Things may have changed....but some information I found.

http://www.readersdigest.ca/mag/1999/06/think_01.html

Zach

Austin Ziegler wrote:

>On Wed, 3 Nov 2004 01:00:56 +0900, Zach Dennis <zdennis / mktec.com>
>wrote:
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>>Ok here is a quick 2 cents while I have quick 5 minute break at
>>work...
>>
>>1. I do not like Kerry because I do not believe things like
>>Healthcare should be government backed, provided, etc...
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>
>.... whereas I believe that healthcare should be out of the hands of
>those interested in high profit margins. Note that the US has a
>situation worse than Canada, because of HMOs, who are more stingy
>than the Canadian government.
>
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>>The more control the government has over things the less choice
>>each individual american gets. Also if the government plans to
>>help with healthcare, and they are going to make sure everyone is
>>and can be covered by the government provided healthcase that
>>wants to be then where is the money coming from?
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>
>Group purchasing drives costs down. Way down.
>
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>>Healthcare isn't cheap, and I'm not a big fan of running
>>government provided healthcare like Canada where the income tax is
>>some absurd number at or above 50%.
>>    
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>
>Zach, speaking as a dual-US and Canadian citizen, your numbers are
>bunk. My annual income tax hovers somewhere around 30% of my total
>income. For this, I have a much calmer and more stable society, high
>quality healthcare, excellent schools (that pay their teachers
>living wages), and many other benefits. When I lived in the US, when
>I calculated state, federal, and local income taxes together, I was
>paying about 26%, IIRC. On top of that, I had a $15 co-pay to see a
>doctor on EVERY VISIT (no co-pay here in Canada), and I felt less
>safe -- and teachers were paid absolute crap.
>
>I had one year here in Canada where I made a LOT of money and paid a
>lot of money in taxes, but the total income tax rate was under 35%.
>
>Yes, there's two sales taxes in my province, totaling 15%. Some
>places in the US have 11.5% or higher sales taxes, and I've
>encountered precious few places that don't have some level of sales
>tax (usually 5 - 7%). But in no way does the total tax rate match
>your absurd 50% figure. For anyone in Canada. Not since the
>timeframe where the US had insanely high tax rates, too.
>
>So, now that we've debunked the tax numbers, let's tackle your
>misconceptions about the cost of healthcare. The US spent 14.9% GDP
>on healthcare in 2002. In the same period, Canada spent 10.7% GDP.
>This includes any trips that were *required* outside of Canada and
>were covered by provincial medical plans (necessary operations
>outside of Canada because of specialist availability are covered by
>provincial medical plans). This may not include the small percentage
>of "queue jumpers", people who paid extra to travel to the US and
>pay outrageous fees for examinations or operations themselves.
>
>The US's healthcare costs are HIGHER than those in Canada.
>Whodathunkit?
>
>I really hate it when people say they are against things, but don't
>actually bother to do the research that would show that their
>preconceptions and assumptions are not only wrong, but dead wrong.
>
>If you want to discuss this off-list, feel free to email me. If you
>haven't voted yet, you should change your mind and vote for him --
>because he *hasn't* lied to you. Yet. Bush has. Repeatedly.
>
>-austin
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