Since you're not going to get much but "my job went to India" - I'd take a look and see what you NEED. Do you have a family? $40-45K would be good ($20-22.50 per hour), especially if your spouse works. Take the highest you can get. Resume' experience and skills pay off.
I make $45K in LA, and let me tell you, supporting a family on that in SoCal is hard. We pay almost $1000 for a one bedroom apartment in a safe (but not luxurious) neighborhood, where my wife and I live with our toddler and our infant. Things are tight out here; I had to move from San Diego to get this job, and one of my co-workers moved from Silicon Valley. The salary range actually topped out at $40K but the wanted the skillset I was bringing to the table badly enough to come up the extra five. Asking
Think about this for a second. $45K is pre-tax. Take away social "security" tax, state tax, federal tax and with luck $30K remains. Now take away $12K for rent, that leaves 18K. Per month, that is $1500. Now take away food, clothes, medical bill, and maybe a car payment and gas, and there isn't a lot of wiggle room.
I thought the US was supposed to have low taxes! You're talking of an average tax rate of 33%. I'm earning a lot more than that but living in Canada... my average tax rate is 26%, although the marginal rate has topped out at 43%. I felt like I was getting a better deal when I moved here from the States, now you've confirmed it! To think my taxes actually include something useful like decent health care.
To think my taxes actually include something useful like decent health care.
That's a great laugh. I'm from Canada too and our health care is worse than useless (at least with nothing we can pay for decent health care).
Which part is good? The part where people die after waiting 24 hours in a hospital waiting room? How about when my grandmother spent 8 hours waiting in an ambulence in a hospital parking lot because the hospital was too backed up to admit her and her condition was too bad for the param
"That's a great laugh. I'm from Canada too and our health care is worse than useless (at least with nothing we can pay for decent health care)."
Have you *lived* in the US? Have you had to deal *directly* with the US medical system? Both the US and Canadian systems are far from perfect, but having lived both systems, I will tell you that - warts & all - I vastly prefer the Canadian.
My story: CDN born & bred, moved to US for 1.5 yrs. Dealt with routine doc appts, emergency room care, specialists, and a child born with a medical condition that required two surgeries before he was a month old. Had medical insurance from a CDN firm that specialized in insuring expatriates. No worries there (although I discovered in my market research that the cost of medical insurance in the US goes a *long* way to covering the gap between US & CDN tax rates).
The Good: US - better availability of service. Specialists were available *now*, not weeks later. Ultrasounds etc available *now* and in our case often in the doctors office. Waits are much lower. And the quality of service I received was great (the main specialist we had to deal with was cold, but damn she knew her stuff - our doc here always still marvels at how good a job she did on our son)
The Good: Canada - no damn HMO's or similar. Not in the sense of "if you don't have insurance you're f*cked", but in the sense "HMO oversight adds serious stress." Look, I had insurance, it was *good* insurance. The people were great (Telfer Insurance out of Montreal if you care) and I never had any problem with them paying for things and saying "go ahead". But the fact is that I had to be in *constant* contact with them. Check with them before seeing a doc if possible, the docs office has to contact them before you enter your appointment, let them know the outcome. Every step you are in contact. Submit forms or have the doc submit the forms, doesn't matter, when you receive a statement in the mail there is always a pit in your gut about whether they will pay for it all or if you are out of pocket.
The whole insurance thing is not simple a consumer of time, a series of hoops to jump, it is a source of stress, a source of serious stress that you do not need to deal with when yourself or your loved on is in need.
I am home now in Canada. When I have to use the medical system I can concentrate on the important things. When I go through my records and happen upon an old statement from my time in the US, the pit in my stomach returns. No, I have no interest in returning that system, or in having the US system implemented here.
So stop bitching about the CDN system. Go out and become part of the solution. Dammit, even volunteering in the gift shop is helping out.
Sorry - had to rant. I lean right on a lot of issues, but after my stint in the US I feel *very* strongly about keeping the CDN medical system alive and well.
Those are good points, but to me the better availability of service and quality of care completely overshadow everything else. I'm sorry you had to deal with extra stress and jump through hoops, but in the end don't you feel it was worth it for your son to get the treatment he did?
For me, I get the familiar pit in my stomach waiting the 2 weeks to see a specialist (because it's an emergency, otherwise it would be two years). The worry I'm going to be out of pocket $10,000 is nothing compared to the worr
If the aborigine drafted an IQ test, all of Western civilization would
presumably flunk it.
-- Stanley Garn
I don't know a good rate... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I don't know a good rate... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I don't know a good rate... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I don't know a good rate... (Score:-1, Troll)
Re:I don't know a good rate... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I don't know a good rate... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I don't know a good rate... (Score:1, Insightful)
That's a great laugh. I'm from Canada too and our health care is worse than useless (at least with nothing we can pay for decent health care).
Which part is good? The part where people die after waiting 24 hours in a hospital waiting room? How about when my grandmother spent 8 hours waiting in an ambulence in a hospital parking lot because the hospital was too backed up to admit her and her condition was too bad for the param
Re:I don't know a good rate... (Score:1)
Have you *lived* in the US? Have you had to deal *directly* with the US medical system? Both the US and Canadian systems are far from perfect, but having lived both systems, I will tell you that - warts & all - I vastly prefer the Canadian.
My story: CDN born & bred, moved to US for 1.5 yrs. Dealt with routine doc appts, emergency room care, specialists, and a child born with a medical condition that required two surgeries before he was a month old. Had medical insurance from a CDN firm that specialized in insuring expatriates. No worries there (although I discovered in my market research that the cost of medical insurance in the US goes a *long* way to covering the gap between US & CDN tax rates).
The Good: US - better availability of service. Specialists were available *now*, not weeks later. Ultrasounds etc available *now* and in our case often in the doctors office. Waits are much lower. And the quality of service I received was great (the main specialist we had to deal with was cold, but damn she knew her stuff - our doc here always still marvels at how good a job she did on our son)
The Good: Canada - no damn HMO's or similar. Not in the sense of "if you don't have insurance you're f*cked", but in the sense "HMO oversight adds serious stress." Look, I had insurance, it was *good* insurance. The people were great (Telfer Insurance out of Montreal if you care) and I never had any problem with them paying for things and saying "go ahead". But the fact is that I had to be in *constant* contact with them. Check with them before seeing a doc if possible, the docs office has to contact them before you enter your appointment, let them know the outcome. Every step you are in contact. Submit forms or have the doc submit the forms, doesn't matter, when you receive a statement in the mail there is always a pit in your gut about whether they will pay for it all or if you are out of pocket.
The whole insurance thing is not simple a consumer of time, a series of hoops to jump, it is a source of stress, a source of serious stress that you do not need to deal with when yourself or your loved on is in need.
I am home now in Canada. When I have to use the medical system I can concentrate on the important things. When I go through my records and happen upon an old statement from my time in the US, the pit in my stomach returns. No, I have no interest in returning that system, or in having the US system implemented here.
So stop bitching about the CDN system. Go out and become part of the solution. Dammit, even volunteering in the gift shop is helping out.
Sorry - had to rant. I lean right on a lot of issues, but after my stint in the US I feel *very* strongly about keeping the CDN medical system alive and well.
Re:I don't know a good rate... (Score:0)
For me, I get the familiar pit in my stomach waiting the 2 weeks to see a specialist (because it's an emergency, otherwise it would be two years). The worry I'm going to be out of pocket $10,000 is nothing compared to the worr