Coronavirus (COVID-19) Discussion Part XII

[The Hanging Jowl]

He waited 9 hrs? I’m so thankful I never have to worry about anything like that.

I know a guy worth $50M (ex-boss of mine) that had heart attack symptoms and was left on a gurney in a hospital corridor overnight. That's not the everyday experience but Canada's healthcare system definitely has its warts. On the flipside, I had an allergic reaction to some Macadamia nuts 10 years ago in Hawaii and was rushed to an emergency clinic swelling up like a beach ball and couldn't breath. Wouldn't even talk to me until I handed them my credit card. Both systems have warts I guess. I've often thought about getting private health insurance in the 'States since Buffalo is less than an hour away. One day maybe, no idea what it costs or if I can even get it as a Canadian.

 

[Nineteen67]

Yup. Several others waited longer. Some just left after 12 hours.

I don't work in hospitals and am rarely there but find myself disgusted any time I have been there. Hard to pinpoint the issue without being on the inside but part of me thinks they probably have too many rules in place as to who has authority to do what. You see a ton of people (staff) sitting around doing nothing.

I was floored when I first moved to the US 27 yrs ago andI had to go to the hospital ER at just how efficient and easy it was.
I liked it so much I eventually invested in healthcare and now I’m semi retired but still heavily involved. I just hope we never ever have a Canadian style.

 

[Nineteen67]

I know a guy worth $50M (ex-boss of mine) that had heart attack symptoms and was left on a gurney in a hospital corridor overnight. That's not the everyday experience but Canada's healthcare system definitely has its warts. On the flipside, I had an allergic reaction to some Macadamia nuts 10 years ago in Hawaii and was rushed to an emergency clinic swelling up like a beach ball and couldn't breath. Wouldn't even talk to me until I handed them my credit card. Both systems have warts I guess. I've often thought about getting private health insurance in the 'States since Buffalo is less than an hour away. One day maybe, no idea what it costs or if I can even get it as a Canadian.

It’s illegal to refuse anyone in the ER
Yes you should get private insurance in the US, however it’s getting expensive under ACA.

 

[Rants Mulliniks]

I was floored when I first moved to the US 27 yrs ago andI had to go to the hospital ER at just how efficient and easy it was.
I liked it so much I eventually invested in healthcare and now I’m semi retired but still heavily involved. I just hope we never ever have a Canadian style.

Has its ups and downs. Another co-worker was in the US experiencing severe gut pain. They diagnosed him with something only 6 people in the world have (including one in the same hospital). Basically removed his innards only to realize it was gas. To top it off, they commented on what great shape one of his organs was in.....an organ he had removed as a child.

$90,000 fart.

 

[ULF_55]

Had to take my son to urgent care, thought he had a bad cold.
Within 5 minutes they had him in a bed ahead of everyone else waiting.
Double pneumonia and septic.
2 doctors and 2 nurse and 5 hours later transported to hospital.
5 days of intravenous antibiotics.
The system truly worked.
Cost $0.00

OTOH had a co-worker who was left on a stretcher until his appendix burst, turning a short stay into a long stay.
Cost $0.00

I'm torn on private care, the argument is you still pay the same taxes are everyone else, you just get the privilege of jumping the queue in private clinics.

Poor or rich, insurance or no insurance you're covered.

We never have to make the decision about going to the hospital or losing our house.

 

[Rants Mulliniks]

Had to take my son to urgent care, thought he had a bad cold.
Within 5 minutes they had him in a bed ahead of everyone else waiting.
Double pneumonia and septic.
2 doctors and 2 nurse and 5 hours later transported to hospital.
5 days of intravenous antibiotics.
The system truly worked.
Cost $0.00

OTOH had a co-worker who was left until on a stretcher until his appendix burst, turning a short stay into a long stay.
Cost $0.00

I'm torn on private care, the argument is you still pay the same taxes are everyone else, you just get the privilege of jumping the queue in private clinics.

Poor or rich, insurance or no insurance you're covered.

We never have to make the decision about going to the hospital or losing our house.

