On 4/10/2016 3:44 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
> On 4/10/2016 5:23 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
>> On 2016-04-10 11:52 AM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> That was the idea, but it did not work out that way. A few people
>>> benefited, many did not. Many low income people are forced to either pay
>>> a premium they cannot afford or pay a penalty for having no insurance.
>>> Varies by state, but if you have no income you are usually covered by
>>> Medicaid.
>>>
>>> The plan was based on incorrect suppositions. They assumed that the
>>> healthy 20 and 30 year olds would sign up, pay premiums, subsidize
>>> others. They found it was cheaper to pay a $400 penalty than to buy
>>> $6000 insurance.
>>>
>>> In another thread I mentioned situations like my son. He needs a knee
>>> operation that under the old plan would have been a $500 copay but is
>>> now $6000. He is paying the same premium, less coverage. Many people
>>> have run into that.
>>
>> That same operation here..... no copay.... no charge.
>>
>
> But at what cost? Aside from Huffington Post no one has said what they
> are actually paying for coverage.
Enjoy:
http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/true-co...port-1.2525114
While many Canadians proudly boast about our countrys "free" health
care, a new study has broken down exactly how much money in many tax
dollars go into the system each year.
According to a new report by the right-leaning Fraser Institute, the
average Canadian family will contribute $11,735 in taxes for public
health insurance in 2015.
Many Canadians underestimate the cost of health care for a number of
reasons, says study co-author Bacchus Barua, a senior economist with the
Fraser Institutes Centre for Health Policy Studies.
According to Statistics Canada, Canadians spent a total of $141 billion
on health care that year. The authors divided that number by the
Canadian population, concluding that, on average, each Canadian
contributes $3,961 for health care each year.
However, as the report notes, not every Canadian pays an equal amount in
taxes. Dependents and children are not responsible for paying taxes,
while high-income earners must pay more than low-income earners.
To account for this, the study broke average Canadian families down into
10 income groups, concluding that Canadas poorest families pay $477 a
year for health care, while the wealthiest earners pay $59,666 a year.
The report also found that the cost of health care is on the rise,
increasing 1.6 times faster than the average income.
Barua says that increase should tell Canadians something about the
sustainability of the system, and reminds us we need to be vigilant
about how these increases are trending up.
Barua and the studys co-authors say they hope their findings will help
Canadians "more clearly understand just how much they pay for public
health care."