Comments about ‘Letter: Compared to France, Utah taxes aren't that bad’

I love the quote by Margaret Thatcher: "The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money."

I think that if you figured in the costs of insurance and co pays and all the other hidden fees in our system that you'll figured out why we have the most expensive system in the world. I think you'd find that the amount we pay in taxes and "free market" services like insurance that were the ones getting ripped off not the French

@Randy seriously Wikipedia? You obviously are one that has no health insurance otherwise there would be no need to expect a tax increase in January. Therefore if you are stricken between now and then I would be picking up the bill. Isn't that welfare Randy? France does pay more taxes. France does have great healthcare compared to the whole of the U.S. But to those that have health insurance you are already paying a tax, not to the government but to your insurance company. Why is there so much wailing over a small tax but people have no qualms about paying copays and deductibles and thousands in premiums. We are paying a 30% tax to the insurance company for administration before we even get our temperature taken.

This isn't rocket science, the French public services are for more expansive than the US so they pay a higher tax rate. When it comes to actual health care costs though, France is paying nearly half per person than what is spent per person in the US.
I get tired of reading this argument about healthcare costs "well they pay more in taxes!!!!!!!!!", they are paying for other stuff as well as health care.

I really don't know why this concept is so difficult for people to understand.

We just call our texes 'insurance'. Of course health care isn't free. We just put more of it in the 'denial' column.

There are a few problems with the logic of this letter. First of all, not everyone is subject to the tax penalty of Romney/Obamacare, just those without insurance who won't purchase insurance. I agree with the old, more logical Romney who said that many of those without insurance use the emergency room as their primary care, the hospitals then pass on those costs to those who do have insurance or the ability to pay. Free-riding is a big problem in our "sick care" system.

The second problem with the letter is that it fails to acknowledge that employers who offer insurance are paying a tax of sorts to insurance companies. In fact, American employers spend almost double the amount of money towards health care than the French pay in taxes (the portion that goes towards healthcare.) In other words, the French health care system would actually save employers (and employees who pay premiums) some serious cash. The reason European taxes are so high goes well beyond their health system. Their very generous pension system and public transportation costs eats up most of their tax revenues.

I meant to say 'taxes' not 'texes'. I guess I shouldn't be typing out in the sunshine by the trailer. Gotta love summer.

There are 21 different taxes in the ACA. Some we will see in our pay-stubs in 2013. The rest will be manifested in higher health care costs.