Free services in Quebec, payable one everywhere else

[SirNapkin1334]

Nothing is free here. Health care was, but not any more. Guess my country

 

[BigPanda]

For exemple, water...
Here in Quebec, water is free, there are no meter for it on every houses
I'm aware that Quebec province possess the largest sources of drinkable water in the world
But I still don't think I could live somewhere where water isn't free

Some cities, such as Blainville, have meters.

 

[Attacker3]

Quebec gets equalization payments from every other province. Alberta pays a bunch of my tax money just so some frenchie can take long showers >:'D
It hurts!

 

[The Real Jdbye]

So yea, there are services in Quebec that are free
But if you check everywhere else, you've got to pay for it

For exemple, water...
Here in Quebec, water is free, there are no meter for it on every houses
I'm aware that Quebec province possess the largest sources of drinkable water in the world
But I still don't think I could live somewhere where water isn't free

Also, free health and care service
Of course, that's a real problem here in Quebec
There are tons of people who goes to urgency for soooo minor problem
But still, I don't know how, in modern country, basic health and care isn't free

Of course, none of these are actually free in Quebec, we actually pay for these with our taxes, but still...

For exemple, my mom had a friend who went to France
She had an heart attack and had to go to urgency
luckily, she had travel insurances, because it would have costed her 185 000$ for this surgery

honestly, I don't know if I could live my whole life outside of Quebec

Here water isn't free, but it's still cheap enough that it's not much of a concern.
Some places do genuinely not have much clean drinking water though, so it's completely understandable that it would cost more money. Or, you end up having to drink bottled water if the tap water isn't clean enough, which obviously isn't free.

 

[SG854]

Free water? Wow...that's a nice commodity. The water isn't very expensive in Belgium, but not free (in fact, I don't even know how much I'm paying for it).

Healthcare resembles the Netherlands here a bit. There's also a mandatory healthcare insurance of about 100 euro's per year. Payed consultants with the doctor (usually around 20 euro's) is payed back for about 80%. Medicine and treatments/operations vary but are overall very affordable.


Yeah...you get to choose between going bankrupt and remaining ill.

One of my colleagues told me the following: during her vacation in the USA, she got ill at one point. She went to the hospital where the doctor looked at her and prescribed something (nothing major, though colleague didn't reveal what). All in all, she was in the hospital for 15 minutes. She had to pay a bit over 100 dollar. Seems fair, right? More than we're used to in our country, but not exaggerated.
A bit after she got home, she got a call from an insurance policy. They inquired on how she wanted to pay the rest. The...rest? As it turns out, her total bill was actually over 1000 euro's.

In other words: I tend to believe the "ridiculous" stories like Bernie Sanders taking people to Canada to purchase medicines at less than half the price, or Michael Moore's story on that guy who accidentally sawed off 3 of his fingers but could only afford to get one stitched back.

The goal is hopefully that even if you pay more than you use at least nobody has to choose between going bankrupt or dying, if they get diagnosed with something awful. You never know if that person could be you, so it is better to pay a little more and not have to worry.

The U.S. High Drug Prices are not awful

It can take 15 yrs and hundreds of millions of dollars to create a new drug. It can be around $250 million to more then $800 million per drug. There is lots of trial and error, and failed attempts. In 2003 there was 5,000 compounds and only 6 would make it to clinical trials. Not only they have to pass clinical trials, they have to pass the FDA for approval for a drug that is effective without major side effects.

They have to cover the extreme costs of R&D somehow, or else it would not be profitable and new drugs won't be created. The money isn't going to come out of no where. Thats why Americans pay so much for drugs. A problem is people only see manufacturing costs, which is a very small fraction of total costs, and they look at a pill that costs 25 cents to make, look at what drug companies charge which is 2 dollars per pill, and accuse Drug companies of being greedy without realizing that they have to also cover the costs of R&D which was millions of dollars.

They also look at a generic equivalents made by another company after the patent has expired, and see they cheaper price and think Drug companies are exploiting customers. But Generic Brands are simply copying what other drug companies made so they don't have to cover the costs of R&D and can charge cheaper prices. Its free research knowledge for them.

