On 4/10/2016 3:59 PM, graham wrote:
> On 10/04/2016 3:51 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
>> On 2016-04-10 12:44 PM, graham wrote:
>>
>>>> How much does the average Canadian pay for free medical? Based on
>>>> income?
>>>>
>>> Nothing directly out of pocket. It's government funded, therefore it
>>> comes out of tax revenue.
>>> It's far more efficient and cheaper that way.
>>
>> Not anymore in Ontario. Thanks to the integrity of the provincial
>> Liberals who promised no new taxes, we now have a small annual premium.
>> Thanks to my retirement benefits package my former employer pays my
>> annual premium, but it is a taxable benefit.
>>
>>
> There isn't a premium in Alberta, that was stopped when we were awash in
> oil royalties.
> As a senior, my prescriptions are heavily subsidized by the Alberta
> Govt. Last week I paid $11.82 for a $40 prescription.
> Graham
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, €œand 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."