Healthcare In The USA

Err Dronester I think you'll find that I have already agreed to that far more than you are giving me credit for. See below: Message 148We are all card carrying members of the aluminium hat brigade here!! The only question is how big are our respective hats?Anyway see my next post to Oni for complete ass open surrender. Feel free to join the queue to take your pleasure once Oni has finished with me.Edited by Straggler, : No reason given.

Wotcha Oni
I am going to concede, surrender even, this one without a fight. I did start writing about dispirate interests blah blah blah....... But ultimately I have nothing with which to dispute the references you have presented.I remain of the opinion that some of you more extreme suggestions (that the civil rights movement was orchestrated by big business, that PR presidents are identified, groomed and maneuvred years in advance of elections etc. etc.) are worthy of at least a thin covering of baking foil around the ears. Even if not the full on aluminium saucepan headgear that I previously asserted.Can I defend these opinions? Well a small part of me is tempted to take on the intellectual challenge of pitting myself against your obviously superior knowledge in these areas. I have enough humility to have little doubt you will ravage such arguments. But equally I have enough arrogance that I reckon I could at least make you fight hard for your victory.However a larger part of me is intent on some respite from heavy debate and conflict. I would much rather currently spend some time blathering pointlessly about beer, cricket (which started again today - I am sure you will be excited to hear) and other things which nobody here gives a monkeys testicle about. Or even reads (some of my more inebriated posts I certainly hope not anyway).So if you want to go for the kill I am standing here bent over with my pants around my ankles........All I ask is that you be gentle with me. All part of the fun. Apparently If you can't get anyone else to take you on with regard to this stuff and are determined to have a full on victory over somebody give me a week or two and I'll reconsider. Like I say I am arrogant enough to think I could make you work for it. Just more interested in following the cricket and less time consuming EvC stuff at the mo.Where is Keresu these days BTW? I miss his shaggy blonde locks.Edited by Straggler, : No reason given.Edited by Straggler, : No reason given.

the good thing about our system is that both parties get what they want/needOf course this doesnt mean that our health system is perfect...it does have its problems, waiting lists being one of them and there is a shortage of doctors and nurses in public hospitals because the government is working to a budget.this isnt a problem for private patients... but for public patients, something is better then nothing.

I tried to read around a bit on the comparative levels of tax paid in the UK, Australia and the US, and it's well difficult to come up with any meaningful figures because tax varies so much from person to person. The tax database of the OECD seems to offer the most useful figures, but it's still hard to make like for like comparisons. This table (it's an excel file) compares the average percentage paid in income tax, including social security contributions, for someone earning an average wage (I think 'average' means 'mean', but it's not clear).Based on this, British taxes seem to be the highest. The ranges are:Australia: 19.1% - 22.6%
UK: 24% - 25.6%
USA: 11.3% - 24.7%with the differences depending on differing tax rules for married couples and people with and without children. If we deduct the money paid to people with chldren by the state from the tax bill of parents, then Brits with children do better, paying just 19.1%, but Australia's child support must be well generous, as it lowers parents' overall tax burdens to just 9.8% of income.

the australia figures are a little outaverage income in aust is about 50,000 pa34,000 - 80,000 pays 30% tax
80,001 - 180k pays 40%
Over 180K pays 45%but on top of income tax is the 10% GST (thanks to Howard to who's election promise was to "never ever bring in a gst")Edited by Peg, : No reason given.

that's interesting, rumour has it that we're one of the most taxed people in the world but it's useful to see some figures for other countries.The trouble here is that if you're on a low-to-medium salary (20-35K) and you want to get private insurance you can't afford it, as you're already paying about 10% of it for your National Insurance contributions.
You don't get NI relief for having private health cover, so it kind of limits your choice.That's why it seems to me that the Aussie system is fairer, as it acknowledges the fact that you're placing less burden on the public system by giving you a tax reduction.

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"We must respect the law, not let it blind us away from the basic principles of fairness, justice and freedom"

Overall tax burden does not necessarily reflect spending on healthcare specifically. I did a search on google for - healthcare costs US NHS GDP. And got the following as the first entry. I am not claiming it is as independent source but are the figures accurate?It was my understanding (which is of course why I did that search) that US healthcare cost more than ours in one sense or another. Account SuspendedSo are these figures accurate and if they are what do they tell us about the relative costs of the two systems?

I just love how Barney Frank responded to the ignorant masses.Edited by Taz, : No reason given.Edited by Taz, : No reason given.

Gotta love Barney. He is very good at handling morons.

You're not quite right here. These are the tax rates on income earned over the threshold for each band, so someone earning $50,000 is only paying a 30% income tax rate on $16,000 dollars of that income. The tax on someone earning $50,000 comes out to 19.5%. If we're counting the percentage the government takes from the employer's total expenditure, so including all their compulsory contributions to social security, the amount paid is about 26.1%.None of these figures take into account tax offsets, which is why they're higher than the estimate calculated in the OECD Database - they don't count Medicare either, though. These numbers come from the Australian Tax Office and the Britz in Oz wage and tax comparisons site.And sales tax is Britain is 17.5%, so it could be worse.

we'll im not sure about your figuresif you look on the ATO website, the tax free threshold is $6,000from 6,001 - 34,000 the rate of tax is 0.15c for every dollar or 15%from 34001 - 80,000 we pay a minimum of $4,200 plus 30c for each $1 over $34,000but anyway, our GST is not as high as the UK's thats for sure.

So, 30c multiplied by 16,000 gives us $4,800. Add this to the $4,200 and we get $9,000, which is actually 18% of $50,000. I took the 19.5% rate direct from the Britz in Oz website, so I'm guessing the discrepancy is explained by them including the 1.5% Medicare levy.Edit: Sorry for dragging out this sidetrack on Australian tax!Edited by caffeine, : No reason given.