They also look at Canada's prices and see cheaper prices and the same accusations happen. Canadian governments pay for manufacturing costs but not the costs of developing the drug. So two things can happen. Refuse the offer and loose millions of dollars in sales, or accept whatever they offer. When there is competition from other competitors that offers similar drugs, accepting the lower price offer, and getting money from that offer is better then loosing out on money which another competitor will take instead. Even if it doesn't cover the cost of R&D something is better then nothing. Canadians enjoy cheaper prices, and sometimes they re-export those drugs back to the U.S. to sell at lower prices. This forces drug companies to lower their own prices in U.S. to compete with their own drugs that have been re-exported from Canada or they loose out on money. People praise cheaper prices until people realize that no new drugs are created because cheaper prices makes it not profitable. Its either profit or go bankrupt.

Untied States is the only country in the developed world without price controls, forcing drugs to be cheaper. Other countries suffer from artificially lower prices because there is no money to fund the creation of new drugs. So other countries benefits from the U.S. paying higher prices which leads to more medical innovation coming from this country. If the U.S. has similar care like countries with single payer health care then not only U.S. will suffer, other countries will suffer since no new life saving medications will be created. This was killing the drug industry in Europe which profits were down 21%, while U.S. profits were up 50% in the 90's. So many drug companies ditched European countries to open up R&D industries in the U.S. where they made 60% profit. Not only Americans pays the lions share for the countries research of drugs, they also pay through taxes 80% of the worlds biomedical research. If it wasn't for the U.S. high prices the world would suffer with less drugs being created.

 

[Taleweaver]

The U.S. High Drug Prices are not awful

It can take 15 yrs and hundreds of millions of dollars to create a new drug. It can be around $250 million to more then $800 million per drug. There is lots of trial and error, and failed attempts. In 2003 there was 5,000 compounds and only 6 would make it to clinical trials. Not only they have to pass clinical trials, they have to pass the FDA for approval for a drug that is effective without major side effects.

They have to cover the extreme costs of R&D somehow, or else it would not be profitable and new drugs won't be created. The money isn't going to come out of no where. Thats why Americans pay so much for drugs. A problem is people only see manufacturing costs, which is a very small fraction of total costs, and they look at a pill that costs 25 cents to make, look at what drug companies charge which is 2 dollars per pill, and accuse Drug companies of being greedy without realizing that they have to also cover the costs of R&D which was millions of dollars.

They also look at a generic equivalents made by another company after the patent has expired, and see they cheaper price and think Drug companies are exploiting customers. But Generic Brands are simply copying what other drug companies made so they don't have to cover the costs of R&D and can charge cheaper prices. Its free research knowledge for them.

They also look at Canada's prices and see cheaper prices and the same accusations happen. Canadian governments pay for manufacturing costs but not the costs of developing the drug. So two things can happen. Refuse the offer and loose millions of dollars in sales, or accept whatever they offer. When there is competition from other competitors that offers similar drugs, accepting the lower price offer, and getting money from that offer is better then loosing out on money which another competitor will take instead. Even if it doesn't cover the cost of R&D something is better then nothing. Canadians enjoy cheaper prices, and sometimes they re-export those drugs back to the U.S. to sell at lower prices. This forces drug companies to lower their own prices in U.S. to compete with their own drugs that have been re-exported from Canada or they loose out on money. People praise cheaper prices until people realize that no new drugs are created because cheaper prices makes it not profitable. Its either profit or go bankrupt.

Untied States is the only country in the developed world without price controls, forcing drugs to be cheaper. Other countries suffer from artificially lower prices because there is no money to fund the creation of new drugs. So other countries benefits from the U.S. paying higher prices which leads to more medical innovation coming from this country. If the U.S. has similar care like countries with single payer health care then not only U.S. will suffer, other countries will suffer since no new life saving medications will be created. This was killing the drug industry in Europe which profits were down 21%, while U.S. profits were up 50% in the 90's. So many drug companies ditched European countries to open up R&D industries in the U.S. where they made 60% profit. Not only Americans pays the lions share for the countries research of drugs, they also pay through taxes 80% of the worlds biomedical research. If it wasn't for the U.S. high prices the world would suffer with less drugs being created.

A nice piece of propaganda. I don't believe a word of it, but hey... If the idea of paying through the nose for the pipedream of supporting the health of the rest of the world excites you then by all means : go ahead.

Just know : I do take offense at the lie that I allegedly "only pay for the production".

 

[SG854]

A nice piece of propaganda. I don't believe a word of it, but hey... If the idea of paying through the nose for the pipedream of supporting the health of the rest of the world excites you then by all means : go ahead.

