31 ms·
Your taxes would double, and don't even bother trying to say they wouldn't literally every country with public health care pays twice as much as we do in tax
by johnnienaked 11mo ago
Your taxes would double, and don't even bother trying to say they wouldn't literally every country with public health care pays twice as much as we do in tax
- beej71 11mo agoWe pay more tax for healthcare in the US than virtually anyone else. Last I looked, only Norway had us beat in terms of taxes for healthcare.
- ArtemZ 11mo agoThen how our taxes are lower on average than most other developed countries?
- beej71 11mo agoBecause we pay less tax for other things; for example, making post-secondary education affordable. Our taxpayer-funded system for healthcare-over-65 costs us more than Germany's taxpayer-funded system for healthcare-over-0.
- johnnienaked 11mo agoOur incomes are far higher too. Health care in the US isn't perfect, but public systems aren't either. The flaws of private health care seem to be a favorite target by people who are biased against the US.
- johnnienaked 11mo agoThe average cost per person is more in the US (quite a bit more), but as with all statistics the devil is in the details. In a public system like Canada, while the average cost for health care per person is lower, if you make above average income you are paying more than average in taxes, and hence more for (everyone else's) health care. Combine that with a far lower average income across the whole country than even the poorest US states, and the relative impact on you can actually be far higher. In my case my effective tax rate was about 45%, which meant I was paying 4-6x average taxes, most of which went to health care. I haven't lived in European countries, but it's virtually certain to be a similar story.
- Ekaros 11mo agoDoes it really matter if cost is in "insurance" or in tax? Wouldn't overall lower total be better?
- ryandrake 11mo agoSome people would rather pay $4000/mo to an insurance company than $2000/mo in taxes. I don't get it, either but here we are.
- johnnienaked 11mo agoThat's obviously a false dichotomy. Almsot no one is paying $4k/mo for insurance premiums.
- stephen_g 11mo agoAnd nobody is paying $2K a month for healthcare taxes either!
- ryandrake 11mo agoOne again, HN rat-holes on a detail rather than the overall message. Replace what I wrote with "Some people would rather pay $2X/mo to an insurance company than $X/mo in taxes." Jeez!
- johnnienaked 11mo agoIt just doesn't have the same rhetorical effect when you make it even, does it?
- johnnienaked 11mo agoWhen I lived in Canada I paid about $4k a month in taxes, the majority of which went to health care
- jswelker 11mo agoEven if my taxes doubled, it would be less than just the premiums on my current family health coverage.
- johnnienaked 11mo agoHow much of those premiums are paid for by your employer?