I definitely prefer the system that sees everyone looked after. Just think the system is in severe need of process improvement. It enrages me watching people spend hours gossiping while people go unattended.

 

[Bluelines]

I think this quoted part below is going to be one more kick in the ass from Covid-19.

"If you received CERB that was good news, but the bad news is they didn't withhold any tax from it. So you're going to have to report that in your income this year," Jacks said​

What you need before filing your 2020 tax return to save the most money

If you are legally collecting CERB, chances are you don't have oodles of money saved just wafting on a rainy day to pay the tax man, your probably living pay cheque to pay cheque. Millions of Canadians are about to get a huge shock when they do their 2020 taxes... millions of Canadians are about to decide to not vote for JT in the next election.

This next part I'm not so sure the implications of claiming it.

If you have a lot of home office expenses because you put in a home office and bought computer equipment and furniture you’ll need receipts, however there is also a simplified version where you can claim up to $400.​

If you claim part of your house as a place of business, when you sell your home you have to pay capital gains on the portion of the house you claimed. If you claim the $400 are you then by default saying part of your primary residence is your business? I don't want any tax surprises when we sell this home.

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

I think this quoted part below is going to be one more kick in the ass from Covid-19.

"If you received CERB that was good news, but the bad news is they didn't withhold any tax from it. So you're going to have to report that in your income this year," Jacks said

What you need before filing your 2020 tax return to save the most money

If you are legally collecting CERB, chances are you don't have oodles of money saved just wafting on a rainy day to pay the tax man, your probably living pay cheque to pay cheque. Millions of Canadians are about to get a huge shock when they do their 2020 taxes... millions of Canadians are about to decide to not vote for JT in the next election.

It shouldn't be a shock at all. Canadians were warned about this over and over from the start. You're right a lot of people needed every dime of it so couldn't hold any aside for taxes but their should no surprise the taxes are coming.

 

[Bluelines]

It shouldn't be a shock at all. Canadians were warned about this over and over from the start. You're right a lot of people needed every dime of it so couldn't hold any aside for taxes but their should no surprise the taxes are coming.

I really didn't pay attention to this at all because I was fortunate enough to not need it, for guys like me not paying attention to the CERB rules, it gets me wondering what other tax surprises there are in my 2020 tax statement.

TBH there are a lot of people not money savvy and just gobbled up the CERB without knowing the full rules, for them it was free mailbox money.

 

[GoonieFace]

I really didn't pay attention to this at all because I was fortunate enough to not need it, for guys like not paying attention to the CERB rules, it gets me wondering what other tax surprises there are in my 2020 tax statement.

TBH there are a lot of people not money savvy and just gobbled up the CERB without knowing the full rules, for them it was free mailbox money.

It’s even better that some people that collected it illegally will not have to pay it back. What a gong show this government is.

 

[Bluelines]

It’s even better that some people that collected it illegally will not have to pay it back. What a gong show this government is.

Seriously? Commit fraud and not have to pay it back?

 

[GoonieFace]

Seriously? Commit fraud and not have to pay it back?

Yep, the government is saying it was unclear who was eligible, but it wasn’t really unclear.

 

[ULF_55]

I think this quoted part below is going to be one more kick in the ass from Covid-19.

"If you received CERB that was good news, but the bad news is they didn't withhold any tax from it. So you're going to have to report that in your income this year," Jacks said​

What you need before filing your 2020 tax return to save the most money

If you are legally collecting CERB, chances are you don't have oodles of money saved just wafting on a rainy day to pay the tax man, your probably living pay cheque to pay cheque. Millions of Canadians are about to get a huge shock when they do their 2020 taxes... millions of Canadians are about to decide to not vote for JT in the next election.

This next part I'm not so sure the implications of claiming it.

If you have a lot of home office expenses because you put in a home office and bought computer equipment and furniture you’ll need receipts, however there is also a simplified version where you can claim up to $400.​

If you claim part of your house as a place of business, when you sell your home you have to pay capital gains on the portion of the house you claimed. If you claim the $400 are you then by default saying part of your primary residence is your business? I don't want any tax surprises when we sell this home.

