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21 Ways Canada's Single-Payer System Beats Obamacare
Canadian style single-payer healthcare is simple, affordable, comprehensive and universal—unlike the US's labyrinthine ACA.
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/21-ways-canadas-single-payer-system-beats-obamacare
Number 21:
In Canada, everyone is covered automatically at birth – everybody in, nobody out.
In the United States, under Obamacare, 31 million Americans will still be uninsured by 2023 and millions more will remain underinsured.
Number 20:
In Canada, the health system is designed to put people, not profits, first.
In the United States, Obamacare will do little to curb insurance industry profits and will actually enhance insurance industry profits.
Number 19:
In Canada, coverage is not tied to a job or dependent on your income – rich and poor are in the same system, the best guaranty of quality.
In the United States, under Obamacare, much still depends on your job or income. Lose your job or lose your income, and you might lose your existing health insurance or have to settle for lesser coverage.
Number 18:
In Canada, health care coverage stays with you for your entire life.
In the United States, under Obamacare, for tens of millions of Americans, health care coverage stays with you for as long as you can afford your share.
Number 17:
In Canada, you can freely choose your doctors and hospitals and keep them. There are no lists of “in-network” vendors and no extra hidden charges for going “out of network.”
In the United States, under Obamacare, the in-network list of places where you can get treated is shrinking – thus restricting freedom of choice – and if you want to go out of network, you pay for it.
Number 16:
In Canada, the health care system is funded by income, sales and corporate taxes that, combined, are much lower than what Americans pay in premiums.
In the United States, under Obamacare, for thousands of Americans, it’s pay or die – if you can’t pay, you die. That’s why many thousands will still die every year under Obamacare from lack of health insurance to get diagnosed and treated in time.
Number 15:
In Canada, there are no complex hospital or doctor bills. In fact, usually you don’t even see a bill.
In the United States, under Obamacare, hospital and doctor bills will still be terribly complex, making it impossible to discover the many costly overcharges.
Number 14:
In Canada, costs are controlled. Canada pays 10 percent of its GDP for its health care system, covering everyone.
In the United States, under Obamacare, costs continue to skyrocket. The U.S. currently pays 18 percent of its GDP and still doesn’t cover tens of millions of people.
Number 13:
In Canada, it is unheard of for anyone to go bankrupt due to health care costs.
In the United States, under Obamacare, health care driven bankruptcy will continue to plague Americans.
Number 12:
In Canada, simplicity leads to major savings in administrative costs and overhead.
In the United States, under Obamacare, complexity will lead to ratcheting up administrative costs and overhead.
Number 11:
In Canada, when you go to a doctor or hospital the first thing they ask you is: “What’s wrong?”
In the United States, the first thing they ask you is: “What kind of insurance do you have?”
Number 10:
In Canada, the government negotiates drug prices so they are more affordable.
In the United States, under Obamacare, Congress made it specifically illegal for the government to negotiate drug prices for volume purchases, so they remain unaffordable.
Number 9:
In Canada, the government health care funds are not profitably diverted to the top one percent.
In the United States, under Obamacare, health care funds will continue to flow to the top. In 2012, CEOs at six of the largest insurance companies in the U.S. received a total of $83.3 million in pay, plus benefits.
Number 8:
In Canada, there are no necessary co-pays or deductibles.
In the United States, under Obamacare, the deductibles and co-pays will continue to be unaffordable for many millions of Americans.
Number 7:
In Canada, the health care system contributes to social solidarity and national pride.
In the United States, Obamacare is divisive, with rich and poor in different systems and tens of millions left out or with sorely limited benefits.
Number 6:
In Canada, delays in health care are not due to the cost of insurance.
In the United States, under Obamacare, patients without health insurance or who are underinsured will continue to delay or forgo care and put their lives at risk.
Number 5:
In Canada, nobody dies due to lack of health insurance.
In the United States, under Obamacare, many thousands will continue to die every year due to lack of health insurance.
Number 4:
In Canada, an increasing majority supports their health care system, which costs half as much, per person, as in the United States. And in Canada, everyone is covered.
In the United States, a majority – many for different reasons – oppose Obamacare.
Number 3:
In Canada, the tax payments to fund the health care system are progressive – the lowest 20 percent pays 6 percent of income into the system while the highest 20 percent pays 8 percent.
In the United States, under Obamacare, the poor pay a larger share of their income for health care than the affluent.
Number 2:
In Canada, the administration of the system is simple. You get a health care card when you are born. And you swipe it when you go to a doctor or hospital. End of story.
