Monday, July 20, 2009

While looking something else up ...

I came across this about France's health care.

"A big difference is because of society,” says Maggie Mahar, a health care expert and fellow at The Century Foun¬dation, a public policy research group. “Nothing is too good for a fellow French¬man. They are socially obli¬gated. In America, they say, ‘It’s me and my family.’”


Yea, it's wonderful, we suck. Then there is this:


The French system isn’t without its problems. As in the rest of the world, national health care spending continues to increase. France’s costs have led to budget deficits of several billion dollars, one that may even threaten to bankrupt the system, experts say. As in the United States, the number of physicians is dwindling compared to the increasing size of its population in the near future. Concerns exist that paying for health care through employment taxes discourages employers from hiring. France is now turning toward broad taxes on earned and unearned income to pay for health care.


It's going bankrupt, despite the fact that the French are already paying a very high tax rate. Frenchies pay between 6 and 40% individual tax rate, a 33% corporate tax and a VAT of (cough cough) 19.6%. Physicians are getting scare. Health care taxes discourages hiring. No problem, right?