I don’t understand why that matters ultimately? The point is “free” is not a good word for it, whether it’s college or university. It’s not “free” and we don’t call anything else we pay for with taxes “free.” All it does is create an easy attack vector for detractors and misrepresent it.
I think free is a great word for something you can rock up to and collect without paying, and you don’t have to remortgage your house because your parent got cancer.
You do pay for it. You don’t get free roads. You don’t get free hospitals. You don’t get a free military. They are funded by tax dollars, that’s the entire point. Yet we say “free college.”
Yes I do get free hospitals. I live in the UK. Hospital visits are free and I don’t pay for them. I pay for parking if I park on site, but I absolutely do not pay for the healthcare. The healthcare is free. My daughter gets it free, I get it free, unemployed people get it free, billionaires get out free, everyone gets it free, no one is charged for it. The government pays the whole bill. Unlimited healthcare based on need, no cost.
It’s earning a salary that isn’t free. That costs me 20% above a certain threshold. But, no, the hospitals are completely free.
They’re not free. You pay taxes to fund them. Your countrymen pay taxes to fund them. You are all paying for it collectively all the time, which is a great thing to do and is a worthwhile investment. It is a sane and sustainable way of running healthcare. But it is not free.
You say the government pays for it: where do you think the government gets its money? For the UK it’s not entirely from exploiting former colonial vassals anymore, y’all pay taxes. Same as the rest of us.
You’re twisting words to mean what you want them to mean. The healthcare is free but earning a salary is not. It’s very simple. You don’t pay for the healthcare, ever, no matter how often on expensive it is, but earning a salary is not free, and you get charged every time according to how much you get. The healthcare is free for everyone. Free. No charge. Unlimited. Free.
No I am literally describing how the system works. I understand that when you go to a hospital you don’t ever open your wallet. It’s because you all already paid for it.
No, that’s bending reality to suit your right wing narrative. The reality is that the healthcare is free, but earning a salary isn’t. It doesn’t matter how much tax (if any) someone has paid or will pay, it’s a completely irrelevant number, because the healthcare is free for everyone.
The vast majority of public NHS funding comes from general taxation and National Insurance contributions. A small proportion of funding (1% of the total Department of Health and Social Care budget in 2022/23) comes from patient charges for services such as prescriptions and dental treatment. The level of NHS funding in a given year is set by central government through the Spending Review process.
Right wing narrative? Dude the hospital has to be funded from somewhere and it’s primarily taxes. And I am very much in favor of your healthcare system, I want to pay those taxes! I think the American healthcare system is broken and insane. We pay taxes for it and we pay insurance and we pay out of pocket. It’s absolutely ridiculous and poorly built.
I don’t think you understand your own system or you are just so committed to vilifying me you’re just not reading what I am writing? You called me entitled in the other comment? I can’t follow what you’re saying anymore.
You pay taxes, those taxes pay for a lot of the systems you depend on that your government provides. This includes healthcare. It’s not a critique, it’s a good way of doing things and it’s reality. I don’t understand what you’re so upset about.
I feel like it depends on your translation and how you define “free”.
I like to compare it to the differences between expenses and costs. Which is something people often confuse. Expenses are talking about the outflow of money and costs are talking about the effect of it on the bottom line.
“Free” education is free, because it’s not an expense it can be considered and indirect cost.
It might never be something that is paid if you never pay taxes for whatever reason.
People also consider their social security income free because they don’t need to do more for it than filling in a form often online
I don’t understand why that matters ultimately? The point is “free” is not a good word for it, whether it’s college or university. It’s not “free” and we don’t call anything else we pay for with taxes “free.” All it does is create an easy attack vector for detractors and misrepresent it.
I think free is a great word for something you can rock up to and collect without paying, and you don’t have to remortgage your house because your parent got cancer.
You do pay for it. You don’t get free roads. You don’t get free hospitals. You don’t get a free military. They are funded by tax dollars, that’s the entire point. Yet we say “free college.”
Yes I do get free hospitals. I live in the UK. Hospital visits are free and I don’t pay for them. I pay for parking if I park on site, but I absolutely do not pay for the healthcare. The healthcare is free. My daughter gets it free, I get it free, unemployed people get it free, billionaires get out free, everyone gets it free, no one is charged for it. The government pays the whole bill. Unlimited healthcare based on need, no cost.
It’s earning a salary that isn’t free. That costs me 20% above a certain threshold. But, no, the hospitals are completely free.
They’re not free. You pay taxes to fund them. Your countrymen pay taxes to fund them. You are all paying for it collectively all the time, which is a great thing to do and is a worthwhile investment. It is a sane and sustainable way of running healthcare. But it is not free.
You say the government pays for it: where do you think the government gets its money? For the UK it’s not entirely from exploiting former colonial vassals anymore, y’all pay taxes. Same as the rest of us.
You’re twisting words to mean what you want them to mean. The healthcare is free but earning a salary is not. It’s very simple. You don’t pay for the healthcare, ever, no matter how often on expensive it is, but earning a salary is not free, and you get charged every time according to how much you get. The healthcare is free for everyone. Free. No charge. Unlimited. Free.
No I am literally describing how the system works. I understand that when you go to a hospital you don’t ever open your wallet. It’s because you all already paid for it.
No, that’s bending reality to suit your right wing narrative. The reality is that the healthcare is free, but earning a salary isn’t. It doesn’t matter how much tax (if any) someone has paid or will pay, it’s a completely irrelevant number, because the healthcare is free for everyone.
Don’t take my word for it.
Another one (Wikipedia)
Right wing narrative? Dude the hospital has to be funded from somewhere and it’s primarily taxes. And I am very much in favor of your healthcare system, I want to pay those taxes! I think the American healthcare system is broken and insane. We pay taxes for it and we pay insurance and we pay out of pocket. It’s absolutely ridiculous and poorly built.
I don’t think you understand your own system or you are just so committed to vilifying me you’re just not reading what I am writing? You called me entitled in the other comment? I can’t follow what you’re saying anymore.
You pay taxes, those taxes pay for a lot of the systems you depend on that your government provides. This includes healthcare. It’s not a critique, it’s a good way of doing things and it’s reality. I don’t understand what you’re so upset about.
I feel like it depends on your translation and how you define “free”.
I like to compare it to the differences between expenses and costs. Which is something people often confuse. Expenses are talking about the outflow of money and costs are talking about the effect of it on the bottom line.
“Free” education is free, because it’s not an expense it can be considered and indirect cost. It might never be something that is paid if you never pay taxes for whatever reason.
People also consider their social security income free because they don’t need to do more for it than filling in a form often online