Recently, my 22 year old step-daughter brought up the issue of "free" healthcare. She is a senior at a major university and was excited about the chance to have healthcare where little or no co-pay was required. So I asked her the simple question: "how do you define free".
She was quick to bring up all the countries that have "a better health care system than ours. One where everyone is covered". Australia and Canada were the first that were brought up. I then asked her what the tax rate was in those countries. She did not know. In fact her response was "what difference does that make"?
Obviously it makes a lot of difference. Canada's tax rate is about 65%!! That means that for every $100 you earn $65 of it goes to the government. Thus the issue that free really isn't free. Doctors won't be working for free, neither will nurses. Utilities still have to be paid for as well as medicine etc. I don't care what the Obama administration says, the only way to fund it is to raise taxes. If not don't you think the other countries would have figured it out by now?
Besides, who wants to be like Canada or Australia? Other than really good beer what have they produced? Nothing, notta, zip. The reason? There is no incentive with 65% of your profits going to the government. Is this really what we in the U.S. really want to be?
