Unvaccinated Quebecers will have to pay a health tax | Hacker News Reader

Unvaccinated Quebecers will have to pay a health tax

cbc.ca

22 pointsKalanos15 comments

It is, clearly, an extortion. But you know what? I think I'd support such solution.

The whole saga put me and my family into a very bad mental state. I'm fighting constant panic attacks, psychotic episodes and becoming more and more suicidal, to the point of no return. We escaped ex-USSR hoping to get out of state-sanctioned bullying, and got into something even worse without a chance to escape anymore. So, if they tax us proportionally to the perceived risks, instead of constantly moralizing, yelling, pass checks, etc. - it is a win in my book. No more stress of living in "fight-or-flight" situation. At least I'll get back my ability to think rationally about it, something which I was not able to do since the "public health orders" hit the fan. Take my money, but leave me alone!

My previous take on it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29401254

I am vaccinated but I will pay voluntarily.

I hate to break it to you but a tax like this is a brand.. a scarlet letter. It only gets worse after.

You can unironically move to Texas if you want a real break. Relatively few people care about Covid down here. It is all over the MSM still but most people are just done.

We are in Victoria, AU - permanent "State of Disaster". In hindsight, we shouldn't have let our GC lottery win lapse a few years ago, some US states are looking OK still. Or we could get back to Belarus, which is (surprisingly!) somewhat sane in terms of C..D. Too bad the head honcho there is batshit crazy in all other aspects.

The problem is now a complete lack of energy to make any kind of move, even laterally to a neighboring state. The soul has been drained out of us and the remaining shell is not viable for much longer.

I don't know you, but I believe sometimes you just have to force a change, energy or not. Better to do something than live miserable, even if you don't know if it will be any better.

What justifies this? Vaccines are far less effective then hoped and can only continue to decline. Natural immunity seems to be stronger and the virus is getting weaker. If a vaccinated person can catch and spread covid the same as a non vaccinated person, what benefit will it be to a young person who is anyway unlikely to be hospitalised? Also, what will the politicians be able to say if it becomes clear that the vaccine won't work? This looks like a policy formed more by emotion then common sense.

I don't really disagree with you assessments but to answer your question the article I read says that 50% of the people in the hospital are unvaccinated. I am not saying this justifies it or not just they are saying that these individuals are putting undo stress on the system and should pay for it.

I don’t understand this argument. Obesity is one of the leading causes of death in the US and one of the biggest comorbidities even with Covid, for example. It’s entirely preventable in nearly all cases. Should we tax obese people more? What about old people who use up the majority of resources? Parents who knowingly give birth to children likely to have genetic diseases?

Do you really, really want to start taxing people and dictating behavior based on their medical expense?

> Do you really, really want to start taxing people and dictating behavior based on their medical expense?

That's the cost of a public health system. The public health system becomes the dictator.

Only if you have leadership the uses it as leverage for behavior. Like everyone that puts forward suggestion like this does. You have to vote such people out of office... but I understand the reluctance towards public healthcare more.

Rather than directly taxing obesity, countries are starting to target its causes with taxes: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugary_drink_tax

if 50% of the people in the hospital are unvaccinated, then 50% are vaccinated. how are unvaccinated people stressing the hospital system?

The Quebec population is 79.7% fully vaccinated. 50% of the hospitalized population being unvaccinated means the unvaxed are hospitalized at a greater rate, thus, “stressing the hospital system”.

Five minutes of hate.

>What justifies this?

Authoritarianism, that's always been the answer.

Some people saw it sooner than others.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com