IT'S STILL A GOOD DEAL, NO, A TERRIFIC DEAL
"I suffer no illusions that this will be an easy process. It will be hard. But I also know that nearly a century after Teddy Roosevelt first called for reform, the cost of our health care has weighed down our economy and the conscience of our nation long enough. So let there be no doubt: health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year."
– President Barack Obama, February 24, 2009
Yesterday, I wrote in this space about health care in America and Canada.
There were some wonderful responses.
Two of my friends were quick to point out that I pay much more than $168 every three months for my coverage.
Here are their comments:
From David M:
Terrific letter from your friend at Tulane University. I love his analogy to a "shady used-car dealership". Unless the Democrats undertake tort reform, and thereby help constrain the practice of unecessary medical testing, they will not be able to achieve their goals within a reasonable cost structure. Will the Democrats turn their back on the number one source of campaign funding, the trial lawyers? It's called "leadership".
Like you, I'm a supporter of the single-payer, universal access system that we have in this country. However, the cost is a lot more than you imply in today's blog entry. When one factors in the 42% or so of every provincial tax-dollar that goes to health care in this province the cost is huge. Single-payer, universal access is great but we've got to introduce private sector competition and disciplines, inside the system, or we simply will not be able to afford the level of service we have let alone that which we seek to achieve.
From Victor:
david:
You do NOT pay $168 every three months for health care. This is an
illusion born of decades of government propaganda. Here are the actual
numbers.
Health care accounts for 45% of government spending. Therefore, it
sucks up 45% of all government revenue.
So, that means if you buy a microwave oven and pay $15 sales tax, $7
of that goes right into health care. If you pay $2000 in provincial
income tax, $900 goes to health care.
Do we have a single tier cost system. Only if one is math challenged.
Consider this.
In BC, if your salary is $100,000, your provincial income tax is
$8500. About $4000 of that goes directly into health care. That's $333
a month for health care plus the $56 a month for MSP for a total of
$389 a month for health care.
If your salary is $28,000 a year you pay $1000 in provincial income
tax, meaning $450 a year goes into health care. That's $37 a month
plus $56 for MSP for a total of $93 a month for health coverage.
Thus, if these two hypothetical taxpayers are sitting in a doctor's
office awaiting exactly the same procedure, one person is paying 4
times as much as the other for the same service. Whether the rich
should pay more is a whole other debate. But the facts are (a) we have
a multi-tier system regardless of what lying politicians say (b) Our
MSP payments do not remotely cover our total contribution.
From Victor:
david:
You do NOT pay $168 every three months for health care. This is an
illusion born of decades of government propaganda. Here are the actual
numbers.
Health care accounts for 45% of government spending. Therefore, it
sucks up 45% of all government revenue.
So, that means if you buy a microwave oven and pay $15 sales tax, $7
of that goes right into health care. If you pay $2000 in provincial
income tax, $900 goes to health care.
Do we have a single tier cost system. Only if one is math challenged.
Consider this.
In BC, if your salary is $100,000, your provincial income tax is
$8500. About $4000 of that goes directly into health care. That's $333
a month for health care plus the $56 a month for MSP for a total of
$389 a month for health care.
If your salary is $28,000 a year you pay $1000 in provincial income
tax, meaning $450 a year goes into health care. That's $37 a month
plus $56 for MSP for a total of $93 a month for health coverage.
Thus, if these two hypothetical taxpayers are sitting in a doctor's
office awaiting exactly the same procedure, one person is paying 4
times as much as the other for the same service. Whether the rich
should pay more is a whole other debate. But the facts are (a) we have
a multi-tier system regardless of what lying politicians say (b) Our
MSP payments do not remotely cover our total contribution.
