Comment · Tue, July 30, 2013
Stephen Colbert gave a shout-out to Tea Party group FreedomWorks for stepping up its’ efforts against the Affordable Care Act: “Don’t fall for it, young people. You don’t need insurance. You’re gonna be young and healthy forever.”
What they were answering
Jason_R · 2 points
Hopefully the Affordable Health Care Act can help with things just like that. To give you an idea, those surgeries are all free in Canada, and I've had a few. I pay monthly for basic coverage, everyone does; it's wonderful.
Edit: Ok apparently I have to specify every time I use the words "free" and "healthcare" in the same sentence. I know it's not actually free. I know we all pay for it. My point was I didn't pay anything out of pocket. I won't use that phrasing again as it seems to come up every time that people feel the need to point out that it's not actually free, like this is a reality that Canadians don't know. We get it, we pay for it. We don't pay $10,000+ out of pocket to have a baby at a hospital, that was my point.
Most provinces don't have a monthly fee, and everything is taken out of taxes, however in British Columbia it is $60/month for basic if you make more than $30,000/year. If you make less than $18k, it's free, and there's a tiered system in between where you can pay less.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb
It doesn't help with things like that. That's the problem. It does nothing to lower actual healthcare costs. It's merely insurance legislation.
And no, those surgeries are not all free in Canada. They all have a cost. I don't care if you are paying taxes or for private insurance, the cost of the surgery is still very much a real thing. That is what is costing too much. That is what needs to be addressed.