Table 5, I agree with most of your post. But the part quoted above I object to a little, having just recently moved from Boston to Calgary. I lived in Iowa, Pennsylvania and Massachussetts. The place where I paid the lowest taxes?
Calgary. By a couple hundred dollars a month.
And it gets worse: First Lady commented a long while back that the Canadian system isn't "free"--it's paid for with taxes. I agree. This is an important distinction. However, it comes with one very important proviso: in order for a cost comparison between the U.S. and Canada to make any sense whatsoever, you have to assume that
private health insurance is a kind of tax. (sure, you could opt out, but doing so is highly risky, since even simple procedures can cost hundreds of dollars in the U.S. and anything worth driving to the hospital for costs thousands)
In that case, an apples-to-apples comparison of the cost to the middle-class consumer would have to compare the following:
For Canadians:
1. Total tax burden
For Americans:
1. Total tax burden
2. Average cost of private health insurance.
Private health insurance is generally around $283 a month for a family of four. (for the record, I paid 450 for a family of three in Massachussetts)
In 2007, the median family income was $50,233.00. What this means is that the U.S. health care system amounts to a tax on working families of around 3400 dollars a year, or
nearly 7% of their income.
Even worse, that's just the portion paid by the middle-class worker. Most have insurance through an employer, who picks up the majority of the tab. What insurance companies
actually charge for a family of four is closer to 13,000 dollars a year--with employers picking up thousands of dollars in the form of benefit compensation. So in addition to an income tax, health care in the U.S. amounts to a corporate tax as well, and small companies and middle-class families bear the burden of ballooning health care costs that are truly out of control.
So to crunch the numbers:
Canada (assuming Alberta, just because I live here):
Total tax burden (income + payroll) on 50,000 dollars:
Federal: 22%
Provincial: 10%
Payroll: 4.95%
Total: 36.95% (Pretty steep, I think).
U.S.A.
Total Tax Burden (income + payroll) on 50,000 dollars:
Federal: 25%
State (MA, just because I lived there): 5.3%
Payroll (not including State,
which can be as much as 6%!): 7.65%
Health Insurance: 7%
Total: 44.95%. (OUCH!)
I'm making a few looseish assumptions, but anyone can crunch these numbers for themselves:
http://www.nchc.org/facts/cost.shtml