Rethink Healthcare

updated 2-21-20 and still in process

Continuing with our economic and equality directives, it would seem simply that healthy people are more productive.

The Affordable Care Act and coverage of pre-existing conditions have been the high points in the efforts of the Democratic Party over the past 20 years.

A key issue going forward is how to handle the uninsured. All of us ultimately pay for this through higher costs as hospitals and doctors who absorb this cost pass it on eventually.

A little research illustrates that affordability of insurance for the bottom 60 percent is central to the cause.

According to the US Census Bureau the average household income was $ 73,298 in 2014. Depending on a family’s situation and where you live, the averages vary dramatically. More importantly the median household income in 2014 was $ 53,719 which means that half the households make less than this amount. Since the median is significantly less than the average, it tells us that the average is distorted by a small number of high income households. The inequality issue.

More importantly AGI (average gross income, income after some normal deductions) was around $ 36,000 in 2014.

Then looking at some numbers for 2019, we find that the average annual premium for health coverage for a family of four cost $ 20,576. Then one sees why people (2019 numbers again) with employer sponsored health care don’t want Medicare for All, because they only paid $ 6,015 toward the cost, employers paid 71 %.

  1. Some 40 percent of workers in the US have GIG or part-time employment with no benefits.
  2. Some quick thoughts, if you are a GIG or part time contractor or your AGI is $ 36,000 you are not going to spend $ 20,576 on insurance premiums.
  3. What does this mean, you either don’t get insurance or get cheap insurance with a lot of deductibles.
  4. It is not difficult to see, if one is unfortunate to have a significant health related cost, that bankruptcy may occur, again and again.
  5. One unstated issue that keeps coming up. That people with employer paid health insurance don’t want medicare for all is probably really a belief that if employers did not have to pay on average $ 14, 561 ($ 20,576 total insurance less $ 6,015 employee pay portion) that they would not pass on the $ 14,561 in increased wages to the employees. No doubt that would cover any increased Healthcare taxes that the government would deduct.

The core beliefs of our next President and how well he or she can get congressional approval for incremental changes to healthcare will be key.

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