In the United States, Obamacare’s 2,500 pages plus regulations (the Canadian Medicare Bill was 13 pages) is so complex that then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said before passage “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”
Number 1:
In Canada, the majority of citizens love their health care system.
In the United States, the majority of citizens, physicians, and nurses prefer the Canadian type system – single-payer, free choice of doctor and hospital , everybody in, nobody out.
True
This article paints a picture of sunshine, daffodils and butterflies. The reality of the Canadian health system is MUCH different. I have lived under both the Canadian and American health system and there is no comparison, IMO. The last thing the US needs or wants is Canadian style health care. If the US government adopted the Canadian system, there would be a revolt, I'm sure.
CBS
True
The Canadian health system is designed to provide "minimally acceptable" health care as cheaply as possible. People don't come first, keeping costs down comes first.
All Canadians receive the same health care if they use the system - rich or poor but there is no guarantee of quality - you get what's available.
True
Not exactly. In Canada, many people have difficulty even finding a PCP.
You can request a particular doctor or specialist but there is no guarantee you'll be successful - especially if you want to be seen within a reasonable amount of time. If you require surgery for a broken leg, for instance, your chances of getting the physician of your choice are much less. In most cases, you take what you get.
This article fails to mention that Canadians pay much higher taxes than Americans in order to fund the health system. Sales taxes are in the double digits in most provinces. Higher income taxes, gasoline, tobacco, alcohol, etc. The list is endless.
True but governments continually add user fees, continuously nickel-and-diming Canadians.
Costs are controlled but continue to go up. And controlling costs results in lower quality, longer wait times, reduced services, etc.
Mostly true but there are examples of Canadians losing everything trying to pay for expensive orphan drugs that are used to treat certain medical conditions. Provincial governments will also go after the savings and property of the elderly to pay for their nursing home care.
The Canadian health system is comprised of several provincial and federal government bureaucracies. Nothing the government does is simple OR cheap.
True, they ask what's wrong. Then you wait... and wait... and wait some more.
Most new drugs that are still under patent are considerably cheaper. Generics are not cheaper and OTC medicines cost far more in Canada than the US.
What's an article promoting the benefits of socialized health care without a touch of socialism thrown in? The dreaded 1%, no less. LMAO
There is never any profit to worry about in the Canadian health system - it is ALWAYS in the red.
And the dirty little secret is that the 1% don't use Canada's health system. They travel to the US and pay out-of-pocket.
There are many additional costs not covered in Canada. In addition to user fees, Canadians are responsible for the cost of dental care, vision care, prescription drugs, physiotherapy, etc.
Only because the majority of Canadians are unaware that their health care is mediocre, with most having no experience with a private system like the US.
No, delays are due to a health system that is stretched to the breaking point because of underfunding.
Of course not. They die on waiting lists.
See number 7.
This is only true for income tax. The poor bear a higher burden paying everything else used to fund the system.
LOL. Is that all there is to it? Just swipe a card and forget it. Is this a joke?
This article paints a picture of sunshine, daffodils and butterflies. The reality of the Canadian health system is MUCH different. I have lived under both the Canadian and American health system and there is no comparison, IMO. The last thing the US needs or wants is Canadian style health care. If the US government adopted the Canadian system, there would be a revolt, I'm sure.
CBS
Bullshit. I'm from Canada and the propaganda machine there is very powerful. The healthcare sucks. Period. And it's collapsing. I now live in America. We had a guy from Pakistan in my group whose H1B expired. He went to our companies' Canadian location. It too him 18 MONTHS to find a primary care physician in Toronto. It is far worse in the suburbs. Canadians come to America for healthcare.
Now go back to the sheep farm. I do not have a single - not a single relative - who likes Canadian healthcare. The doctors are assholes and they can get away with it because - you can't go anywhere else or get another doctor bozo. I have one aunt whose mental illness has been so misdiagnosed she is on 6 different pills when she only needs one. I know more about medicine than half the idiot doctors in Canada do and that is not even my field.
Your credibility is going the way of Obama's. http://www.redstate.com/2013/11/25/a-majority-of-americans-now-believe-that-obama-is-not-honest-and-trustworthy/.
YA THINK! It took five years for American to figure out Obama is a lying POS? Something most sane people knew in 5 minutes. The fact that anyone can believe Canada has a great healthcare system is all the proof I need as to why this idiot was voted in twice.
And to think James that's Obama's just the "short list"!
I dearly hope Americans will learn a from the "lessons of the past" and choose NOT to elect a president whose political beliefs represents liberalisms far left next election.
Much of his agenda has approximated "class warfare" yet delivered in a covert manner.
