Unlike our city council (see other thread), the provincial government is very smart at balancing a budget without raising taxes.
Yeah, But they increased other fees…ie MSP…so it’s like not raising taxes but increasing utility fees or recreation fees.
BC MSP fees pay a large portion of our Health Budget. In the Canadian Model, (thank you Tommy Douglas) Health and Medical care are available to everyone. Witness what happens when you follow the American Model which is still trying to have universal health care.
If you assume, we Canadians all have a right to good health care then leveling a per person fee, or per family fee is essentially a Head Tax, which the most regressive form of taxation as it does not consider whether you are able to pay it.
Those of use who work in unionized environments, get our BC MSP paid by our employers. If you are not in a unionized environment, you probably have to pay your MSP premium yourself.
Incidentally, most Canadian Provinces, do not charge a premium similar to BC MSP. They fund health care out of general tax revenue.
[quote=“Pantagruel”]BC MSP fees pay a large portion of our Health Budget. In the Canadian Model, (thank you Tommy Douglas) Health and Medical care are available to everyone. Witness what happens when you follow the American Model which is still trying to have universal health care.
If you assume, we Canadians all have a right to good health care then leveling a per person fee, or per family fee is essentially a Head Tax, which the most regressive form of taxation as it does not consider whether you are able to pay it.
Those of use who work in unionized environments, get our BC MSP paid by our employers. If you are not in a unionized environment, you probably have to pay your MSP premium yourself.
Incidentally, most Canadian Provinces, do not charge a premium similar to BC MSP. They fund health care out of general tax revenue.[/quote]
Nothing is free, so if other provinces don’t charge a premium it is simply coming from another one of your pockets. The key phrase is “Available to everyone”, not “Free”.
BTW, I’m in a union and I pay my premium. My employer provides extended benefits.
Yes, I know that nothing is free. Well, actually if the government borrows money to fund something and you get to use it during your lifetime without having to pay for the entire amount that the government has borrowed then the neo-cons would say you are getting a bit of a free ride. This is also known as the debt load that we are leaving our children and grandchildren to pay for…
The point I was trying to make was that the BC Government has historically used a very regressive tax mechanism to fund health care. It is regressive because we all pay the same amount and no consideration is made for the people who are not earning very much money. If you are making the minimum wage and trying to support a family, you are having a hard enough time of it without the government making you pay for something that you can ill afford, but which is so integral to your health.
I believe there is a bit of reduction people can get if their incomes are less than about $20,00 per year/ Unfortunately, they need to apply for the reduction. People making less than $20,000 per year often do not have the skill set needed to handle the hoops that one needs to jump.
Sorry, I was not clear enough in my original post.
[quote=“Pantagruel”]BC MSP fees pay a large portion of our Health Budget.
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Incidentally, most Canadian Provinces, do not charge a premium similar to BC MSP. They fund health care out of general tax revenue.[/quote]
MSP pays for about 10-12% of the Health Budget. So yeah, not a huge amount. I agree with you that it isn’t really in the spirit of universal health care, as it’s more expensive for some. It’s not really a barrier for the poorest, though. Just disproportionately makes middle-income earners pay a bit more.
Would be interesting to run the numbers on the cost of actually collecting MSP premiums. What would happen if that money was used for the Health budget? And then the 10-12% shortfall just came from general revenue? Sure, taxes would increase slightly, but then there would be no premiums. It should balance out overall, and then there’s no cost of actually collecting. This is what some other provinces do, essentially.
Sort of like a big health version of those communities that have decided to have free busses, as the cost of actually collecting fares wasn’t really worth it.