hell, it wouldn't even have to be cheap, just affordable, which it's far from.

*gasp*

young people affording health insurance? impossible

god forbid if it were to be free...

i have a roommate in a similar situation and I'm about to jump into the same boat in a few more months

fuck I better start learning how to set bones and make casts...you know, just in case

I wish I can no pay it... between that and the taxes is 700euros :S

He could also get catastrophic coverage, which is cheap, and would kick in case of emergency room visits, etc. I know plenty of people whose credit is ruined by getting hurt without insurance years after their accidents.

O canada, our home and native land...

FREE HEALTH CARE FOR EVERYONE!

Little story

My dad slides down a mountain, breaks his back. Gets airlifted off a mountain and 3 hospital transfers with 8 days in hospital + months of physio = $80

I get whiplash in Seattle, 15 minutes ambulance ride, no x-rays and spent about 2 hours on a hard plastic board waiting while having to take the biggest pee of my life = $1,700

+1 duppy ... is free health coverage a right?

Nothing is free and if it was you get what you pay for. ER's can't refuse you anyway, they just bill you later.

Affordability is the key. I never really understood how privatized health insurance was ever seen as an ethical way to do things. I have health insurance, but it definitely isn't great coverage.

The whole "nothing is free, you get what you pay for" argument is a baseless protocapitalist myth. Health care is a right, plain and simple. You know what else used to be privitised? Firefighting services. Clearly, a lot of things burned to the ground. I'm happy to see a general shift in attitude that brings this issue back to the table, universal coverage needs to happen.

These days you wouldn't think twice about calling a fire truck or the police, and you expect your trash to be picked up weekly. There is no reason why we shouldn't view health care as a service that is undeniable.

health care may be expensive but brakes are like $20

Universal healthcare is fun and all, but who's going to pay for it? If you haven't noticed we're already in an annual national deficit that's getting larger, China's considering cutting off our lending. An economist at the Wall Street Journal recently crunched the numbers to show that even if you raised the taxes on the top income bracket to 100% (that's right, federal government stealing their entire income) we'd still have an annual deficit. I'm not even touching on Canada, France, and England's health care deficits, and their health care system is crap. I broke my arm skiing in France, didn't get it set in a cast for three days, still had to pay a fee. If that had happened in the states, I'd have it set within an hour, and it'd be taken care of by insurance that I work for. I shouldn't have to pay for other peoples' inability to take care of themselves.

It's seriously a good question: Who's going to pay for it?

Yes, it takes a little longer to get some non-emergency services in Canada. It seems that the American solution is to reduce the queue by a few dozen million people. Its a great system for those who can afford insurance. I saw three specialists in two days without appointments last month and all I had to worry about was paying for parking near the hospital. From my experience, the quality of service is excellent and I wouldn't dare live in a country that doesn't offer the basic right of health for free (or for higher taxes).

Chris: I think the idea of universal free health care is great, but no one can answer the question: Who's going to pay for it? Like I said before, our country has a large national deficit. I suppose if we start beefing up manufacturing and exports we could see tax revenues start to come back, but as we raise the capital gains (and taxes on manufacturing and energy) we see large companies and (gasp) countries leaving our markets and decreases in the GDP. That means less tax revenues. Raising taxes doesn't increase revenues, increased market action does. So until are markets come back this should be a non-issue. It's like saying "everyone deserves a free house" when we're in the middle of a housing crisis. The idea makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but it's that attitude that brought our markets crashing down in the first place.

I would gladly pay slightly higher taxes rather than spending hundreds of dollars a month on something I hardly use.

pdillo: What leads you to believe your taxes would only go up a little bit? If you're paying several hundred a month for health insurance that means you'd continue paying that much in taxes, plus another couple of hundred for all of the people who don't have jobs (kids, elderly, or people that are lazy or out of work). Don't forget the federal government would be running this whole thing, so there would be palms that needed greasing, bureaucracy, ballooning budgets. I'd like someone to find one example where the federal government has taken something from the private markets and made it more efficient. I'll cite some examples of the opposite: welfare, subsidized housing, public education. I have no faith in the federal government controlling social systems and can't believe so many people my age don't mind forking everything over to these people who have ruined education, social security, subsidized housing, and every other social program they've laid their hands on.

/rant

well thats just bull shit, the hundreds of dollars i pay already go to a bunch of other people besides me. capitalist. you sound like a publican. watch sicko, no need paraphrase the movie to you.

pdillo: If you're paying for insurance, sure, your money is pooled into a collective that is then invested into mutual funds and t-bills and banks and what not, but you're not paying for people that aren't also paying (or being paid for by their employer). You're forgetting the staggering number of people without insurance (that don't pay). You honestly think you could double the number of people insured and keep rates the same?! That's not how things work.

I'm trying to keep this discourse civil, so quit with the name calling. Though, if you're going to call me something, 'capitalist' and 'publican' are pretty weak insults. There's nothing wrong with capitalism as it also entails free trade and free markets, something that I'm all for. As for 'publican', I assume you meant 'republican', which couldn't be further from the truth. Also, I get my facts from places like the Wall Street Journal and the Economist, not some fat slobbering douche who hates everything he can't understand.

i think we could afford health care with only a slight tax increase and it would be much much cheaper than insurance. Why do I think this? because a 2 tier system IS working in every other developed country in the world besides ours. Why dont we privatize public education? the fire department? police? you gotta have insurance to have your house put out if it catches on fire… yeah… let that wellfare money grubbing scum burn!! lets save some real tax dough!

but seriously, I wasn't calling you a capitalist or republican. not that either one of those is a 'name'. I said you sounded like a republican and said capitalist are getting my insurance money.

I am a equalist and believe heath care is a right, not something reserved for the well-to-do. Even to low paid bike messengers.

you want to know why we are fucked right now? watch this: http://tinyurl.com/d5xvkh

You should get over your mike moore prejudices and watch sicko, he covers all of this very well. Im sure he is quite as knowledgeable as you or I on social issues.