How do you deal with some of the people in Canada who are of the "free-loader" type where they have tons of kids, don't work, and let the government pay them money so that they can live (which gets spend on smokes and booze a lot of the time) with no incentive to ever get out from government assisted programs? They don't pay hardly anything, IF anything in taxes, yet have a whole slew of kids that all need medical care.
I know where you are coming from. However, if it means the difference between the kids not suffering because of the parents laziness, then I am glad that we have a system that allows everyone health care regardless of their income. It's not the kids fault that their parents are not contributing to society.
We see it here more on the side of employment insurance verses health care. In my province, PEI, we have so much seasonal work (farming, fishing, tourism) that many old school folks feel that getting employment insurance for the winter months is a God given right as opposed to a service that should assist your income if absolutely no other work is available. The sad part is that the government still promotes this mentality by providing for jobs that start and end suspiciously in just the right amount of time to make sure you are eligible for EI.
However, I certainly would not trade our health system for the American system. If I lived in the states, I'd probably have false teath right now as I needed 'non-cosmetic' help with my teeth that my family would never have been able to afford. They were hard working but didn't make enough that they would likely have had good health insurance if we lived in the states.
Also, my Mom would probably be crippled as she has had just about every medical issue known to Man. Bad back, bad knee, inner ear dizziness causing a fall rupturing her spleen, her stomach is a veritable road map of scar tissue from miscellaneous internal issues. I'm not even sure if she would be alive today if we had grown up without our health care system.
I don't know what % I pay in my taxes but it's one tax I'm actually proud to pay.
