It's a real shame there's no real way to outlaw pork in legislation; we'd fix the budget at a stroke.

As it is, I think we're going to get a small refund this year, as I can begin deducting mortgage interest. Although, my wife did get a substantial pay raise, so who knows.

The problem is that free health care equals extremely low quality health care, and less access to important things that most people in the US take for granted. I don't know about Canada, but in France and the UK, anyone who can afford to pays] for their health care.

quote:

---

Bloodsage got served! Bloodsage got served!
Ask Mort what the British think of their free health care. Ask anyone in France the same.

The problem is that free health care equals extremely low quality health care, and less access to important things that most people in the US take for granted. I don't know about Canada, but in France and the UK, anyone who can afford to pays] for their health care.

---

Well, what can I say? I think of the children.

I'll take my so-called poverty level income, complete with two cars and a house, thank-you-very-much.

quote:

---

Aw, geez, I have Naimah all over myself!
The best thing about income tax is that it isn't normalized to cost of living. Yay for the people in the north east getting fucked more then people in the south.

---

Eh, it's cool. I just consider it the price one has pay for living in an interesting part of the country.

Incidentally, because of its extremely high population density and high per capita income, New Jersey has the highest federal taxation disparity of any state. In 2005 we payed $77 billion to the Federal government and only got $55 billion back. So, for those dirt-cheap property taxes, you're welcome.

The only real problem (for the South, that is) is that wealthy liberal types are getting fed up with the high taxes and the fucking cold winters and heading down south. That part of the reason Virginny and North Carolina flipped blue this past election.

quote:

---

Bloodsage said:
Ask Mort what the British think of their free health care

---

In general: it's good. But under-funded with a lack of nurses (because of the relatively poor pay). That under-funding means not every hospital has a certain machine/scanner or that they only have one so there's a waiting list.

In specialist situations: same quality of care as a private hospital. When my mom got cancer they pulled out all the stops. The only things that were different were a longer wait to see the doctor (only on checkups, emergencies were sorted on the dot and they always did house calls) and sometimes beds were unavailable in a specialist ward so they were put in a normal ward but sectioned off as specialist, so no difference really.

To be honest, the NHS has come a long way since the dark days of the 80's and 90's. Is it always as good as private care? No, of course not, the government only has so much money they can put into it. Is it still good though? Yes, I can speak from experience of accompanying my mom to every checkup and ward, it is good.

You'll usually find that the only nay-sayers of the NHS are those who have never been through it. They do a lot of good and the standard of care and attention is extremely high. If the question is "Does it work?", then I would have to say.. yes.. yes it does.

quote:

---

We were all impressed when Mortious wrote:
(stuff)

---

I have a similar experience from the Canadian public health care system.

The media and people in general all complain about how the emergency rooms are clogged up and it takes hours to get treated. But when I got bit by a squirrel while feeding it and headed to the ER, I got admitted within ten minutes, had my wound treated and disinfected then left a dozen minutes later.

(As to why I went, the squirrel was so unafraid I thought it might've been rabid. In retrospect, I know better than to think of rabies in any urban context now -- it was just obviously just overly used to being fed. Still, reading the wikipedia article on rabies is enough to scare anyone into blowing a squirrel bite into a life threatening condition. )

Some specialists have huge waiting lists, however, so I guess I'm lucky I haven't required services from any of those.

Nina fucked around with this message on 01-24-2009 at 08:39 PM.

The bad news is that I didn't deduct enough and I owe about 600$.

quote:

---

And now, we sprinkle Alidane liberally with Old Spice!
I need to do my taxes. First year of working full time. This may be ugly.

---

Turbotax is retardedly easy.

quote:

---

Nina posted

I don't think he meant the writing up the tax report as much as the amount that'll be going in taxes.

---

This.

Just for the record.

quote:

---

Bent over the coffee table, Mortious squealed:
You'll usually find that the only nay-sayers of the NHS are those who have never been through it. They do a lot of good and the standard of care and attention is extremely high. If the question is "Does it work?", then I would have to say.. yes.. yes it does.

---

I find exactly the opposite. As a matter of fact, you're the only Brit I've actually heard say anything more positive that, "I suppose it's better than nothing."

It's good to hear they're making improvements, though.

quote:

---

Captain Tarquinn's unholy Backstreet Boys obsession manifested in:
I'm very happy with the German "free" health care.

Just for the record.

---

Don't Germany and Japan use a modified version of national healthcare? As in more of a hybrid system than what the UK and Canada use.

I've heard very good things about Germany and Japan's systems, but I haven't learned enough about how they actually function to build an opinion.

Hopefully my Starbucks w2 will get here soon.

quote:

---

Bloodsage had this to say about the Spice Girls:
The problem is that free health care equals extremely low quality health care, and less access to important things that most people in the US take for granted. I don't know about Canada, but in France and the UK, anyone who can afford to pays] for their health care.

---

I'm very glad for my pseudo-free health care. Do realize that it is [i]not[i/] free, though. Given that, I'm also glad I live close enough to the states (10m drive) to travel there were I to need something such as an MRI that I might have to wait months for otherwise. The fee is not barring, and the relief or more immediate medical attention from a negative/positive scan is worth the cost. Most Canadians are not capable of receiving quick results even were they willing to pay for them.

I think a hybrid system of pay for faster service makes a lot of sense, but I'm a silly canuck, so whatever.

On the subject of health care, I'm in a position where private vs public wouldn't matter much. In other words, I'm gainfully employed, and relatively healthy (aside from migraines). What my insurance doesn't cover, I can usually handle out of pocket. My parents aren't so lucky. My dad's employer has crap for coverage, to the point where they'd be better off with medicare and/or medicaid if they were able to get it. Some people have talked about the (allegedly?) poor quality of public health care programs in other countries, but private health care has been going down the same road for a long time.

I can think of two major concerns about privatizing any public program, or socializing any private program. First, the new program needs to establish a framework, more or less from scratch, without creating a disruption in service to the public. Second, unless the new program manages to improve upon the cost-to-benefit ratio maintained by its predecessor, there's no point in making the transition, because the general public will never see an improvement.