Stadard of living general discussion

[zenbone]

Hello all, i realize that the comparison of "standard of living" will vary greatly from city to city/region to region but i will still pose the question. Do you feel there is a large difference between the standard of living between the US and Canada? i have aspirations of moving with my wife to Canada in the future. Please share your thoughts and feelings about your experiences.
thanks

 

[zenbone]

ouch... maybe i posed to broad of a question?

 

[amikety]

Not unless you're a fan of guns or lawsuits.

Healthcare is the biggest difference IMO. It's faster in the USA - much, much faster. There's no waiting 6 months to a year to see a specialist. However, it's also cheaper in Canada. Basic services are free with healthcare and even if you pay full price for medicines, it's still usually cheaper.

Moving from the USA to Canada wasn't a culture shock or even a huge difference for me. The biggest "shock" was moving from rural to urban.

 

[margobear96]

Canada has a higher cost of living. Everything is more expensive here...with the exception of housing, but I think that's only because the last place I lived in the US was NYC.

I partly disagree with Amikety on the healthcare. In the US speed entirely depends on the type of insurance. I've had shitty HMO-type healthcare with long wait times, high co-pays, and super restricted lists of docs you can see. I've also had really, really good insurance. I think Canada is average between the two. Personally, my family hasn't had to wait to see any specialists (and my husband did have to see an ophthalmologist on an emergency basis).

Another difference is education. I think based on what my husband's told me, there isn't quite the differences in prestige between the big universities and generally people just attend their local school. I graduated ages ago, but I gather competition to get into university is getting out of hand in the US, nevermind the crazy tuition costs.

 

[newtone]

Just to give you an idea yesterday I was watching the news if USA falls off the fiscal cliff, someone with a $43,000 salary per year will be paying $3,100 in taxes and they are complaining. In Canada with a $43,000 salary people pay over $6,000 in taxes in any normal year. So this gives you an idea of how much taxes Canadians are paying. In case anyone asks you if health care in Canada is free, you have some solid figures to back up your statement.

 

[bernard17]

As a big Canadian patriot I had to register simply to comment on your and some of the respondents posts.

There's a difference in the health care system and its not the wait time, in my view. See, in the USA, the wait time can be forever if you don't have insurance. Basically here we sort patient by need: if you need to see a doctor fast (you know, its an emergency), you'll be prioritized. In the US its by money: if you have the more money (more expensive insurance) you'll be prioritized.

And its true that health care is not free. That's just not possible in any way shape or form. What we do here, is we all chip in into the national health care insurance. And that insurance is managed by the national government. Also, its a progressive insurance scheme meaning that if you benefit from our civilization more (you're a successful person) you are asked to give back more.

Happy new year and hope you'll be as happy in Canada as I am.

 

[IslandAnnie]

I am a dual Canadian/US citizen living with my spouse in the US for the past 5 years, and we are awaiting his PR approval to move to Canada. This whole discussion varies greatly depending on many factors.. most importantly what area/State/city in the US and what area/Province/city in Canada you are trying to compare, rural or urban, and your age. You must also be sure to compare all taxes, not just income taxes to make your analysis (our State taxes are very high). For us we will be better off in Canada than in the US.... we are older (young in spirit, and in good health but older according to insurance ratings) and self-employed. Our health insurance costs, annual deductibles and co-pays here in the US far, far (did I mention far?) exceed any difference in other cost of living categories. For younger people, I can see there would be a difference the other way.

I firmly believe that a good education, personal planning and making good choices will determine your success in life...but I cannot relate to the thinking here in the US that managing your health care is a choice - ANYONE, whether they take care of themselves and their children, or not, can become seriously ill and unless they are very wealthy, it will likely destroy them financially. I've lived with both systems...both are far from perfect, but give me the Canadian system any day.

 

[amikety]

As a big Canadian patriot I had to register simply to comment on your and some of the respondents posts.

There's a difference in the health care system and its not the wait time, in my view. See, in the USA, the wait time can be forever if you don't have insurance. Basically here we sort patient by need: if you need to see a doctor fast (you know, its an emergency), you'll be prioritized. In the US its by money: if you have the more money (more expensive insurance) you'll be prioritized.

And its true that health care is not free. That's just not possible in any way shape or form. What we do here, is we all chip in into the national health care insurance. And that insurance is managed by the national government. Also, its a progressive insurance scheme meaning that if you benefit from our civilization more (you're a successful person) you are asked to give back more.

Happy new year and hope you'll be as happy in Canada as I am.

I lived in the USA for 30 years, many as low income. I never had to wait for medical needs. Even uninsured, I could see a doctor the same day for free or very cheap, $10.

To see a specialist maybe took a week or two. Not six months.

I lived in a rural area. That might have been the difference.

Also, unless you want to count my 5% sales tax in AB, I've never paid a cent for healthcare. It appears we're lucky in Alberta. (I've also never used it, knock on wood!)

 

[bernard17]

i agree with islandannie. I didnt live in the US but i can clearly see that the expenditure on health by the US is about 17% of GDP and canada's (germany's and the rest of the industrialized world) is about 10%.
The only difference that i see between the US and europe and japan is that US is the only one that has a private health care system.
As far as the results, well japan is #1 and canada #10 as far as life expentancy. US is number #38.

and i must say amikety that you seem to simply be a very healthy person. lucky you. but the cost of health care in the US per person is 8000$. so as islandannie said, i'd take canada's (or any other industrialized country's) one payer system over private insurance.

List_of_countries_by_total_health_expenditure_%28PPP%29_per_capita
List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy

the forum said i;m not allowed to post links. those are the endings that you can paste after wikipedia.org/wiki/ to see where i got the figures.

 

[gsize]

'Health care' or I prefer to call it sick care is NOT free in Canada. We pay for it from our high taxes.

 

[newtone]

'Health care' or I prefer to call it sick care is NOT free in Canada. We pay for it from our high taxes.

very well said +1 for you my friend

 

[bernard17]

'Health care' or I prefer to call it sick care is NOT free in Canada. We pay for it from our high taxes.

its not free. how it be free? you need to educate the doctors, pay their salaries and manufacture the medical equipment and maintain the hospitals and so on. there are no miracles.

As for the sickcare, i dont like waiting in line either but except for the inconvenience i cant complain, the results are top notch. All critical indicators like infant mortality rate, life expectancy, child mortality, cost of medication and everything else is really good, right with the other top countries like Japan and Germany, the Scandinavian counties and the rest of the civilized world (israel, france...).

 

[IslandAnnie]

Of course it's not free, and I don't know of any Canadians that truly consider it free...only that you do not pay directly out of pocket for the care. I have experienced the health care and the "payment" systems in both countries. The care I received was good in both countries (although I did wait longer in the US than I did in Canada, but I lived rural in Canada and city in the US, so I'm sure that is the difference), but my COST (actual increased tax in Canada vs. direct dollar amounts for insurance, deductibles, and co-pays in the US) was thousand less per year in Canada. Also, as stated by an earlier poster, I believe most Canadians should be happy that the single payer system results in greatly increased health and longevity.

On an individual basis these are very complex comparisons...they will be as unique and as diverse as the people making them...

 

[angelbrat]

In BC, you pay for health care. Unless you are very low income and I mean very low, then unless you are lucky enough to have an employer that pays as part of your salary package, the cost is $68 a month for a single person.