"How America's middle class fell behind its Canadian neighbours"

How America's middle class fell behind its Canadian neighbours

Canadians pay lower college tuition, cheaper medical care and less income inequality. What is the US doing wrong?

by Suzanne McGee at the Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/apr/27/america-canada-middle-class-college-healthcare-taxes

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I looked at US tuition levels, realized that my friends were still paying off their own loans, and started to wonder why the middle class in the US is struggling under such a tremendous burden. If university is affordable for those who are able to win a place – without bankrupting their parents or encumbering them with a mountain of debt – then that’s two generations of the same family who are going to be better off.

Canada seems to realize this: that’s why the government subsidizes the vast majority of the tuition tab. Today, if a Canadian teenager gets into Queen’s, McGill or Dalhousie, or one of any number top universities, their tuition will still set them back only $6,500 a year or so. Princeton, analogous in status to Queen’s or McGill? Next year’s tuition bill will be $40,170.

Then there’s Canada’s healthcare system. (Remember, the LIS analysis is of after-tax income, and the bill for those education and health benefits are paid from taxes.)

Yes, the state single-payer system (administered through the provinces) means that in some regions and for some kinds of care, pockets of scarcity can emerge. If you want an MRI tomorrow, odds are that isn’t going to happen, unless it’s a medical emergency.



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