103,000,000 Americans now receive government subsidized coverage for medical bills under a one of several programs – Medicare, Medicaid, CHIPs and the ACA.
In addition, 159 million Americans have the benefit of tax- free employer coverage and many get to pay their share of premiums tax-free as well. Of the 159 million about 60% have employer self- funded coverage.
None of these Americans receive government provided health care.
Why is it so hard for many Americans to accept a single payer system combining all these programs into one financed by taxes – worker and employer – and premiums and modest out-of-pocket costs?
A 6% payroll tax on employers would generate roughly $534,000,000,000 per year.
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Why are there so many insurance plans? How come most self-insured employers have multiple plans? Why are there so many Medicare supplemental insurance plans? Why does Medicaid vary from state to state? Why is there in network and out of network costs. Why doesn’t your insurance plans give you the same coverage when traveling out of state (depending on the plan)?
If there are no choices and only a single payer, then to control costs, something is got to give. Restrictions and limited coverage will happen.
Here are just some answers. Big government – states control all insurance in their states. Big Pharma.
And name one thing that government does well? The VA medical care is a one size fits all programs and it fails on many levels. At least the vets can go to another doctor if the can pay out of pocket. In some cases the VA sends to private doctors because they can’t provide the require services.
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103,000,000 million? That’s 103 trillion. Proofreading matters.
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What are you talking about?
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I got it. It should be written 103 million, Just like 20,000 is written as 20 thousand.
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you’re right I missed it.
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You may have forgotten but when my employer contributes towards my health care it is part of the wages I receive for my contribution.
Why is Medicare’s 2.9% tax on all wage income used to fund hospital coverage for a group where less than 5% are currently covered under Medicare? Simple. It is a method politicians use to hide the costs of their promises in return for votes. Taxes people (don’t) pay have NO relationship to the (future) cost of their own coverage.
Medicare, with its current payroll taxes and general revenue taxes (which are applied, assessed on a minority of American households), funds a benefit, once adjusted for the dual eligible, that has absolutely no damn relationship to the burden.
Why is it so hard? As the former director of CMS once famously confirmed that “Health Reform” is redistribution. You are forcibly taking from some to buy votes from others.
So, why socialize health care costs? Why not socialize housing, food, cars, college education, vacations, (insert YOUR choice here). What’s your favorite thing that you would like to have, or have more of, so long as you don’t have to pay, where you get to send the whole bill, or most of the bill to someone else?
Simply, Americans want the best health care YOUR money will buy!
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