America and Universal Health Care

The other day (it could have been yesterday for all I know, I am a bit spacey lately) there was a liveblog debate on whether or not the US should adopt universal health care, or not. It totally fascinates me, this whole debate. I read one person's comment on another site (yes DJ, sadly, we do surf elsewhere!) and they said something like the following: "I pay $480 per month for insurance, $20 per doctor visit, $30-$50 a month for prescription drugs, I can afford health care." During the liveblog debate, there was some comment from participants about how Americans should be looking to other countries like Canada and European countries to see how the have free health care for all. What I would like to point out is this, say the person makes about $50,000 per year. In the US, that person would probably be taxed at a rate of about 15% on their income. In France, the tax rate would be 30%. They would also have to pay an additional general social contribution tax broken into three parts as follows: 7.5% on income, 8.2% on wealth, and another 8.2% on investments. As well, a contribution to the social debt tax is also collected, at 0.5% OK, so back to the person who said at $550 a month they could not afford health insurance. Additional monthly income tax = $625.00 Additional monthly GSC on income = $312.50 For the purposes of this discussion, I really don't need to go any further, but suffice it to say, if this person owned a home, any investments (including IRA's), additional property or whatever, there would also be additional taxes paid on those. There are other taxes as well, France has a value added tax (VAT) on goods and services of 19.6% and a reduced rate on food and books of 5.5%. Does any state in the union have a "sales tax" on goods and services of around 20%? How 'bout a food tax? The point is that the person who said they could not afford health insurance at $550 a month would, in France, be paying an additional $930 in income taxes a month alone to pay for heath care. It is disingenuous for anyone to have a debate on whether or not a country should adopt so-called free, universal health care without trying to fully understand the fiscal side. People must understand the costs associated with a "public option" and recognize just who is gong to have to pay for it. This particular blog is focusing on the money side of things, there are other issues, (wait times, covered procedures, drug plans, so-called "death panels", etc.) and if you want to debate those, please, let's :)