What year did the federal govt. start taking hard earned money from our paychecks for medicare? I know they've been gouging us for a long time now, but I don't remember exactly when they started it. Thanks. noboat

To answer your question, if you're Australian, then Medicare was introduced in 1984. Here are some statistics and information to do with health care in Australia I hadn't thought about:

4102.0 - Australian Social Trends, 2001 (http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/0aaf3311ebcd3646ca2570ec000c46e4!OpenDocument)

Personally, I'm glad all Australians are provided basic health insurance.

As I just noticed you're an American, what's the situation with Medicare in the US? Interested to know.