IMO, I wouldn't even worry about a T2200 making your home a business. Now if you are running a business out of your home that is different than working as an employee for a business that issues you a T4 and T2200.

About the CERB, if you had a single / double income with a large mortgage and kids, $4k doesn't go far. However, in our household we were all working, but if we all went on CERB we'd have brought in $10k a month delayed taxes. It really was a decent program. Now I know $10k, only works out to $120,000 a year (I know it wasn't a year long plan), but unless you had a horrific mortgage, it would have tied you over.

As far as the whoops I forgot about taxes people ... come on I was living under a rock and I heard about that a dozen times. And some of my co-workers (contractors making huge dollars next to me the schmuck employee) said they'd never pay the government until they had to, so they never paid taxes until they got the tax bill after filing.

 

[Pink Mist]

Those hopes and dreams will be powering the entire world for the rest of your life. And whatever device you just typed that on was primarily comprised of hopes-and-dreams derivatives.

I hate to use this overworked comic, but people keep insisting on using this tired argument like you just used.

 

[ULF_55]

Seriously? Commit fraud and not have to pay it back?

No fraud will still be investigated, but some of the people just didn't pay attention to the rules, didn't fully understand the rules, or panicked and took whatever they could.

Fraud cases, ex. taking the money while still working.

Now I do think people who were self employed and claimed they didn't make any income took advantage of the program. "My business is and always was a break-even proposition, but I need CERB to fill in my shortfall? Cake and eating it too." Oh well, my taxes will help pay for these poor souls.

CERB recipients won't have to repay benefit if they applied based on gross income: Trudeau | Financial Post

Ottawa is tweaking financial support programs in place to help people through the pandemic.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says those who received emergency benefits and made up to $75,000 in taxable income won’t have to pay interest on 2020 tax debt until next year.
And he says people who applied for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit based on their gross income, rather than net income, won’t have to repay the benefit as long as they are otherwise eligible.
Thousands of Canadians received letters last year telling them they’d have to pay back the CERB because they were ineligible due to the way they’d calculated their income.
They’d been told that to qualify for the CERB they had to have earned at least $5,000 in 2019 or in the 12 months before they applied.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Are they citizens or permanent residents? If not, there is a 50,000 charge per dose per person.

My dad lives down there past 10 years and comes back here to his place here ... they went back and forth often ... but came back here, except for medical appointments where he flies down and back, for COVID protection (Florida is a joke for COVID even with almost all of Naples are over 80) ... my wife is American and my sister in law works for Pfizer so there would be no issues getting doses for us ... issue is vaccine reaction when on high blood pressure, heart and cancer drugs all at same time but I guess better then being dead after catching it ... it is a tough one to figure out

 

[Nineteen67]

Had to take my son to urgent care, thought he had a bad cold.
Within 5 minutes they had him in a bed ahead of everyone else waiting.
Double pneumonia and septic.
2 doctors and 2 nurse and 5 hours later transported to hospital.
5 days of intravenous antibiotics.
The system truly worked.
Cost $0.00

OTOH had a co-worker who was left on a stretcher until his appendix burst, turning a short stay into a long stay.
Cost $0.00

I'm torn on private care, the argument is you still pay the same taxes are everyone else, you just get the privilege of jumping the queue in private clinics.

Poor or rich, insurance or no insurance you're covered.

We never have to make the decision about going to the hospital or losing our house.

Or buy insurance....most people are covered through work for medical dental, vision and Rx.
My family had 3 operations last year as well as all of our preventive care and stitches etc ...I didn’t even max my HSA.

