USA healthcare is weird and expensive.

[Antonito]

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Because half of Canadians don't pay anywhere near enough tax yup cover their healthcare costs.

Which is true in America as well. You'd be paying for Medicare, Medicaid, the general mark-up in costs due to uncovered bills, and on top of that insurance.

[nzwasp]

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I've been to an ER in Las Vegas due to a mysterious, severe allergic reaction. Treatment consisted of zero care until credit card is produced & swiped with a large pre-auth, waiting for fucking ever and eventually getting an injection of benadryl + Pepcid administered in a way that's forbidden in Canada. No x-rays, scans, blood testing or anything else.
The bill was over $7k USD (may need to dig up records as I can't recall if it was even more than that).


Insurance covered everything except the cab back to the hotel (covered the one there, though... LoL!) but the hospital will still mail you collection agent, scary, threatening bullshit about your unpaid bill, even though your insurance company is supposed to be dealing with everything.

I don't want to live there.
Oh and while I was in the waiting room, a lower income black female had obvious signs of severe kidney disease/failure and she had to ignore the doctor's advice and leave because she didn't have any money and couldn't miss work tomorrow.

Bombs bursting in air!

This wasn’t my experience I don’t think it’s always scary.

Two times I have had to use hospital in the USA.

In 2007 I broke my arm while drunk in California I think I was in Santa Barbara at the time. I went to the hospital there pulled out my rbc insurance card. Everything was covered. I think it was 30k for a cast on it.

In 2014 we took our daughter to Disneyworld and we were staying on the resort. She ended up getting a high fever whilst at animal kingdom and We went to the first aid station at disneyworld they basically ushered us out the back and drove us in some unmarked van to the hospital. We produced our sunlife insurance from work and they covered it all didn’t have to pay anything. It was $2k for some bloodwork and Tylenol. Disney then gave us some merch and a free day pass to one of the parks.

[Buster]

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Which is true in America as well. You'd be paying for Medicare, Medicaid, the general mark-up in costs due to uncovered bills, and on top of that insurance.

And you think that makes up for the income tax we pay here?

Our "free" healthcare system is just a transfer of wealth.

- - - Updated - - -

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The entire health care situation in the US is a 100% deal killer for me ever living there. I've read quite a lot regarding all things early retirement and the constant theme that the Americans stress over is healthcare costs and that's just not something I need to think about here. It's a deal breaker.

You're also placing a decades long bet on Canada by retiring here. Is Canada a country you want to bet on?

[ThePenIsMightier]

In my story, there was no payment for anything at the hospital and insurance was produced and it all went through. The credit card was a backup and it wasn't actually charged. That's seemed clear to me, but maybe my explanation wasn't clear?

The shitty letters were apparently because the insurance co was negotiating with the hospital and dragging things on so apparently the hospital gets pissy and threatens the patient.

[Antonito]

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And you think that makes up for the income tax we pay here?

Our "free" healthcare system is just a transfer of wealth.

stand on principle if you like, I'd be more concerned about the actual money involved than some vague notion of wealth transfers. Especially since the exact same thing is happening with regard to health care in America

[topmade]

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I have been saying this for years. I had a job offer with a major telecom in the states, and they were willing to give me my magic number to make me leave, but they wouldn't match my current healthcare benefits, and for that alone it was a deal breaker.

It's because US heath care is expensive as hell and can be easily over $2k/month for a small family. They would need to substantially increase your salary to cover that cost. We closed an office in SD and this was one of the main concerns for the staff that were all let go because our company subsidized a big chunk of it for them.

[Buster]

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stand on principle if you like, I'd be more concerned about the actual money involved than some vague notion of wealth transfers. Especially since the exact same thing is happening with regard to health care in America

I'm concerned about actual money involved when the transfer is from me to someone else.

[dirtsniffer]

If I tore my ACL in the USA I could be scheduled in for an mri in 2 days and surgery the next week.

Here you remain injured for so long it heals wrong and then you get surgery a year later and have to heal all over again. As long as you can afford it or have insurance, their care is not even in the same league.

[revelations]

Doesent healthcare costs/service/insurance vary widely from state to state down there?

[Buster]

The ONLY major thing Canadians do better than Americans is the number of guns running around on the publics streets.

Maybe Canada has better zoning laws in most municipalities.

[Antonito]

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I'm concerned about actual money involved when the transfer is from me to someone else.

Then we agree, American health care would be disastrous for your pocketbook

[Buster]

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Then we agree, American health care would be disastrous for your pocketbook

No, it wouldn't be.

[sexualbanana]

A few years back, I went to my physician about some mild stomach discomfort. He ended up sending me to the ER so they could run further tests. After a day of tests, they conclude that I have a ruptured appendix and needed to schedule me for emergency surgery. Out of curiosity, I decided to look up what the cost of an appendectomy was in the US. The answer: minimum $30k. I couldn't imagine having to face that decision if the surgery wasn't covered.

I bring that up because I also like watching shows like Botched and Dr Pimple Popper. It's crazy to watch these patients who have to live for years with these giant growths on their bodies and heads. It occurred to me that that may be a symptom of the medical system, that they have to basically get cast as a freak show in order to get the proper treatment at an affordable (or free) price.

[kertejud2]

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And you think that makes up for the income tax we pay here?

Our "free" healthcare system is just a transfer of wealth.

Healthcare isn't what makes our taxes higher than the U.S.

To match public healthcare spending with the U.S. our taxes would have to go up. Considerably. The U.S. public healthcare spending burden is much higher than Canada's.

https://data.oecd.org/healthres/health-spending.htm

[Antonito]

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No, it wouldn't be.

You put an enormous dollar value on your feelings and emotions

[Buster]

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Healthcare isn't what makes our taxes higher than the U.S.

To match public healthcare spending with the U.S. our taxes would have to go up. Considerably. The U.S. public healthcare spending burden is much higher than Canada's.

https://data.oecd.org/healthres/health-spending.htm

All I care about is how much I pay in taxes and what I get for it.

[kertejud2]

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All I care about is how much I pay in taxes and what I get for it.

Good to know it’s not about healthcare as a transfer of wealth, then.

[Buster]

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Good to know it’s not about healthcare as a transfer of wealth, then.

do you read what you write before you type it? Or is it a random word generator?

[kertejud2]

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do you read what you write before you type it? Or is it a random word generator?

You’re upset that healthcare in Canada transfers more of your wealth to others than it would in the U.S. via taxes even though the healthcare in the U.S. transfers more of your wealth to others via taxes, meaning the difference is attributable to other things.

What am I missing?

If the U.S. had Canadian healthcare they could have lower taxes. If Canada had American healthcare we’d have higher taxes, because American healthcare, both public and private, is more expensive, which is the point of the thread.

[Buster]

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What am I missing?

You're finally asking the right questions.