Henry County Commissioners recently approved the annual county budget. Buried in the depths of the budget was a $2.7 million increase in county employee health insurance premiums. This increase is on top of the substantial sum, buried in the budget so it cannot be easily found, already being spent by the County for insurance. Plus, little known to the public, the County must provide medical care to inmates in its jails, another buried item within the $15 million plus spent on jails. In our state, many counties have taken on the added responsibility of funding indigent care in public hospitals as well.
But it does not have to be this way here. Healthcare’s not a local expense in Canada and many other democracies with universal coverage. Thus, local funds could then be redirected towards education, roads and infrastructure … or go towards property tax reductions. However, in order to do this our nation must get real about healthcare financing reform.So far, we have not been.
The unsuccessful GOP reform effort, Trumpcare, was a farce. A tax break of $600 million would have gone to the wealthy. At the same time, a whopping 24 million folks would have been added to the ranks of the uninsured, dumping the problem onto state and local government, as well as public hospital authorities. Local taxes would have gone up, not down.
As Chairman of the Jasper County Commission, I led in reducing annual tax increases from 10% to 1%. I want efficiency in government. (Note: after I left, increases went back to 10%.)
Most county commissioners I know are also against the federal government getting into their affairs. I am as well, with one major exception: healthcare. Under single payer (expansion of Medicare to cover everyone), the burden of paying for care would be shifted from state and local government to the federal level, as it is in virtually every other developed nation.
The best source of information about universal healthcare coverage is the Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP). Their web site (www.PNHP.com) contains links to numerous studies which show conclusively that Medicare for All would save money, lower the rate of healthcare inflation, and ensure high quality care.
There are a number of potential funding sources, as detailed on the PNHP web site. Another source of information about potential funding would be House Bill 1384, currently endorsed by a majority of House Democrats. Additionally, funding sources are described in Bernie Sanders’ recently introduced Senate bill, backed by many Democratic Senators and Presidential candidates.
Under single payer, private premiums would be abolished, with a Medicare tax placed on all workers and employers. Also, capital gains and dividends could be taxed as ordinary income versus a flat 15% and real estate and other loop holes closed. This is a key mechanism for the ultra-wealthy to avoid taxes. Remember Mitt Romney paying just 13% and Trump nothing at all?
There are a number of other ways to raise taxes to get medical care for all Americans, like reversing the unaffordable Bush, Obama and Trump tax cuts. And, closing corporate loopholes is another major revenue source. The theoretical corporate tax rate was 35% until recently, but the true rate was only about 13% due to the influence of corporate lobbyists and their money. Despite the Trump’s tax bill reducing the 35% substantially, most Americans want taxes on the wealthy and corporations increased, not decreased.
And, how about reducing our constantly increasing military expenditures by getting our allies to pay their fair share like Trump wants? We pay 4% of GDP while Canada pays 1%. Our European allies are about as bad.
Let’s reverse course and cut our defense budget, closing bases the Pentagon doesn’t want open, doing more efficient purchasing, eliminating politically motivated capital expenditures that the military says it does not need (i.e. certain tanks and planes) and getting out of countries that are impossible to stabilize, like Afghanistan. All it takes is political will and a realization that we cannot and should not be the world’s policeman, as Rand Paul and others have said.
Obamacare helped by covering 20 million citizens, but it was a half way measure. It was not a particularly good one because: (a) it relied on inefficient private insurance companies with overhead averaging 12% versus 2% for Medicare and (b) some of the Medicaid expansion cost was dumped onto states, with many GOP dominated states (including Georgia) refusing to absorb the cost.
For too long has our Congress turned its back on the problem of national healthcare coverage. Let’s move now to get this burden off of state and local government.
All of the other developed nations in the world have affordable national healthcare insurance covering everybody, at less cost per capita and with better access and quality. Why can’t we?
Jack
You sound so much like Bernie Sanders in your recent article and is a prime example of what’s wrong with America. Health Care is not a Right nor should it be. There are two glaring examples of how Government screws up industry when subsidized. 1. Student loans (College Education Cost). 2. Health Care and it expensive price tag. What we need are true free market competition in Health Care. But what we do have are Insurance Cartels that win not matter who’s in charge. Obama Care only made things in the Health Market worse and was made to fail form the beginning. Medicare for all would not save us money, all your sources are not accurate they are however very one sided. I lived in Northern NY for years and I consistently seen Canadian plates at local Hospitals, why, because Canadians who needed immediate care were often put on waiting list to receive care. Theirs two ways to pay for things, we can ration them or we can price them. Pricing leads to greater access. Just as those Canadians figured out for good care they could not receive back home. Perhaps the most important thing you fail to understand is that Tax Money belongs to the tax payer, your view of taxes is theft.