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...and you get free health care. I wouldn't complain.
by natch 13y ago
...and you get free health care. I wouldn't complain.
- nolok 13y agoHe doesn't get free healthcare, he gets socialized healthcare that he pays for with taxes. It's not a gift out of magic, it's a political and economical choice.
- ollysb 13y agoThat depends on whether or not he's paying taxes ;)
- thomasfedb 13y agoIf he's not paying the tax then his parents either are or did. Same here in Australia, it's just a part of the basic standard we are prepared to be taxed for.
- Brakenshire 13y agoThe US and the UK do actually spend the same percentage of GDP in government taxation on healthcare. It's just that for the same amount of money Americans get treatment for the poor and the elderly, whereas the British get universal coverage. So, relative to the US, the UK coverage of the wider population is actually free. There is no greater sacrifice, or higher level of taxation to pay for the extra coverage. References are quite easy to find, but here's one, from the Telegraph, quoting data from the OECD: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/edmundconway/100006775/us-government-spends-more-on-health-than-the-nhs/ http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/edmundconway/100006775/...
- gjm11 13y agoI love the free healthcare, which is paid for by our higher taxes, which I am very happy to pay because of the benefits I (and, more importantly, other people worse off than me) get as a result. Higher taxes in the UK do not, however, explain why the same product is 1.6x more expensive here. Part of the different will be accounted for by VAT (20%) and import duty (14% for this product, I think), but nowhere near all. Incidentally, the US has import duty too. (But I think it's generally lower than for the UK.)
- nilved 13y agoHaha what?