Just know : I do take offense at the lie that I allegedly "only pay for the production".

Its not propaganda this information comes from the book "Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One by Thomas Sowell."
The Canadian Health Care system and European systems are awful. If not Drug companies wouldn't have fled. I'm use to my comments pissing people off, but these are the facts. Denying facts for Idealogical beliefs can have negative consequences.

 

[Taleweaver]

Its not propaganda this information comes from the book "Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One by Thomas Sowell."
The Canadian Health Care system and European systems are awful. If not Drug companies wouldn't have fled. I'm use to my comments pissing people off, but these are the facts. Denying facts for Idealogical beliefs can have negative consequences.

About that denying facts : you said something about drug companies leaving the country. You, Erm, perhaps want to tell that to our drug companies?

 

[SG854]

About that denying facts : you said something about drug companies leaving the country. You, Erm, perhaps want to tell that to our drug companies?

Not all fled, just like how not all people flee from 3rd world countries to more prosperous ones. But ones that did, did for better economic prospects in the U.S. You do have a lot less then what you would have.

 

[Noctosphere]

Did you guys know that being a prostitute in Quebec is no longer a crime?
That law passed one or two years ago
Being a prostitute is no longer illegal, HOWEVER
Being a client is illegal
and (idk the exact term) bossing prostitute (their pimp) is also illegal

This law was made so that prostitutes no longer fear being charged of that former crime when they want to denounce their pimp

 

[Song of storms]

I'm not against privatization of water as long as it remains cheap and absolutely not illegal for anyone to just gather rain water and purify it to give it away for free. A lot of people waste a ton of water because it's free. So much that in places of high risk of droughts in the USA it's illegal to waste it. But some people won't care until it affects them financially. Same goes with free healthcare, where people do the stupidest surgeries because it's free.

Maybe a good alternative would be having free water up to a certain threshold, then you pay. And with free healthcare, you pay anything that's not necessary.

 

[leon315]

Did you guys know that being a prostitute in Quebec is no longer a crime?
That law passed one or two years ago
Being a prostitute is no longer illegal, HOWEVER
Being a client is illegal
and (idk the exact term) bossing prostitute (their pimp) is also illegal

This law was made so that prostitutes no longer fear being charged of that former crime when they want to denounce their pimp

i heard from a Filip-canadian youtuber that it's LEGAL to offer a service, but it's ILLEGAR to buy ''that'' service.
So it's legal if she offers the service for free xD

 

[Noctosphere]

i heard from a Filip-canadian youtuber that it's LEGAL to offer a service, but it's ILLEGAR to buy ''that'' service.
So it's legal if she offers the service for free xD

I'll say like in Family Guy
you pay someone to have sex, it's prostitution, it'S illegal
BUT
If you film it, it becomes a porn movie, which is legal

 

[leon315]

I'll say like in Family Guy
you pay someone to have sex, it's prostitution, it'S illegal
BUT
If you film it, it becomes a porn movie, which is legal

WHAT? Do u actually believe that shiiet from Family guy? irl things are not that simple: they need to do all paper works and the ''client'' have to sign up before they start to take shot, i don't think all those clients are happy to get recorded and put they real names on paper

 

[Pleng]

WHAT? Do u actually believe that shiiet from Family guy? irl things are not that simple: they need to do all paper works and the ''client'' have to sign up before they start to take shot, i don't think all those clients are happy to get recorded and put they real names on paper

I think the point of that clip has flown waaaaay over your head, there!

 

[bunny_wabbit]

God bless America

Also the name of a film where a bloke thinks he has a brain tumour so he goes out to kill all the celebrities he hates.

 

[leon315]

I think the point of that clip has flown waaaaay over your head, there!

MAN, never underestimate the policemen's IQ and never take seriously all the shiiieet from Family Guy.

 

[Redhorse]

I remember the days when internet was free .... Juno & Net zero.... Ahhhh those were the days....

 

[Noctosphere]

MAN, never underestimate the policemen's IQ and never take seriously all the shiiieet from Family Guy.

do you really think I took it seriously?
seriously?
lol

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I remember the days when internet was free .... Juno & Net zero.... Ahhhh those were the days....

well, there are debat about nationalising internet in Quebec
That we pay it with taxes and everyone has acces to it

 

[leon315]

do you really think I took it seriously?
seriously?
lol

dunno, have you ever participate one of those amateur film? remember to ask receipt