Taxes and Health Care

[nyhuskyfan]

A big talking point of the right is that taxes would have to go up to pay for public health care.

Right now, I put $70 a month into my employer-controlled health plan. I'm single, and I work in higher education, so my plan is quite reasonable (the family plan is maybe $150-160 a month).

Not only that, but my salary is not what my employer pays me, if I had my own personal entry on their accounting books. I make roughly 55K in before-tax salary, but my employer pretty much pays me roughly 75K - which includes matching 401K contributions, payroll taxes, and unemployment insurance. And a big chunk of that is insurance (I wish I knew the exact number).

Let's say we went to single-payer and my taxes went up $150 a month ($1800 a year), just to pick a random number out of the air. That sounds awful to the teabaggers. You'd have torches and pitchforks on the village green. But my $70 contributions would no longer be needed, and my employer would have a fair amount of money cleared that could easily result in an increase in wages. Or perhaps a larger staff that would make my job easier and allow me to use all my vacation time. Or, in the case of big firms, maybe more profit for the all-important stockholders.

And I would have the peace of mind that I would never have to worry about getting sick between jobs. Or if I decided to spend a year writing the great American novel (yeah, right) I could do it and not feel like a slave to my corporate masters for their benefits.

But our culture is so venemously anti-tax that most people would rather spend $250 a month into a private insurance plan that could stiff them to make a profit over a $150 tax increase that guarantees everyone coverage.

And in any other industrialized nation in the world, if politicians tried to mess with the current single-payer health care system, they'd be the ones facing torches and pitchforks.

[Suich]

1. Good point,

but way too logical!

:sarcasm:

:)