I was listening to a radio interview recently and the person talking was a member of Congress (don’t recall his name) but definitely in the far right caucus.
He was making the point that he was fighting for what Americans want which, as he saw it, is to get government out of their lives, less spending by government, lower taxes, freedom of choice.
That is pure fantasy, pure so-called patriotic pie-in-the-sky dreaming
All that plays well at rallies and when the extreme right in America is in a coffee clutch talking to itself, but it is not true.
Want less government and regulation? Sure
Lower taxes? You bet.
Lower deficits and debt? Absolutely.
Make a list of everything you are willing to give up.
How many people returned their stimulus checks, declined extra or any childcare tax credits, don’t want their student loans cancelled or to collect Social Security or Medicare? Do conservatives not take advantage of Affordable Care Act subsidies?
Who in the Freedom Caucus has come up with a viable universal healthcare system or don’t we need such a system?
The fact is even far right conservatives , like everyone else, want whatever they can get for “free” That is, paid for by other people’s money or simply added to the national debt.
The idea that the American patriot is a self-sufficient, responsible individual capable of making prudent choices is laughable – actually sad.
We don’t save, we carry large amounts of debt, we spend frivolously, we don’t invest in our futures,
and, we don’t even bother to seek the facts about the issues we face as a nation and society.
Gee, the Social Security COLA should be larger, my benefit should be larger.
Americans – all Americans- can’t seem to face the reality that they need to pay for all the goodies they actually do want from the government they malign.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
Is Medicare built on sound financial foundation? People love the free lunch and that is what is promised by the folks who brought us these programs. Why not define “universal health system” and how you think we pay for it with the trillions of $ in debt we now have.
Remember, when the government gets involved we get folks forced to do things they might not normally do. When you began working could you opt out of Social Security? You know who opted out? Government workers! For about 5 decades the folks who administered SS paid nothing–they had their own Civil Service system which we, and they, contributed to. There you could retire at age 55 with 30-years of service.
Medicare is broke so how do we fix it? More taxes? Higher age to collect? Reduce benefits? All guaranteed to sink any politician who dares mention it. We created this house of cards and no doubt at some point down the road it will crumble implode before we fix it.
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Medicare Part A is underfunded and payroll taxes should be adjusted. Part C is overpaying to Medicare Advantage plans and should adjusted.
The answer to your question is very simple the cost of providing health insurance should be captured in taxes and premiums to fund it.
There are no viable alternatives to Medicare and all it all it functions quite well. People just need to understand the full costs of any government promise.
Pay for it? I just talked with a utility worker who pays $330 per pay day (weekly)for employer health insurance which is part of the cost. The average family employer based premium is now $24,000 per year. We are paying for it now only in a dysfunctional system.
In fact, there should be one national Medicare like program for all ages. I designed and managed health benefit plans for decades, all kinds and there are always problems. What people have today are unaffordable and we still have gaps in coverage. Medicare for all will not save what is predicted, will not solve all the problems but will be better than what we have.
Civil servants may not pay SS taxes, but they don’t collect and contribute to their pensions. The fact they could retire at 55 with 30 years means taxpayers are foot the bill for generous retirement- just like they do in most states.
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I love hearing our members of Congress telling me what it is that I, as an American citizen, wants. It’s easy to oversimplify, and say “we want government out of our lives”, yet few of us wish to see a cut in our social security, medicare, and other government spending. I do think many of us would like to see continuing efforts at improving the efficiency of government, and a reckoning over the worsening difference between the escalating price of government provided benefits, not to mention proposals to increase those, and the insufficient tax revenues to provide them.
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It’s a sad fact that people in the USA see their government as an atm machine and policeman for the world while ignoring the debt spiral the government is in.
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Well said
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You really missed the mark on this one….I gave my disgraceful stimulus checks to charities, have never gotten a child tax credit, paid for my three children’s Catholic grade school tuition’s, private high school and all three college bills 100 % on my own. I’d be a lot better off financially today if I hadn’t done that. I do not at all advocate for a free universal health care system. I have paid into social security since i was 14 years old loading trucks as a summer job. Medicare is the biggest scam in the history of the world. I’ll pay mine, you pay yours. I have lived below my means at every opportunity possible. I drive a 12 year old car and my wife and I have lived in our house since 1975. My financial planner calculates that we are financially sound to age 100. Live below your means and save for tomorrow.
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Tell us how Medicare is a big scam. As we know, nothing is free, but a universal health insurance system is necessary / which is not socialized medicine
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