Mr. Speaker, there is no question that we need change in our health care system. It was interesting to listen to some of the members this morning. There is some commonality in our approach and differences as well, but there is one thing we agree on. We do not want to go to an American system of health care.
The leader of the Canadian Alliance talked a little bit about the American system this morning. I want to point out a couple of things. In comparison to the American system, our system is working pretty good. We do know there are problems with it. I am experiencing some in my home town in terms of doctor and nursing shortages, people who cannot get doctors and doctors retiring.
There is a headline story today in the Ottawa Citizen about the doctor retirement problem in Ontario. It is a big problem. One of the doctors pointed out how we got into this mess in Ontario in terms of doctor retirement. Twenty-five years ago Ontario decided it had too many doctors and launched action to stem the flow of doctors into the system. We are all victims of mistakes that were made many years ago. We have these changing demographics in Canada that makes it even more urgent that we address the problem soon.
In the American system 14.5% of GDP goes to health care. The Americans usually say it is 40% of people, but clearly well over 40% of people are completely left out of the American system with no health care. In Canada, where everyone is in the publicly funded system, it is costing us 9% of GDP, so we are getting a deal. However there are some problems that have been examined very carefully by Mr. Kirby.
I do not want to get into debate back and forth with members from various parties, but the member did mention something just a moment ago. I want to talk about that as well, because the Canadian Alliance leader is a trained economist, which I am not, and I do not know whether or not that gives him an advantage over me.
In the American system the tax brackets or the level of taxation in their society compared to ours, whether it is for corporations or individuals does not say it all. We know full well that in the American system one of the huge costs for American businesses is health care because they are required to pay that. It is just like a tax.
I want to use the specific case of a young family I spoke to in the United States a couple of weeks ago. This is typical, not an unusual case at all. It gives the example of how much it costs companies or corporations, either private or public, in the United States to do business and provide their workers with health care. The young couple in their mid-thirties have two children. He is working for a company where his health insurance premium for the year was $15,000. We might call that the Cadillac system because there is a zero deductible. In other words if he went to the hospital the first dollar would be paid by his insurance plan. The premium was $15,000 a year. His company paid $10,000 of that.
That is an expense that most companies in this country do not have. A lot of companies could not afford it, as is the case in the United States. In addition to that, the young man and his wife had to pay $5,000, but that was for Cadillac coverage in that system. The young man lost his job and now he is working for a smaller company that cannot afford that kind of coverage so it is up to him and his wife to provide coverage for their family. That coverage is costing him $600 a month. In my province that is the monthly rent or the mortgage payment for a lot of people or at least a car payment.