 

[Nineteen67]

My dad lives down there past 10 years and comes back here to his place here ... they went back and forth often ... but came back here, except for medical appointments where he flies down and back, for COVID protection (Florida is a joke for COVID even with almost all of Naples are over 80) ... my wife is American and my sister in law works for Pfizer so there would be no issues getting doses for us ... issue is vaccine reaction when on high blood pressure, heart and cancer drugs all at same time but I guess better then being dead after catching it ... it is a tough one to figure out

They should get it. He should have stayed

 

[ULF_55]

Or buy insurance....most people are covered through work for medical dental, vision and Rx.
My family had 3 operations last year as well as all of our preventive care and stitches etc ...I didn’t even max my HSA.

Yes, we have heard about all the battles in different political parties in the USofA wanting to eliminate as much health care as possible and let the citizen's find their own coverage, and how you have to go to certain practitioners because they belong to the right insurance group, and people losing all their coverage because of lockdowns and loss of jobs.
Got a job with benefits things are great.

Health Systems Facts. Just Facts. No Bias. HealthSystemsFacts.org

 

[Sensmileletsgo]

Yep, the government is saying it was unclear who was eligible, but it wasn’t really unclear.

I thought the government didn’t clarify if the $5000 was gross income or net income until several months into CERB.

Someone who made $5000 last year shouldn’t of been entitled to $24,000, but whatever, it bugs me less then some corporations that received millions in the worker wage subsidy benefit despite being very profitable during the pandemic.

 

[BlueForever75]

Companies laid off good people and used this pandemic as cost cutting moves while still being profitable. They couldnt lay off people with term cause it would have cost them many dollars in severance and packages. But they laid off resources that they only hired months and 2-3 years before this pandemic at high wages stating the pandemic as the cause. The cost to cut them loose was worth it as they were still making large sums of money as profit.

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

No fraud will still be investigated, but some of the people just didn't pay attention to the rules, didn't fully understand the rules, or panicked and took whatever they could.

Fraud cases, ex. taking the money while still working.

Now I do think people who were self employed and claimed they didn't make any income took advantage of the program. "My business is and always was a break-even proposition, but I need CERB to fill in my shortfall? Cake and eating it too." Oh well, my taxes will help pay for these poor souls.

CERB recipients won't have to repay benefit if they applied based on gross income: Trudeau | Financial Post

The people being let off the hook thought you needed minimum $5k of income in 2019 before taxes and expenses and the government said it was $5k net income after tax and expenses. Ummmm...if you were only making that range of income either net or gross in an entire year, you weren't desperate for this money, you took advantage of it. Thinking that your $5k in income dabbling in your cupcake side gig now entitled you to $2k PER MONTH isn't a misunderstanding. They knew what they were doing. That's fraud.

 

[ULF_55]

The people being let off the hook thought you needed minimum $5k of income in 2019 before taxes and expenses and the government said it was $5k net income after tax and expenses. Ummmm...if you were only making that range of income either net or gross in an entire year, you weren't desperate for this money, you took advantage of it. Thinking that your $5k in income dabbling in your cupcake side gig now entitled you to $2k PER MONTH isn't a misunderstanding. They knew what they were doing. That's fraud.

Morally yes.

But you know people and business aren't concerned with morals if they can money from it.

 

[Nineteen67]

Yes, we have heard about all the battles in different political parties in the USofA wanting to eliminate as much health care as possible and let the citizen's find their own coverage, and how you have to go to certain practitioners because they belong to the right insurance group, and people losing all their coverage because of lockdowns and loss of jobs.
Got a job with benefits things are great.

Health Systems Facts. Just Facts. No Bias. HealthSystemsFacts.org

ACA hurt a lot of people and there were a lot of flat out lies about that. Of course, that’s to be expected when insurance and Pharm companies write a bill.
For me and people with personal responsibility our systems works fine, although it can use some tweaking. My biggest fear is Medicare for all.

 

[ULF_55]

ACA hurt a lot of people and there were a lot of flat out lies about that. Of course, that’s to be expected when insurance and Pharm companies write a bill.
For me and people with personal responsibility our systems works fine, although it can use some tweaking. My biggest fear is Medicare for all.

always listen with interest how socialism is evil, and gets compared to Venezuela a third world country but not to the UK.

looks like about 40% of the USofA would be ok with a dictator.