Consequently many in the electorate "see" this veiled fiasco as the great "equalizer".
Recall pre-election Obama was propped as that president who will "level the playing field" in a more "equitable fashion" to ensure everyone pays "their fair share"!
Hmm let's see here, I paid taxes at a rate of 51% in 2012 (my an average "work week" of 65 hours excluding Meso lol).
So oh yea baby, I certainly believe the playing field should be "leveled".
Somehow however I suspect we (myself and Obama) aren't playing on the "same field" at all!
For those of you out there who believe a 50% tax rate is fair, I can almost promise you that opinion would change if you had to EARN the income required. .(Compared to those whom are born with a silver spoon in their mouth or believe philanthropy is "giving" away mommies and daddies hard earned money!)
What do I contend is even more important from my 51% point of view?
Although I believe a rate exceeding 40% of ANYONE's income is excessive what is appalling is how our government can WASTE money, like a damn kid in a candy store!
Nonetheless they fail to provide any allowance of the provisional distribution of said funds.
More specifically enabling the taxpayer to designate a certain percentage of their taxed income towards a particular government classification such as defense, AHCA, national debt etc.
Such a system could also encourage those taxed at "lower rates" to become more involved within the electorate and choose whether a particular candidate (with his pet project in mind) is deserving of THEIR MONEY!
So if the Feds are going to TAX us a such high rates at least provide some mechanism whereby the taxpayers have direct input about HOW and WHERE that money is spent! (20% of a particular return would seem reasonable, IMO)
Jim
The fiasco with the $600 million federal health insurance website wasn’t all bureaucratic. Forcing slow and disparate databases run by government and insurance companies to work together in real time—and then launching the service all at once—would have challenged even technology wunderkinds.
In particular, the project was doomed by a relatively late decision that required applicants to open an account and let the site verify their identity, residence, and income before they could browse for insurance. That meant the site would have to interface in real-time with databases maintained by the Internal Revenue Service and other agencies.
WASHINGTON — The rollout of President Obama’s health care law may have deeply disappointed its supporters, but on at least one front, the Affordable Care Act is beating expectations: its cost.
Over the next few years, the government is expected to spend billions of dollars less than originally projected on the law, analysts said, with both the Medicaid expansion and the subsidies for private insurance plans ending up less expensive than anticipated.
Economists broadly agree that the sluggish economy remains the main reason that health spending has grown so slowly for the last half-decade. From 2007 to 2010, per-capita health care spending rose just 1.8 percent annually. Since then, the annual increase has slowed even further, to 1.3 percent. A decade ago, spending was growing at roughly 5 percent a year.
But even though the Affordable Care Act might be more a beneficiary of changes in health care spending than the primary driver of them, the law’s provisions to control costs could prove increasingly important as the economy improves, demand for health care increases and spending picks back up.
Affordable Care Act, So Far, Seems Likely to Cost Less Than Expected
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/03/b...-seems-likely-to-cost-less-than-expected.html
Just got the bad news from the accountant. With all the personal deductions phasing out, getting whacked with ATM, my refinance on my mortgage to a ridiculously low interest rate and making a bit more I'm going to owe the man ~$30k MORE than I did last year. So guess what...I will be spending significantly less from now until April 2014 trying to come up with that tax money.
This will include holding off on a couple of projects that would've put money directly into the hands of some local contractors.
WASHINGTON — More than a year after the Supreme Court upheld the central provision of President Obama’s health care overhaul, a fresh wave of legal challenges to the law is playing out in courtrooms as conservative critics — joined by their Republican allies on Capitol Hill — make the case that Mr. Obama has overstepped his authority in applying it.
A federal judge in the District of Columbia will hear oral arguments on Tuesday in one of several cases brought by states including Indiana and Oklahoma, along with business owners and individual consumers, who say that the law does not grant the Internal Revenue Service authority to provide tax credits or subsidies to people who buy insurance through the federal exchange.
At the same time, the House Judiciary Committee will convene a hearing to examine whether Mr. Obama is “rewriting his own law” by using his executive powers to alter it or delay certain provisions. The panel also will examine the legal theory behind the subsidy cases: that the I.R.S., and by extension, Mr. Obama, ignored the will of Congress, which explicitly allowed tax credits and subsidies only for those buying coverage through state exchanges.
MIAMI — After two months of false starts, error messages and pleas for patience from the once-hobbled federal online health care exchange, Karen Egozi, the chief executive of the Epilepsy Foundation of Florida, watched on Monday as counselors navigated the website’s pages with relative ease.
