Canadians - do you like your healthcare?

jilybeans4

Thats all I want to know, really.

ring_pop

Yes.

alixzafiris

Damn right I do.

wadingmoose

Yes.Didn't someone just ask this recently?

jilybeans4

Possibly, Moose. I've not been around much lately (my wedding was this past weekend). Just curious since Obama is giving a speech tonight and I was thinking about it. Do you think it is superior or inferior to what we have here in the US?

sarah-bella

hells ya

alixzafiris

Superior. Far, far superior. Not saying it doesn't have issues - there's no such thing as a perfect system, but IMO the US healthcare system is basically a joke.

ring_pop

Overall, as a system, definitely superior. That's not to say you guys don't have access to some great healthcare. But not very many people actually have access to it.

MissSarah786

I think middle class America's biggest fear is that we're going to be taxed quite a bit to pay for health care of the welfare mom with 4 kids and 4 different daddies.

Nebb

I love it. For me at the point in my life I am in right now, the positives outweigh the negatives. Im happy to have what ive got.

september's bride

Absolutely. Not that I've had experience (not much anyway) with any other systems, but I'm pleased with the resources and services available to us.

a_schaal

I love how when talking about health care, and trying to utilize Canada as an example, people who have never even spoke to a Canadian try to tell me that "Canadians hate it!!  It's awful!!"Throatpunch.

NuggetBrain

I think middle class America's biggest fear is that we're going to be taxed quite a bit to pay for health care of the welfare mom with 4 kids and 4 different daddies.So?  I don't see what the problem is - I don't think we should punish the kids for their mom's bad choices by refusing to grant them healthcare.

jilybeans4

You're probably right, MissSarah. Although I'm not sure I agree that she and her kids are any less deserving of good health and care when sick than any of the rest of us, regardless of our personal circumstances. I understand you aren't saying YOU think that : )

jilybeans4

a_schaal - exactly! Thats why I was wondering. I don't know any canadians personally, but I found it doubtful that you all hated it. Thats a pretty right wing arguement that is unfortunately used all the time...

ring_pop

Do middle Americans think that they are immune from misfortune?

lyndausvi

I think middle class America's biggest fear is that we're going to be taxed quite a bit to pay for health care of the welfare mom with 4 kids and 4 different daddies.So.  Isn't the point of universal heathcare for EVERYONE to have heathcare.

mrsLesGrossman

I think middle class America's biggest fear is that we're going to be taxed quite a bit to pay for health care of the welfare mom with 4 kids and 4 different daddies.  We are taxed three times really- federal, New York State, and New York City.  Most other states don't have this tax issue but as a NYer, it really annoys me.  Other states who have a medicaid HMO program use soley federal tax dollars but no, we have to tax everyone for it too even though we get one of the biggest chunks.  How many of you pay a city tax?     

a_schaal

Yeah, and I love smashing it in their faces that it's actually a rather successful system.  And we're already paying for the welfare moms with 18 kids.  We pay for medicare.  We pay for welfare.It's far more fuucked up that I'm paying for Miss Whorie LegsSpread and her flock of merry children to have health care and food on the table, but I couldn't afford to go to the doctor myself when I really needed it.  And there was noone around to help me because I made about $200 over the requirement for health care help.Fuuck that noise.

NuggetBrain

It kind of reminds me when I was in one of my sociology classes in college, and we were discussing race and race relations and this black dude started in on this tirade about slavery and restitution and how all black folks felt oppressed and beat down and how we all thought that it was engrained in our minds, etc etc.  I was like "No we don't."  And he just sat there looking all confused.  Moron.

september's bride

Actually, let me clarify a bit. I think the US has access to excellent care, but the fact that it costs its citizens so much is what has me shaking my head. Over Christmas, I'm 99% sure I had Swine Flu even before it was widely reported. I was visiting my dad in NC, and woke up not able to breathe. We did what we would do in Canada:Got up, went to the ERWaited 15 minutes to be seen (BIG Bonus, that never happens here!)Saw a doctor, had chest X-Rays, got some medication and left, and started feeling better. The doctors even followed up with me a day later. Great, perfect, had a blast.I came home to a $5000 bill that arrived a few days later, and that's what irked me the most.

MissSarah786

No, I don't think that way, but I think that Americans are scared that they will be footing the bill for someone else and at a time when many households lost one of two incomes or had pay cuts, paying for someone else's med bill through your taxes doesn't seem okay.

ExpatPumpkin

Ditto Nugget... It's amazing to me how up in arms people are about the healthcare reforms. The middle class are the ones who should most worry about healthcare because they are the ones most likely to be bankrupted by medical costs: if you're poor, you get Medicaid; if you're rich, you can afford it.

MissSarah786

In CA we have: federal state income property sales - 9.25%

mrsLesGrossman

Sarah, I am talking only about income tax.  In NYC, we pay federal, state, and city.  I paid an insane amount of tax last year. 

NuggetBrain

The middle class are the ones who should most worry about healthcare because they are the ones most likely to be bankrupted by medical costs: if you're poor, you get Medicaid; if you're rich, you can afford it. Exactly.  None of the people shrieking about Obama stealing their taxes to pay for healthcare gets this.

wadingmoose

As a homeowner, I pay property taxes that go to the city - I'm sure that's not what you were referring to though.  But you can go ahead and get all superior to me anyway.I also pay provincial and federal taxes.  And in Alberta, we used to pay an annual fee for our health card.  It was all of $80 or something per family and this was  paid for by my company.

mrsLesGrossman

On the news just now, they said there is a 52% disapproval rating for Obama's health plan. I would be less annoyed about the taxation of the plan if I was living out of NYC.  I have to work that much more because of my taxes. 

mrsLesGrossman

City income tax, not property tax, I pay that too. 

mrsLesGrossman

And who the fuuck it trying to be all superior to you?  I am saying the issue about the health plan and how it affects people who are already taxed more than other areas.  You sound like a jackass.     

tlv204

I personally don't pay city tax because I live in the county, but everyone who lives in St. Louis city pays city taxes.