Originally Posted by symbian simian

Sweden’s highest rate is 56%. I think everything above 50% is wrong by definition, if you get more than half my money, you go do the job, but it isn’t 62%.

Originally Posted by TED74

Honest question... do you think health care in the US has major issues too? The perfect is the enemy of the good. Anecdotes are fun (the Canadians I know well enough to have meaningful health care discussions with think our system is a disaster in comparison), but if you look at actual studies and polling, satisfaction, results and cost are almost universally better abroad.

I never said there wasn’t room for improvement. But as a whole it functions fine for millions of Americans.


I know two Americans who discovered stage 4 cancer too late to treat. My hunch is that you don't have the whole story with regards to a 2 year wait to even be seen, by that certainly sucks in any case.

Yes I do have the story. She was having some form of symptoms that required testing to determine the cause. It took 2 years of waiting to get that test. Would she be guaranteed to be alive had they caught it right away, well no of course not, but it’s safe to say that her chances would have been much higher. Yes people here discover stage 4 cancer all the time, but that’s either because they are not showing symptoms or are ignoring the symptoms. As soon as they decide to see a doctor or an ER they get seen.


This is not a good talking point. We effectively do the same thing, and limit the number of (tax payer-funded) residencies. If you want to advocate for more slots, I'd be all for it. We're particularly short on primary care physicians.

Your case is not true government rationing. In the US if you want to be a doctor, no one in the government is going to say no, which does happen in Canada.

As long as health care is all completely about profitability for corporations and individuals, it's going to suck (or maybe be great if you're willing to pay out your a55 or get your employer to). From the forums, it seems people aren't willing to pay out their a55es. You get what you pay for. If you don't want everyone to chip in like they do with western European tax rates, you'll individually pay quite a bit more for equivalent care.

Originally Posted by VictorAW

Walgreens is one of the most expensive pharmacys around. I stopped using them years ago. When you have a profit motive in the medical industry, this is what happens. Many insurers have greatly limited the pharmacys that can be used.
I have saved some money by calling around to pharmacies and getting price quotes on different meds my family needs. It is common to have a very large price difference between pharmacies. In some states it is actually illegal for the pharmacist to voluntarily tell you that there may be a cheaper alternative to the drug you were prescribed.
Consumer Reports had a great article on this several months ago.

Originally Posted by Planetrain

Sweden federal income tax is 62%
Canadian federal income tax is 33% on income above $210,000CAD.

We can get better healthcare, you just have to pay for it.
(If you hate paying the high deductible off the HSA plans just get DPMP and bite the bullet on premiums. It’s cheaper than European taxes)

Originally Posted by sailingfun

Why do so many Canadians come to the US for healthcare?