We live in a non-socialist country too (just not as much "non-socialist" as the US)
Free health care was introduced by a Socialist Government but has since been adopted by all parties in the UK because it was (and is) so very popular with the majority of voters (as you would expect).
The standard tax rate in 2008/09 is 20% with the higher rate being 40%.
I think we in the UK are overtaxed, but anyone in any country when asked would almost always say they were overtaxed.
As far as the free health care issue goes; if they got rid of free healthcare tomorrow i don't think for a second they would actually LOWER tax rates as a consequence.
Lastly, i think it's rather comforting to know that if i fall over and break my leg, have a heart attack, contract cancer, catch AIDS, have a nervous breakdown or develop a brain tumor then i would be picked up by an ambulance and taken to the nearest hospital where i would receive treatment for as last for as long as i needed it.
Basically in principle and in practice; in the UK, a poor man contracting cancer would get exactly the same treatment as the multi-millionaire Mr.Jobs; I'll leave that to other to decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing....
Yeah maybe. In Canada (where my ancestors were from), if the government says "oh we will do 100 heart surgeries this year", you better not be #101 or you will have to wait till next year (or come here to the USA like some do).
I don't think anywhere on earth will have the perfect health system. You either have insurance company bureacracies, the government, or someone mucking it up somewhere. We in the US pay an arm and a leg for health insurance (unless your company picks it all up), and then we hear "Well, you did not meet your $1500 deductible for this year yet, so we did not pay anything" or "Do you have another insurance under your spouse? We do a maintenance of benefits where we pay some, they pay some, but you will never achieve 100% coverage."
The company my wife works for did another 11% increase on health insurance cost. the plan was going to cost her $400 every two weeks to cover both of us as a secondary insurance. She only makes $750 every 2 weeks. That is more than 1/2 her income. We figured it out, with taxes and the health insurance - she would only be taking home barely $200 every two weeks. then there was a $1500 deductible to boot, so the insurance company would deny the first $1500 in claims as "being toward your deducible" and that is after your copay of $10 per office visit (if it was in the network, $20 if outside the network).
So in the end, for the $9,600 per year - you were lucky if the insurance company paid $500 of your medical expenses for the entire year.
or worse, how about this one:
3 years ago, I almost had a heart attack and had to have 3 stents. the bill was $20,000 for the procedure, the ambulance ride, and the ICU stay over night (I was only in the hospital for 1 night as that is all the insurance would pay). 2 years later I got an EOB in the mail that read, they adjusted the claim and found there was a direct statement in the contract with the employer where this was not covered (our employer never gave us an insurance book when they switched companies, stating what was and what wasn't covered - and that company did not have a website either). The EOB said that the insurance company wanted $11,000 back and to make the check payable to them. The EOB went to the hospital and myself. Both the hospital and myself laughed and the hospital is re-adjusting and refiling since I had 2 insurances at the time.
Then the kicker - before then, the insurance company did not want to pay for the dosage of the cholesterol and blood pressure medicine I was on, as it was not "in their preferred formulary" and then afterward they did not want to pay for the medication the hospital and heart doctor had me on "as it was not in their formulary"
Or how about this one - I went to the dentist to have some teeth pulled. the dentist took one look at my x-rays and said"we going to have to sedate you, you have some really long roots that will require us drilling and removing part of your jaw bone. After 4 filings and my dentist sending in all the information on why I needed sedation (including x-rays, photographs of the procedure, medical journal information, etc) - the insurance company reviewed it and returned a letter stating "our team of dentists reviewed the information and have determined that sedation is not required for that procedure - a local anethestic for a typical filling should be all that is required"
What?
you are pulling 3 teeth and removing part of my jaw bone and feel that I only required 1 or 2 shots? Insurance company refused for 2 years, my bill went to collections and I was forced to pay $900 out of pocket. Insurance company covered only $200.Healthcare - bah.
