03-14-2017, 02:09 PM
(03-14-2017, 01:05 PM)Benton Wrote: I've advocated for a while for a plan where the states form a cooperative and negotiate on behalf of anyone who wants insurance.
If you're a single payer and solicit from a dozen insurance companies, you're going to pay a huge rate. That's one of the benefits of working for a large company, typically they negotiate a good benefits package. A state cooperative could do the same for voluntary members (single payers). If you get 10% of each state participating, that's several million people to spread a plan across.
On the legalizing issue, that's sort of what's been happening already with some states approving it, taxing it and using the proceeds to pay for stuff they would normally have to use an income tax for. Which is why the news of Trump's "we're going back to locking up people for smoking pot" is disappointing.
Employers typically pay 50% of the insurance premium on your behalf. For example, you pay $400 per month in premiums and your employer pays the same. An individual might pay $800 or more for the same policy on the individual market. Employers offer medical insurance as part of an overall compensation package to attract the best candidates for the job.
Approximately 50% of the US is covered by employer sponsored health insurance. Another 30% approximately through Medicare and Medicaid. That leaves roughly 20 percent. The majority of that 20% are the working poor; Americans who work blue collar jobs which don't offer health insurance, not Welfare Queens or illegal immigrants as implied.
The politicians need to do a much better job serving those Americans. When they do, it will benefit the rest of us. Not just the those earning $250,000 or more who get a tax break with the proposed plan who are already able to afford executive health insurance plans.
