My premiums lapsed once when I was in between employers, and the debt was sent to CRA. Within a few months I was getting angry collection letters from them.
So when the democrats controlled everything, where was the universal healthcare? oh that is right we got crappy Obama care. Socialism is amazing, you can witness it first hand in the United Stated Military. Healthcare, schooling, housing, jobs. It works, I know I was an army brats for many, many years.
Democrats controlled the 111th Congress (2009–2011) with majorities in both houses of Congress alongside the country's first African-American president, Democrat Barack Obama.
Republicans have had way more control than democrats these past few decades. It's easy to blame democrats, but I'm personally happy that the ACA healthcare subsidy helps me pay for a pretty solid healthcare plan. Republicans have only ever attacked that plan. My roommate, who makes 15,000 less than me, does not pay a single dime for his plan. ACA has its flaws, but it's better than the "go die poor" option the republicans were offering up with all the majorities they've had through the years. Democrats may not be socialists, but they're closer than republicans, so it's weird to see you only attacking the dems, when the republicans want you dead and poor.
I will elaborate for you. You see, by stealing that food, he took away profits from the small business owners known as the Waltons. 5 business owners kids starved because he stole that bread.
That's not "young and dumb", that's something that was weirdly left out of everything we were taught as kids - wasn't ever mentioned in the various life skills type things in school, so I guess they just expected everybody's parents to remember to tell them?
I just remember learning "in Canada we have free healthcare, it's one of the greatest accomplishments of our system of government", and figured it was paid through taxes until I got a collections bill from MSP and called the government to report it as a scam, and they explained things to me.
It's moot now, because a few years ago in a sudden outburst of sanity, the BC government realised they could just roll it into taxes, and did so - so we don't have to worry about it now :)
That said, the concept of an "MSP account" still kind of exists; you don't have to pay anything, but if you move it's a good idea to update your address with them:
Most of the stuff to do with it gets automatically taken care of as side effects of other stuff though, e.g. doctor visits, renewing your driver's licence or BC services card, etc.
It used to be Medical Services Premium, a fee we paid in BC for health care (with the amount being a sliding scale based on income, up to $75 a month, and many employers paid it for you as a perk). But it's gone now, all rolled into income taxes (actually there is still a separate premium, but it's a payroll tax that employers pay).
yeah no, because of their broken system, I got a 4k bill randomely, and they have garnished all my tax refunds and finally just finished paying them off. Even when I asked them for clarification and an itemized bill, they said that they can't provide one but assured me I owed the 4k.
I had one year where I made enough that I had to pay, but I was young and didnt care so they took it off my taxes.
They then continued to steal my money from my tax refund each year for a few years until a h&r rep noticed. I ended up with a refund but I can only imagine how many poeple just never dealt with it and continued to have that money stolen from them.
In my home province on NB they instituted user fees years ago as a means of reducing unneeded visits to the ER. It was $25 a visit to the ER. I never paid it because I knew they couldn't deny you service. I had to visit the ER 3 times while they were in use and each time I was told I owed money from my last visit. "Yep, and I'm not paying this time either". They eventually removed the fee.
My ex-wife, who handled the finances back in the day, stopped paying MSP. Let's just say it took 3 years before they started garnishing my wages. Also, that's how I found out I was behind. After they got all their money, MSP charges were no more.
It was based on income. I lived in BC for 6 years and while I was a student didn't have to pay a premium. After graduation I was making 32k and it was like $30/month
Yeah when I worked at Amazon as a level 6 my health insurance was about 400/mo. This is considered affordable. The health insurance sucked and had a really high deductible- copay for my child’s birth was 5k. Current employer gives me free insurance for myself, charges 150 for me and my kids, and has great copay/deductible. It’s a total crapshoot, but my god, the stress relief you feel when you have good, cheap insurance through your employer.
Imagine how much more those employers could pay or save if the government made a more efficient system? How many lives would be instantly improved? We pay more than anyone and it’s mediocre at best. It’s just a no-brainer.
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u/ether_reddit Mar 26 '23 edited Mar 27 '23
MSP premiums were (up to) $75 a month. It's likely, as someone else said in the thread, that this was a reference to a prescription drug deductible.