Jerry
There is a thought I have had lately, regarding the difficulty in the transition that would be required in moving to National Health care.
With a national plan we would create a situation where everyone would contribute the same way, I assume through a tax, like social security, correct?
The problem is that in our current situation, people's medical insurance is paid for all different ways. For example, I pay all my medical insurance out of pocket, as a small business owner. Some one else may receive medical insurance as part of their compensation for their work. Maybe it is totally paid for or partially paid for. Consider if then we need to contribute to the plan. That would be great for me, because I am paying already and it will likely be less. Someone who receives health insurance as part of their compensation for their work will, essentially, be paying twice. How to make that transition. It is very complicated. If employers pay in for their employees we continue to have the awful situation of Health care being attached to one's job. Also many employers don't and can't afford to pay for that benefit for their employees. Their employees don't generate enough revenue to afford it. To start to pay that additional compensation would be impossible for many businesses, especially now. Myself included. 5 years ago I did provide health insurance, but had to stop when it got to costly. At that time I gave my employee a raise equal to what I had been paying for insurance. I would have to cut his pay to go back to providing moneys for health care. Actually, this week my staff is on temporary layoff due to lack of work, so there is just no money at all.
Have you thought about this? It is very difficult and really don't see how we can possible make that transition without there being such inequities.
Maybe companies paying for healthcare could give that money to their employees, like I did, in the form of a raise. Then the employees would pay that into the government plan.
-Nancy
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Nancy,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your email.
There are a number of ideas on how to raise revenue to pay for a national healthcare system (NHS). HR 676 only says, (1) minimal employer payroll tax, (2) small increase in income tax on top 5% of earners. That's easy but inequitable. It puts too much on the working person.
A progressive "healthcare tax" placed on ALL income I think is best. If you are employed, the employer has the option of contributing all or part of that amount that is automatically deducted from your paycheck, basically what they do today. The nice thing about this is that the employer that only has one employee pays the same % as the large corp. Today the corp. pays an avg of 8% vs the small co. paying 20+%. If your self-employed or live off of interest or a trust fund, to continue to pay in your quarterly estimate.
As you say, an employer can adjust pay rate based on what they currently pay for insurance - most likely increase pay. The estimate is that an 8% income tax increase would be enough.
But, with an NHS healthcare is no longer tied to employers which means absolutely no loss of insurance if you are between jobs or laid off.
NHS is the only humane way to have healthcare.
Jerry