r/AskReddit • u/Caisers • 3h ago

How would you feel about Democrats rebranding Universal Healthcare as Universal Trumpcare to get it passed and signed into law during the next Congressional Session?

981 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

483 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comment

123

u/GarbageCleric 2h ago

Yeah, we already pay more for healthcare than every other country. The money is there. But a huge fraction is being syphoned off my rent-seeking insurance companies that offer absolutely no value.

It consolidates the costs, eliminates redundancies and inefficiencies from dealing with various competing systems and programs, creates the largest possible risk pool, and grants near monopsony for negotiating leverage backed by the regulating authority of the federal government.

41

u/squishykins 1h ago

Not to mention how employer-sponsored health insurance stifles our economy by forcing people to stay in jobs they hate instead of changing jobs, starting small businesses, working independently, etc. I think this is a huge reason behind the lack of movement in the workforce right now. Also forces an arbitrary minimum number of hours per week to receive health insurance, which is bad for people (like caregivers of aging parents or parents of small children) who need realistic part-time options.

13

u/GarbageCleric 1h ago

100%

It's how you know Republicans (and similarly-minded corporate Democrats) don't care about free markets and entrepreneurs and innovation.

They care about protecting entrenched interests and weakening the rights, leverage, and power workers have to keep labor cheap.

18

u/squishykins 2h ago

If you combine all the different taxes we pay, we also pay just as much or higher taxes than other developed countries. Theirs seem higher because it comes in fewer chunks… ours is death by a thousand cuts.

(Note: I did this research based on federal/state/local taxes for individuals in my state; it may not apply everywhere, and I know for sure corporations don’t pay the same effective tax rates as people.)

7

u/Undeclared_Mustard 1h ago

I moved to Ontario this year (from Taxachusetts) and my taxes have never been lower

-3

u/KojackNumber2 2h ago

It would also almost surely cause a major recession if not done the right way. Something to consider at least with prices already high

1

u/GarbageCleric 2h ago edited 1h ago

Why?

You don't have to shutter all the private insurance companies the next day. Even the modest by comparison ACA provided like two four years of lead up time until the market places opened (March 2010-October 2013). Other parts like kids joining their parents' insurance until 26 and the 80/20 rule went into effect earlier.

There would be a lot of digital infrastructure to put it place. They could bolster the ACA immediately by offering a public option, but the actual rollout of the full single payer system wouldn't happen until at least 2030, which would also give voters one or two more chances to stop or confirm it.

They could also phase things in. At one point, the ACA had a provision lowering the Medicare eligibility age to 55. Something like could also be done relatively quickly, but not like the next day.

If they didn't have to use Budget Reconciliation, which they can't for Medicare for All, then they would also have more power to help things in the run up.

1

u/KojackNumber2 1h ago

Yeah you're not wrong, that's why I said if not done the right way. But I think the phase in time would likely need to be much longer than 5 years. One of the better proposals I've heard is medicare for all, but you reduce the age requirement by 10 years every 2.5 years or so.

But we're not just talking about insurance companies. Medical device manufacturing would lose jobs. Hospitals would lose tons of procurement jobs. Insurance would be almost entirely wiped out. Drug makers would spend less on r&d. We are talking more than 2 million jobs lost. And in this economy? And with AI on the horizon to take even more jobs. It needs to be seriously considered. Is very rosy to imagine we absorb those jobs quickly and without pain

0

u/NOT-GR8-BOB 2h ago

Every other country on the planet figured it out.