Montana 1000

[DeadEye]

Well Brian do you have a day or two? I'll try to answer your questions as succinctly as I can. One of our Prime Ministers said, "there ain't no free lunch," and then proceeded to run up the biggest national debt we've ever had. He's also the one who brought in the metric system and bilingualism which costs us about $450 million a year just for translation at the government level. Don't get me started down that road.

U.S. Customs and immigration have set a limit of 182 consecutive days that we may be in country and then we have to go home if only for a day. Picking up on this number our Provincial health care system has said that in order to stay qualified for health care you may not be out of Canada for more than six months. Easy so far, eh?

Now the insurance thing. Because the cost of health care in the U.S. has gotten much more expensive than up here we have to buy Out of Country coverage to pay the difference. For Spot and I that costs $586 for as many 23 day trips as we care to make in a year. If we go over the 23 days we have to 'top up' our coverage for about $12/day. The deductible is $99 and the insurance only covers things you didn't have before you left so we can't leach off your system because the weather is nicer. My sister who is 82 and has diabetes doesn't visit you anymore as her coverage is $250/day. Occasionally a story will hit the news like the Canadian girl who not having a job decided to head for Arizona. While there she suffered a sky-diving accident and didn't die. When it was estimated her hospital care would be in the millions the B.C. government decided to send a jet down to get her and treat her at home where the costs were much less. She didn't have Out-of-Country coverage. She's a leach.

Now the Nurse thing. There ain't no free education, somebody paid. Deadbeats will take out student loans and then beat it across the Border never to pay them back. We've smartened up a little and are now requiring a number of years servitude post graduation to qualify for the loans. I don't know if they come and get you in the middle of the night if you skip the country. A few years ago you (the U.S.) had a nursing shortage and actually had representatives at our Career Days encouraging nurses to emigrate when their financial obligations were met. Many took you up on the offer but somehow forgot to pay their bills at home. Many also returned home after they found out there is far less FREE stuff there and their net disposable income was not what they thought it would be. Your friend is a leach.

Now a new wrinkle. As of May 2013 the IRS changed the rules on Canadians (and other non-immigrant aliens I suppose). Many of us were taking advantage of the depressed housing prices in places like Arizona and Florida since 2008. These people would spend six months there and then pop home for a week to keep their health care active (the insurance we buy only covers the difference between the two systems) then they'd go back to Aridzona. Essentially they have been living in the U.S. without supporting the infrastructure through taxes. So now to satisfy the IRS I must submit Form 8840 annually which states where I own property, where I spend my time there and how much money I make. They use a formula to establish what they call a 'closer connection.' You take all of the days you were present in the States in the current year, one third of the days from the previous year and one sixth of the days from the year before that. Now add them up and if the total is more than 182 you're going to get a tax bill from Uncle Sam. There are stories of Canadians who have had to sell their homes to meet their obligations. Tough, these people are leaches on your system. If you want to play you gotta pay. After exploring the various avenues that would allow us to winter in the south we choose the Beast. We support your infrastructure through fuel taxes and pay taxes when we pay our camp ground fees.

Finally, welcome to Obama Care. Diesel fuel there was $4.09/gallon last week when we filled up in Culbertson. Here it is $1.43/liter or $5.50/US gallon. The difference is taxes and they go to support our FREE health care system and pay down education costs. I drink Bud when I'm there for $20.28 for 30 cans (67 cents per can). Here the least expensive beer I can tolerate is $19.99 for 12 cans ($1.67 per can). You guessed it the difference is taxes which go to support all the FREE stuff we enjoy. Just two examples of thousands. The only edge I can see that we have is that we can go ahead and spend our money on motorhomes or whatever without the chance that we may get hit by an astronomical health care bill and be forced to liquidate everything.

In the words of Harry Belafonte, "it was clear as mud, but it covered the ground."

We hope you had a great 4th with your family,

Paul and Carole Ann