What is single payer?

Of course SS is insurance. It is insurance against disability, it is insurance for survivors, it is insurance that those who couldn't or didn't save enough won't be out on the streets.

Just like Medicare is insurance.

It's just not private insurance.

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Who knows? The Republicans put a pathological liar into office. If they expect Donald to do what he said they are fools.

 

<Mod Edit-rule 2> Insurance is something people buy from insurance companies in case they get sick or a tornado visits them. The federal government taking money out of their paychecks because the gov thinks they're too stupid to manage their own affairs isn't insurance. Call it single payer or or what you want but don't try to call it insurance when it's really a tax.

 

The thing I keep telling people is that they can have things if they are willing to pay for them. If they aren't willing to pay for them, they can't have them. And, I tell them not to look to someone else to pay for everything. This is my refrain when we talk about "free" college tuition. The same holds true for health care.

Let's look at some examples.

When the value of company-provided health insurance is added to my wife's and my incomes, our federal tax rate is about 12%. (This rate does not include FICA taxes, state income taxes, property taxes, or sales taxes.)

In Australia it would be 30%.

In Canada it would be around 26%.

I might add that Americans are going to demand prompt, high-quality health care.

So my question to all is: Are you willing to double or get close to tripling your federal income tax to pay for this?

This is the question nobody asks, and nobody wants to answer. I put it out there, and I get .... nothing but silence.

My two cents ...

 

Everyone in the U.S. is getting healthcare whether they can pay or not. Doesn't it makes sense to deliver this care in the most efficient manner possible. Why should insurance companies get to rake 20% right off the top? The U.S. under the current system is paying about double what any other industrialized country is.

 

Depends on your definition. Insurance in the strictest sense is simply a method of assuring that bad times are covered. How that is done is almost immaterial. Bottom line there is always a cost to health care. If there is no single payer then that can impact back on the overall health of a society which very much impacts on the overall productivity of the society

 

In the end what single payer does is provide you all the health care the government is wiling to pay for which will be eventually less and less with every passing year of your life.

 

And every time there is discussion about a universal health care we see a Tabacco industry like propaganda campaign spill across the board

 

That's BS.. Seniors and premature babies use most of the healthcare dollar now.

 

Yes and no. The elderly are usually well cared for as they are a powerful voting block with enough time on their hands to harass politicians. What we have far less of is useless heroics. If your are 98 with kidney, heart and liver disease we will not admit you to ICU or give you a kidney transplant

 

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In the end, smart intelligent people base their decisions by verifiable and documented source rather than random people offering their opinions.

 

Insurance companies are raking in 20% profits thanks for the tip! Excuse me folks while I manage my stock portfolio, be back soon.

 

Just don't break your leg on the way

 

What about oil companies that do fraking in Oklahoma I bet they're going to take off too. Woohoo! We could all be rich.

 

So we are going to fund 20% of our GDP with modest new taxes based on our ability to pay ?...lol.....really ? Since we know that roughly 47% do not pay federal income tax, that essentially means that 53% of the country is going to fund 20% of our GDP through taxation. GDP is not profit, it is output. GDP is MUCH higher than profit. You are talking about 53% of our population funding 20% of our GDP, which is an astronomical number, and then claiming it will be through modest new taxation. This is an utterly preposterous claim. The only people that would see a modest increase in their taxes are those that are just barely paying income tax at all.

 

Medicare is proof that the government can do things way cheaper than the private sector.

 

So many other countries manage to have universal healthcare, why not the US?

 

BZZZT Wrong!

Illegals cannot collect on SS because they lack the 40 credits necessary to obtain it.

Without a valid SS number and their income recorded against the SSN and the appropriate taxes paid they are not eligible for SS benefits.

Illegals often have SS and Medicare taxes deducted from their incomes which means that they are paying in but not receiving any benefits.

 

Did you factor in copays, deductibles, out of pocket expenses and out of network costs?

Because when you add those back in it usually comes out to more than what it costs overseas.

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Assumes facts not in evidence.

 

If you want to destroy healthcare, hand it over to the federal govt.

 

Single-payer healthcare....The democrats (who love it) couldn't get it through when they had the chance and now the republicans (who hate it) are in power...so whether you love it or hate it, why is this on anyone's radar?

 

100% of all income earners pay Federal taxes of one sort or another. No one is exempt from payroll taxes that cover SS and Medicare

 

That's funny! I bet if I had a dollar for every dollar SS has paid to illegals I wouldn't be typing this now. I'd be on my yacht off of Cape Cod with a boatload of babes.

 

The federal goverment has successfully managed Medicare for 50 years and social security for over 80 years.

 

No I didn't factor any of that. It was just a look at tax rates.

My point really is that paying for it is the most uncomfortable part of the discussion. No one ever wants to talk about it!

I ask the question - Would you agree to doubling your income taxes (or more than doubling them) to get single payer, and all I get is .... silence.

 

You do understand that Medicare is government healthcare insurance right?

What they ought to do is allow people (and businesses) to simply BUY into Medicare. No force. No additional taxes