Bernie Sanders' Bill Gets America Zero Percent Closer to Single Payer

[Moostache]

65. I join you in wondering the same...why are all "tax increases" still dirty words???

I want to know how corporations would feel about legislation that REDUCED their contributions to employee health plans by INCREASING the corporate tax rate to include a non-profit based employer contribution for health care?

I look at it this way...all hypothetical numbers, just using round numbers to make the math easy...comparisons are meant to be relative, not absolute!!

Say my family health plan costs $3,000 a month and my employer and I split that 80:20 where my monthly contribution is $600 a month and my employer is picking up the other $2,400. That $3,000 a month policy has to cover the 20-50% overhead for the for-profit insurance providers...so as much as $1,500 a month from that premium is covering the costs of the INSURER, NOT the cost of the insurance or the cost of the medical care provided by it.

So...
$3,000 total
$2,400 employer cost
$600 employee cost

$1,500 insurance company cut (profits)
$1,500 available for healthcare costs

Versus...
$3,000 total
$60 insurance company cut (administrative expenses)
$2,940 available for healthcare costs

Let's be realistic (ie. OVERLY generous to the corporations and OVERLY harsh on the individuals)

Instead of paying $2,400 as an employer contribution, let's give them ALL of the overhead and profit reductions...cut their contributions from $2,400 to $900 a month; but call it a "corporate health care tax" - and leave the employee contribution at the same $600 but now call it a "healthcare tax".

***FULL DISCLOSURE...I have no idea how the tax ramifications of the employer contribution being deductible affects this...but a reduction of the total outlay from $2,400 per month to $900 a month covers a lot of tax deduction potential either way...

As a business owner, if I was asked to cover 2-3% of operational expenses (Medicare for all) or 20-50% of operational expense (private insurance), EVEN IF MY TAX RATES APPEAR TO GO UP, it is a no-brain decision!!!

The conversion from the existing system, which literally NO ONE BUT THE INSURANCE COMPANIES REALLY LOVE, is converting the employer contributions without allowing them to become some kind of boost to the bottom line beyond the amount the company's are currently financing for the insurance companies. If the employer contribution is currently financing 100% of the insurance company profits, then the law needs to recognize this and REDUCE that outlay by eliminating the grift...the skimming of profits off of human misery, misfortune and woe.

This is not an intractable problem, just a very complicated and serious one. It should be debated IN PUBLIC and OPEN HEARINGS robustly and honestly and ideologues that start prevaricating and muddying the waters for financial purpose should be tried as profiteers and treated like those who would cheat the government in war time...harshly and with public shame.

This is not an easy nut to crack...far better men than I have tried and failed for over a 100 years...but getting better should never be seen as an unreachable Nirvana. Where we are is unacceptable, just be moving to something slightly better is hard to do does not mean we should ever stop trying to take that next step!!!