Wow, first diary at Daily Kos, and I decide to do it while Americans are having the political battle of a generation. This is kind of like a rookie pitcher stepping up to the mound at Yankee Stadium, so bear with me while I try to provide some info and hopefully get some in return from the 5 people who might read this.
There have been a number of diaries in the last few months from ex-pat Americans and citizens of other countries relating their experiences with single-payer/public/socialized/call-it-what-you-will health care. I can't really add much to that, mainly because I haven't really needed a lot yet. I go to the doctor a couple of times a year, get a prescription now and then, but I've had no major health scares. I guess I'm still in that younger age mindset where I think I'm invincible and nothing will happen until I reach retirement. Of course, part of it might also be that instead of a Visa or MasterCard at the doctor, I use something else...
Like every resident of Ontario, I have a health card issued by OHIP, or the Ontario Health Insurance Plan. This card allows me access to health care with no upfront payment anywhere in Canada, with the possible execption of Quebec, where I get reimbursed after the fact. This covers all the basics from visiting my family doctor or an emergency room, up to the surgeries and operations that seem to cause so many bankruptcies in the United States.
Of course, many things aren't covered, which tends to cause a lot of griping among Canadians on both sides of the spectrum. Services get delisted, such as eye exams in Ontario about five or six years ago, and people on the far right clamor for privatized health care whilst those on the left ask for more money to be put in the system. And I won't lie to you, it is a big system. According to the the Ontario Ministry of Finance, in the 2009-10 fiscal year, health care will take up $42.6 billion of a $108.9 billion budget. More than debt repayment, more than education, more than other social services. This is a major undertaking.
Like I said before, many diaries have focused on the level of care, or the fact that they only had to pay for luxuries like private rooms, phone calls, etc. But I wanted to lay out what I actually pay in taxes, because underneath all the talk about death panels and rationing, this is really what drives the fear on the right: the thought of higher taxes and paying for other, undeserving souls.
Like Americans, Canadians pay a variety of income and sales taxes to federal and provincial/state governments. In Ontario, we pay a 8% sales tax, which is currently being harmonized with a 5% Goods and Service Tax administered by the federal government. We pay the usual variety of excise taxes on gas, cigarettes, liquor, etc. I won't get into all of those here, but if you want to compare what I pay to what you pay, please feel free to check it out here.
The biggest item people seem to care about is income tax. Well, here is what I pay as someone firmly in the middle class:
Federal income tax: 15% on the first $37885, 22% on every dollar above that to $75769, 26% up to $123184, and 29% after that.
Provincial income tax: 6.05% on the first $36020, 9.15% on every dollar above that to $72041, and 11.16% after that
Ontario Health Care Premium: ah, the premium. Added shortly after the Liberals under Dalton McGuinty took over from the slash-and-burn, privatizing, union-busting Conservatives under Mike Harris and Ernie Eves. Yes, it's a tax. Yes, McGuinty broke a promise he signed not to raise taxes. But was it better than the alternative of slashing the budget even more? I think so, and enough other people thought so to give him a crushing second electoral victory. The premium ranges from zero to those making under $20000 up to $900 if you make more than $200,600. I paid $600 last year, as did anyone making between $48600 and $72000.
From what I gather, most Americans pay $600 a month.
Now, OHIP doesn't cover it all. I have to pay for my prescriptions, my contact lenses and glasses, my dentist visits, and a bunch of other things. But both my wife and I work for employers who offer us supplemental coverage as part of our benefits. 80-90% of dental bills, a free eye exam every two years, drug coverage, massage therapy, etc. Why do they do this? Could it be because they don't have to cover the cost of older workers having triple bypass surgery, or a masectomy? Or someone of my age going skiing and breaking every bone in their body? I mean, they pay corporate taxes, but they don't have to pay some for-profit insurance company that seems to raise premiums EVERY...SINGLE...YEAR.
No wonder the Big Three automakers liked doing business here.
I've lurked here a long time. Long enough to remember when it was declared a "reality based community". I hope this opens a little window into a reality beyond what the current discussion in the U.S. seems to dwell on. I'm a liberal Canadian, not a communist. But if my health care seems like a socialist worker's paradise to the teabaggers, then I can end this one way:
take off, eh? (what, you think I was going to switch to Russian?)