackets-calculator.php https://www.irscalculators.com/tax-brackets-calculator.php I'm going off of $85,000USD/$106571CAD (equivalent today according to Google), and using California. California: total tax paid $25,252.56USD, you keep $59,747USD Saskatchewan: total tax paid $30,465CAD ($24,308.33USD), you keep $76,106CAD ($60,702.91USD) So on the same amount of income, we pay about the same as California residents, but all of our health care costs come out of the taxes we've paid. Seems like a pretty good deal, not having to pay any health insurance premiums on top of that.
      - refurb 9y ago
        Doing a conversion of USD to equivalent CAD is not reasonable. Salaries are generally higher, dollar for dollar in the USD. You're also ignoring the multiple tax breaks available in the US that aren't an option in Canada: mortgage interest deduction, uncapped 401K contribution, etc.
        tonyarkles 9y ago
        We can keep going here... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_California_locations_by_income https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_California_locations_b... http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/famil108a-eng.htm http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/f... Median family income in California: $70,187 USD Median family income in Saskatchewan: $86,970 CAD ($69,516.86 USD) The currency conversion seems pretty reasonable. And yes, I'm ignoring the various tax breaks available on both sides, as well as a number of other perks (e.g. 55% paid maternity/paternity leave for 35 weeks). We're in the same ballpark here though.

refurb 9y ago

You need to do more research. There are several first world countries where medical insurance is private. I'll let you google and find out which ones. They seem to work just fine.

dragonwriter 9y ago
Every OECD country except the United States and, at one point, Mexico—though they may now, too—has universal healthcare largely driven by government mandates, though the systems may be either direct government programs, mandated private insurance, or a combination.
tonyarkles 9y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_universal_health_care https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_univers... looks like a pretty reasonable list. The US definitely stands out on the No lists.
- refurb 9y ago
  Uh... that's universal health insurance. It has nothing to do with whether or not the system is private.
  - tonyarkles 9y ago
    Either way... I personally don't care much whether it's run by the government or not, but rather that the government does what's necessary to have free/super low cost health care for everyone (On the order of $20 for a doctor's visit). Maybe the government runs it itself; maybe it provides the funding for private organizations to provide the health care. Know what's awesome? Knowing that I can break my arm and have it taken care of with virtually no out-of-pocket cost. Tax-wise, I'm totally speculating here because I don't know the ins-and-outs of the American tax system, but here we go. https://simpletax.ca/calculator https://simpletax.ca/calculator https://www.irscalculators.com/tax-brackets-calculator.php https://www.irscalculators.com/tax-brackets-calculator.php I'm going off of $85,000USD/$106571CAD (equivalent today according to Google), and using California. California: total tax paid $25,252.56USD, you keep $59,747USD Saskatchewan: total tax paid $30,465CAD ($24,308.33USD), you keep $76,106CAD ($60,702.91USD) So on the same amount of income, we pay about the same as California residents, but all of our health care costs come out of the taxes we've paid. Seems like a pretty good deal, not having to pay any health insurance premiums on top of that.
    - refurb 9y ago
      Doing a conversion of USD to equivalent CAD is not reasonable. Salaries are generally higher, dollar for dollar in the USD. You're also ignoring the multiple tax breaks available in the US that aren't an option in Canada: mortgage interest deduction, uncapped 401K contribution, etc.
      - tonyarkles 9y ago
        We can keep going here... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_California_locations_by_income https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_California_locations_b... http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/famil108a-eng.htm http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/f... Median family income in California: $70,187 USD Median family income in Saskatchewan: $86,970 CAD ($69,516.86 USD) The currency conversion seems pretty reasonable. And yes, I'm ignoring the various tax breaks available on both sides, as well as a number of other perks (e.g. 55% paid maternity/paternity leave for 35 weeks). We're in the same ballpark here though.