If paying more taxes "gets me" something, it isn't "free" medical/dental care, now is it? I'm paying for it. And as we've seen an uncountable number of times, the government version is always worse, slower, and more limited.
Hey Canadians of halforums: would you trade healthcare systems?
If that were true, the welfare state would have eliminated poverty decades ago.
They only can afford their healthcare system because we float the bill for their national defense.
Our current system of healthcare does not work. Like, at all. It did not work BEFORE the ACA. It got better under the ACA for the large majority of people (yes, I fully realize that it did fuck some in the ass) but was hamstrung thanks to the republicans and their obstructionism. You can whine and moan all you want about how badly governmental healthcare will be handled, but there are countless examples of that being wrong. And yes, I realize that the systems of which I speak are for smaller & less diverse countries, but the models are there and single payer healthcare's time has come.
Throw in Taylor Swift and the New England Patriots, and you got a deal.
And it won't be until it happens to you. I hope it doesn't.
Medical costs defrayed through hat-passing is the most libertarian thing I can think of.
If I'd been Canadian, Pauline would still be on a waiting list today.
Not a Canadian but hell no !
Betcha I've thrown more into the various hats around here than you have, Mr. Charitable. Even as a percentage of income.
Probably. I have my monthly auto-pay for multiple charities though if that's the game you wanna play.
Hey, don't be so quick to say no. You might be able to get them to throw in David Hasselhoff.
But why? When you could just voluntarily, under current law, just pay more taxes than you owe instead of taking a refund? Don't you trust the government to spend that charitable money wisely and in a manner you agree with? Or do you think that YOU YOURSELF SHOULD BE DECIDING WHAT IS DONE WITH YOUR MONEY? Like some kind of selfish libertarian?
Bzzt. Thanks for playing, though. Let's try a source that is NOT a blog - although it amuses me to see YOU of all people using Huffington Post as a source.
I was using it specifically because it is a pro-leftist source that I don't usually agree with. I mean, I could have linked forbes or something, but generally I try to use Blots' own allies against him because eating their own is what leftists do best.
Obviously I was using hyperbole when I implies she'd be on a waiting list for FIVE YEARS. However, a wait time of 9 weeks is not much help given that, even with *immediate* treatment, Pauline was gone within 12 weeks of her initial diagnosis. I can only imagine how much worse it would have been waiting in a queue.
First of all, I never get a refund. Second of all, that's not where it's going. I don't begrudge anyone for only paying what they have to. I'm saying if you're against paying more so people won't die of easily treatable conditions, you're a selfish jerk.
I don't want to drag her into any political discussions, but you and I both know someone here who the canadian healthcare system has utterly failed numerous times.
That's not how taxes work, unfortunately. You can't be certain whether or not your money is going to go to MRI machines or stealth bombers, and you have no say in the matter.
If you read through the papers, the wait times are based on both need and where the person is. So a diagnosis such as hers would have been seen to immediately while a hip replacement would probably be waiting for a month or two.
If we're dragging people into this, I'm quite happy my gf happened to qualify for Obamacare. It meant she was able to afford the surgery and medicine she needs. I know in your perfect world she wouldn't have been able to have it.
And yet across the board, it's been shown (by the frasier institute, the same source you linked earlier) that the Canadian wait times DO have a measurable effect on increasing mortality in Canada, no matter how they try to triage. And the only reason it isn't even worse is because when the shit REALLY hits the fan, they send people across the St. Lawrence to get treatment in America because they don't have the facilities.
We're not. That's the point.
That has been my experience. I have friends that have waited 10 months or better for a knee replacement, but any cancer is dealt with rather fast. Typically people with a low priority get bumped so that newer more critical patients get helped first.
Another false dichotomy. In my "perfect world," the price wouldn't have been inflated by the disassociation between payer and patient brought on by government wage controls, so Heath Care would still be affordable even without insurance.
It was a pretty blatant subtweet.
If I - and my extended family - was wealthy, I'd readily prefer American Healthcare. But I'm not, and so I'd never trade my healthcare system for yours.
