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Originally Posted by Cactus Jack
In Canada we pay marginally more taxes (depending on your region) but get health care covered. Our taxes also subsidize drug costs, which is why prescription drugs are cheaper in Canada. Theremay be long wait timesbut the care is excellent and there is no bankrupting cost. If you're elite and rich in the US, enjoy the great care you receive but I wonder how many of you take the time to think about the millions that don't receive care, or the millions that pay for insurance and are denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions, or the millions that the system bankrupts. I'm sure that will make you feel better while you're in a plush suite at a hospital watching DirectTv. The sheer financial devestation and bankruptcy the US health care systems causes should enough be reason to scrap it. It seems like people don't care about their fellow man any more. I'll gladly take this "socialist" system any day.
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I really want there to be a true comparative study on taxes between the US and Canada. I live in California, a very heavily taxed state compared to other regions in the US, and I don't pay nearly what I did or would in Canada.
Personally, I don't care how freaking great the care is in the end, if I'm dying, in pain or my long term health is in jeopardy because I have to wait so everyone in line can be seen, I'm not interested in that system.
I know several doctors that have moved their practice to the US from Canada. Obviously the reasons do include money, but a very important benefit to practicing medicine in the US over Canada is that doctors have access to equipment and facilities in order to give their patients the best possible care. The wait for MRIs in Canada is embarrassing. To get one, as stated in this thread, people have to go out of pocket anyways... how is that a great system or different from the US?
As a patient, I thoroughly enjoy the access I have to specialists, technology, doctors, etc... But, I also worked hard to put myself in a position where I can benefit from that. I pay taxes, have a job that pays insurance premiums and pay premiums for my fiancee. So, I think I deserve what I've earned.
Too many (Canadians) are influenced by popular media, horror stories from US ER rooms, and Michael Moore. I'm sure you could cherry-pick horror stories from the Canadian medical system that are equally troubling (which opponents of Obama's plan are doing currently).
Canada's system is broken, no question. I think the problem is that it's caught between a US system and a European system: equal healthcare for all, but the citizens of Canada aren't willing to fund it properly (see: higher taxes).