This blog piece was written by one of our students, Zukai. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue. (It originally was written as a newsletter piece, but was over the character limit)
When talk of universal healthcare comes up, some common issues are pointed out. How will healthcare workers’ pay be impacted? Won’t the income tax be increased? Aren’t wait times exceedingly long in other countries like Canada? These were all questions that our group posed for Dr. Weisbart, but leading into them I tied back into my experiences in France. When I fell into a ditch while riding a bike, the people around me instinctively asked if I needed an ambulance, and although I knew that the cost would only be between 100-200 Euros (similar price in US dollars), it was still surprising considering I only had scrapes on my hands and some bleeding from a cracked fingernail; I wouldn’t even use a Band Aid for these injuries back in the US. This made me think about the argument that people with universal healthcare are prone to overusing the healthcare system and thus cause long wait times. But the doctor explained that in places like British Columbia they have government-run websites where you can click where you feel pain on a human body, what type of pain and other general information, what distance and amount of time you are looking for in an appointment, and receive dates and places, with severe cases taking immediate priority. Although some may complain about the wait times, they still consider Canadian healthcare to be much better than US healthcare and their complaints are commonly exaggerated by the US. Also, for every province in Canada, every surgical specialty has a median waiting time of 4 months or less (for generally non-severe cases), and considering Americans usually do a check-up every 6 months, this isn’t terribly long.
Another common issue raised is that income taxes will skyrocket. In my experience, the people I met also complained about how terrible the income tax was in France and how they were considering moving to the US because they are making tens of thousands of dollars less than their US job counterparts due to the taxes. The doctor stated that different countries with universal healthcare set it up uniquely and so France should be compared with other countries with universal healthcare. According to French census analyses, 71% of French income is taken by taxes, but France can be considered an outlier since the tax wedge is 45%. The average OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) country’s tax wedge is 35%, which includes other countries with universal healthcare like Canada, pointing to a flaw with the French system (which we could avoid by setting up a flat or progressive tax with fewer premiums). The doctor stated that already, the US pays more for healthcare per capita than any other country, so we should be receiving universal healthcare, but around a third of healthcare funding goes to private businesses (primarily insurance). Insurance is also seen as problematic because preexisting conditions and chronic diseases can lead to losing jobs with insurance benefits or getting removed from the insurance plan one paid premiums for for years. According to the survey, a vast majority of participants believe that insurance is the cause of the increased healthcare price.
