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Originally Posted by seeker5  Speak for yourself. I have European family members who live and work in Europe, and they sure feel robbed that more then half their income goes to the state. They definetely don't see it come back to them, and are tired of paying for the freeloaders who mooch off the welfare state. |
That's because some governments allow people who don't pay to mooch off the welfare state. When the idea began to function, only those who contributed had health care, and in some countries it's still like that. Where things are still like that (if you don't pay, you don't get services), things work OK. Of course, where a lot of people mooch off the welfare state, some people are bound to feel robbed too...
And there's the little fact that if your European family members are paying more than half their income, that means they also get their pensions from those taxes. If they don't get their pensions or they don't get proper health care, they'd have a reason to feel robbed. If they get full health care and their full pensions, they are getting what they paid for.
Still, considering the medical costs in the USA, I still think the welfare state is a better option. There are treatments that some of my family members needed, that we would have been completely unable to pay for if not for the health care system.
I'll grant you there's a lot of mooching in some countries. But still you get something from your taxes. If I got nothing, I wouldn't even want to pay the minimum.
Anyway, I wasn't suggesting that you paid more taxes, but that you got something in exchange for the taxes you pay. There's a huge difference there.
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Originally Posted by Ree I have a friend in Canada who comes to the US for medical treatment because of the long wait he faced to get treatment for a life/death condition. He's lucky because he can afford to pay for it. What about those who can't? I'd rather pay for my own insurance and have health care when I want it and from whom I want to receive it. |
I don't know how the Canadian system works. The European systems function pretty well... unless governments allow the mooching by non-contributors mentioned by Seeker. As I said, the system has some flaws... but it is far better than nothing. And it is getting something from your taxes instead of nothing or just advanced weaponry.