Health Care..what do you think?

[goof2]

Originally Posted by Papa_Complex

That's a rather neat turn of phrase, that's a complete non sequitur.

Just because it doesn't make sense to you doesn't mean it is a non sequitur. What I was saying is the bankruptcy rate in a year due to health issues (not just healthcare costs), according to the study where all this crap started, is around two and a half households per thousand. That is not a lot of bankruptcies.

If you actually read the study your "primary cause of insolvency" statistic came from healthcare costs were not the primary cause of insolvency (bankruptcy). Health issues, and the resulting loss of income, were the primary cause of bankruptcy. Only a bit more than half of those who specifically stated medical issues were the reason for their bankruptcy owed more than $5000 or 10% of their income. The flip side is many of these people were declaring bankruptcy over medical debt of less than $5000.

The most common reason given by those who responded to the survey was loosing 2 or more weeks of income due to an illness or becoming permanently disabled, neither of which are covered under standard health insurance. It sounds to me like the more common problem was people living paycheck to paycheck rather than anything to do with the medical system itself. This problem is not something that will be remedied by healthcare reform.

To be clear about the question I am going to ask, it is not a loaded question. I do not know and am genuinely curious. Does the national health insurance program in Canada come with short term or long term disability? Social Security here provides long term disability but I don't believe the monthly stipend is significant.