The Democrats are pushing a program that they call “Medicare for All.” Like “Gender Affirming Care” or “Reproductive Rights,” they are using the term to mean exactly the opposite. What the Democrats are proposing has nothing to do with Medicare. A more accurate name would be Medicaid for All.
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Medicare is a system where, in theory, one pays their entire life into a trust fund, currently at a rate of 2.9% on income which is half paid by the employee and half by the employer. After a lifetime of savings and earnings, we should have a substantial balance in a substantial trust to cover my medical expenses in old age. Medicare has three components: a modest income-adjusted premium paid by the participant, currently at a base of a little over $200 per month, a portion paid by the government through the accumulated trust fund, and an insurance portion paid either as a supplement or provided in the Medicare Advantage program if that option is selected. There is also a small deductible applied. One can forego the supplemental insurance, but then you are personally responsible for 20% of the costs.
The Democrat proposal, on the other hand, has no trust fund, no paying into the fund, no private insurance allowed, and no co-payments. The rules for services and reimbursements are specifically the Medicaid rules, not the Medicare rules. It would leave the entire population at the mercy of the government bureaucrats for their life and health. I would assume government workers would have their own taxpayer-funded platinum plan so they wouldn’t have to suffer the same as the riff-raff.
I will not spell out all the issues with government-run healthcare in countries like Canada and Britain — that has been done in detail in many other places — but I will point out that the only countries that outlaw private healthcare and insurance are Cuba, Venezuela, and North Korea. Even Communist China has private health insurance providers. The best-run healthcare systems in Europe, in Switzerland and the Netherlands, administer their healthcare solely through insurance companies with income-based subsidies. The Scandinavian countries channel all their health services through local governments rather than the national government and still have middle-class tax rates at 60%. I would point out here that the healthcare outcomes of Americans of Scandinavian descent are superior to those of Scandinavians living in Scandinavian countries.
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The cost of these government-run programs is also not discussed. European countries typically pay payroll taxes approaching 40%. France, for instance, has a 9% payroll tax on employees with an additional 29% from the employer. This excess employment cost is the reason unemployment rates in European countries are often double the U.S. rate, and the economic growth rate is half.
The other point not mentioned is that the Affordable Care Act was promoted and implemented as a universal healthcare plan. All citizens are covered under Obamacare through either employer insurance, subsidized insurance through the exchanges, or Medicaid expansion. For Democrats to promote their single-payer plan is a confession that Obamacare has been a massive failure. Based on the Democrats’ statements, we should scrap the Affordable Care Act, as it is a failure.
In summary, the Democrat healthcare plan is for all of us to pay $2,000 to $3,000 more every month in taxes so that we can be thrown off of our private insurance and be forced onto Medicaid. Please tell them NO in November.
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Image: Medicaid