Hi again, been gone for the weekend, but have read some interesteing posts. There are a few about healthcare. Recently, there was an article in Readers Digest about waiting times vis-a-vis Canada and the United States. The short version is that the US has much shorter waiting lists. However, to be fair, I thought that only by comparing the costs and income tax rates could a fair comparison be done. Getting tax rates for 2004 from the IRS website, in addtion to health care premiums, coverage, and information on other tax matters like mortgage interest deductions, the following was discovered:
The vast majority of health care costs in the US are emplyee/employer sharing. The total premium is just under $10k, so for the sake of argument, say $10k. Comparing a $50k wage earner in Canada (about $10k above the average) with a $40K earner in the US (with exchange, about the same) it was determined that the basic income tax, excluding state, sales, etc. taxes is about $4K less in the US than in Canada.
With family health care premiums under a shared cost of approx. $10k, the employer contribution is $2,661 (exactly). In Alberta, family health care premiums total very close to $1k, so in effect, there is a $1.6k difference between Alberta premium cost and US employer contribution costs.
As the income tax difference is approximately $4k, the net difference to the US employee results in a net savings of $2,400 ($4000 tax savings less $1600 health care premium difference). his does not take into consideration the mortgage interest rate deduction available.
According to the Readers Digest, which I don't think can be accused of being either right or left wing, 1/3 of Canadian health care administrators said that patients wating for elective surgery either "often" or "very often" had to wait six months or more. Of 205 US Administators asked the same question, none of the m said a wait happened
very ofgten" , and onley 1% said in happend often. Fully 93% said it happend rarely or never. In addidtion, 3% of Canadian hospitals claimed hip replacement was done in less then three weeks, but 86% of US hospitals surveyed did it within three weeks. There are more stats in the April, 2005 edition of the Readers Digests which are available.
Further research into the US style of health care also revealed that Mecicare and Medicaid were provided at less cost than Canadian Health Care costs.
In other words, in the US, the tax rates are much less which gives the individual the opportunity to pay for his health care costs himself, and although these costs may be higher, there is less money taken from the average worker in taxes which leaves the worker more disposable income to take care of him or herself and his or her family. I also checked with relatives I have in the US, and they confirmed that their health care, while appearing on the surface to be expensive, is not as bad as appears when everything is taken into consideration. Some of these relatives have moved from Canada to the US, and freely tell me that they have as good or better health care in the US than they have in Canada, with more disposable income.
However, to make it clear, I do not support, and never will support, a fully private health care system, but would certainly support at least looking into a further mix of private and public health care delivery. After all, when people have to wait up to six months for a knee replacement in Canada, how can this be described as a great system?
Sorry for the length, but I wanted to make sure I had the right info for the Rev and his other cronies. And by the way, Rev, nothing you can say "would make me cry". (See April 22 post) Being a conservative all my life, I have heard all the lies and innuendos that go along with this. You are a baby when it comes to this stuff. My mother also got a great kick out of being told that I would be whoring her out, she wondered if there was a market for a 68 year old divorced mother of five. I said I would ask the Rev if he was interested? Sticks and stones, Rev, sticks and stones.
Why I have not any idea 
