What do you think of Canada free medical policy?

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Originally Posted by bluesummer [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

People come here to escape poverty too....and we take in people more readily. We're starting to bring in a ton of Haitians. The difference becomes the fact that even if you arrive here illegally, it's easier to get to stay. In the US, illegal immigrants know that they don't have a snowflake's chance in hell of being able to stay, so they have to take low-paying cash jobs to survive and stay out of Uncle Sam's radar, and therefore have no access to health care.

So it has no bearing on your quality of health care, I'm sure it's just fine, but your immigration policy is so bloody strict it keeps people in poverty and increases the mortality rate. However, if you had a system that provided the same access to medical care to EVERYONE as ours does, it would definitely go down a few pegs in quality. Suddenly you don't have the choice to refuse people daily care because they can't pay for it.

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Yeah, I suppose that's true. Canada has roughly the same amount of land as the US, but the US has more than 9x the population, so I can see why it's easier to immigrate there. Though i don't blame people for wanting and actively seeking a better life, we have enough people here. We don't need more. I'm glad Canada can offer a better standard of living for them.

On the other hand, I suspect if you had a population the size of ours, you would have more issues with health care.

According to wiki (dubious reference, I realize), illegal immigrants in Canada number only 35,000 - 120,000.
In the US, they number between 11 and 12.5 MILLION. In California ALONE, the illegal immigrants number almost 3 million.

Big difference there.

God willing, our population will always stay small(er).

Do you guys in Canada have an equivalent of what have to "Medicare Levy Surcharge"? It's 1% extra tax when your income gets to certain level if you are not covered by a private insurer.

Not yet, Mish.

As far as population US vs Canada, its hard to make a direct comparison. Yes, we have more land area, but most of it is ice/tundra & noone wants to live there. Most of Canada is huddled up against the warmer US border like a moth pressed to a lighted window. :D

I thought this was an interesting article on the state of the U.S. healthcare system. It says that if insurance premium costs continue to rise as they have been (faster than inflation and wages), then the average policy for a family would cost in the neighborhood of $24,000 a year.

[url=http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/insurance-premiums-still-rising-faster-than-inflation-and-wages/]Insurance Premiums Still Rising Faster Than Inflation and Wages - Prescriptions Blog - NYTimes.com[/url]

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Originally Posted by IndiReloaded [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

Not yet, Mish.

As far as population US vs Canada, its hard to make a direct comparison. Yes, we have more land area, but most of it is ice/tundra & noone wants to live there.

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Yes, but we have the midwest and the deep south, and no one really wants to live there, either. :D

My sister-in-law is from North Carolina. Somehow she got misled into moving to Canada and living in the Saskatchewan.....it's cold there. Realllllly cold.

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Originally Posted by bluesummer [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

My sister-in-law is from North Carolina. Somehow she got misled into moving to Canada and living in the Saskatchewan.....it's cold there. Realllllly cold.

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damn..So cold and it's in the middle of nowhere!

People forget that doctors have to make a living too. They dedicate the best years of their life to training and then work in a field where if they mess up or unable to do anything, THE PEOPLE DIE and they have to live with that. They put a lot on the line and there's no reason that they shouldn't be paid and paid well. They earn every penny and then some. In the US, we have a TON of illegals coming here, getting treatment, and then often not paying so the governments and the bills are paid by the taxpayers. If we cut down on the illegals then we would likely be able to pay for great healthcare at a much lower price. Then there's way too many people on welfare swelling the rolls and then proceeding to live life without paying into the system.

The amount of people paying to the system is getting smaller while the people taking is getting bigger.