Prescription for Healthcare - Self-Insure the basics, pool the Big Stuff
1) Declare to Canadians that governments fund healthcare with an annual amount just about equal to the total of all federal and provincial Personal Income Tax.
$PIT = $Healthcare= ~$80 billion ... there Is no free healthcare. That done, concentrate on cutting costs AND improving service.
2) Unify Healthcare funding as a national program - stop the fed-prov squabbling and all the criss-cross transfers that nobody can follow (on at least this file).
3) Take the amount of tax collected FOR Heathcare funding (ie virtually every penny) and remove that from the gov't Consolidated Revenue Fund & Budget.
Just like CPP, it's off the Budget and now with its new mandate is doing amazingly courageous (I didn't say smartly timed) things.
4) Collect this new dedicated-to-health-spending money based NOT on the exemption-ridden progressive tax code (that nobody can understand) but on the life choices and life styles of the contributor
i.e. are you a hard-drinking, cigarette-smoking skydiver with unlimited sexual desires or do you hold an office job & enjoy scrabble with your spouse and neighbours?
5) Make it an INSURANCE plan ... if you present a lower risk you pay less. Something along the lines of "cover the basics yourself" and we'll all participate in a country-wide group plan for the major stuff -operations, hospital care and chronic disease.
Select an annual amount say $2,666 ($80 billion div by 30 million) and have each Canadian buy insurance to cover that amount of health risk. Max premium is $2,666 and everyone's premium would be based on the risk and probabilities of them taking from the fund - Remember these payments are INSTEAD of the amounts that are now deducted as Income Tax!!
In addition, with in-your-wallet direct savings as an incentive, perhaps Canadians would stop doing some of the stupider things than now costs all of us so dearly to pay for.
$PIT = $Healthcare= ~$80 billion ... there Is no free healthcare. That done, concentrate on cutting costs AND improving service.
2) Unify Healthcare funding as a national program - stop the fed-prov squabbling and all the criss-cross transfers that nobody can follow (on at least this file).
3) Take the amount of tax collected FOR Heathcare funding (ie virtually every penny) and remove that from the gov't Consolidated Revenue Fund & Budget.
Just like CPP, it's off the Budget and now with its new mandate is doing amazingly courageous (I didn't say smartly timed) things.
4) Collect this new dedicated-to-health-spending money based NOT on the exemption-ridden progressive tax code (that nobody can understand) but on the life choices and life styles of the contributor
i.e. are you a hard-drinking, cigarette-smoking skydiver with unlimited sexual desires or do you hold an office job & enjoy scrabble with your spouse and neighbours?
5) Make it an INSURANCE plan ... if you present a lower risk you pay less. Something along the lines of "cover the basics yourself" and we'll all participate in a country-wide group plan for the major stuff -operations, hospital care and chronic disease.
Select an annual amount say $2,666 ($80 billion div by 30 million) and have each Canadian buy insurance to cover that amount of health risk. Max premium is $2,666 and everyone's premium would be based on the risk and probabilities of them taking from the fund - Remember these payments are INSTEAD of the amounts that are now deducted as Income Tax!!
In addition, with in-your-wallet direct savings as an incentive, perhaps Canadians would stop doing some of the stupider things than now costs all of us so dearly to pay for.
posted by Walk a Kb or Two in my cassins | 11:44 am
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