Skip to main content

How would free healthcare in the United States change the expenses of people in the lower class, middle class, and upper class?

The first issue here is that "free" health care isn't actually free. Hospitals, doctors, and medications all cost money. The actual issue is how those costs are paid for and by whom. In some countries, patients pay health care providers directly. In other countries, people tend to buy insurance and insurance companies then pay all or part of medical costs. The standard model in most developed countries is some form of national healthcare, usually with a single payer model, in which the government collects taxes and uses tax money to pay the health care costs of all citizens and permanent residents.


The current system in the United States is actually a mixture of government (i.e. taxpayer) funded health care available to veterans, lower-income families, and the elderly, for-profit insurance, and direct payment to providers. 


What changes people will experience in health care-related costs if a single payer system was instated would depend on implementation details. For veterans, the elderly (Medicare eligible), and the poor (Medicaid eligible), a switch to a single payer system might not not change their costs or benefits.


For workers who already have insurance plans through work, out-of-pocket medical expenses might be lower. Currently, approximately 60 percent of bankruptcies in the US are related to medical debt; this number would decrease markedly under a single payer system. People in lower- and middle-income brackets who are not Medicaid-eligible would probably see the greatest benefits. People in the middle- and upper-income brackets would see a reduction in out-of-pocket medical expenses and insurance costs.


The question remains, though, of how such a system would be financed. It would require some form of increased taxation or perhaps mandatory insurance contributions on a sliding scale. While consolidation of Medicare, Medicaid, and VA benefits under a single payer system would result in some cost savings, some people would still need to pay additional taxes to fund a single payer system. If such a tax plan closed loopholes such as the difference between higher taxes on wages and lower ones on capital gains (which benefits the wealthy), then the wealthy would pay higher taxes. An across-the-board tax increase or fixed levy might increase tax rates for some, but this might be offset by lower medical costs. 


Realistically, the answer to this question depends entirely on implementation details; without those, one cannot know actual numbers.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...