A few years ago I sent an editorial to the Ann Arbor News about the prospect of paying taxes to cover health care for everyone. Some people think that this would put us on par with communist countries to even consider such a plan.
But we already pay for other peoples' health care. It's not technically a "tax" but it is a hidden surcharge that everyone implicitly pays. When you buy something from a retail store, part of the purchase price is going to pay the health care for the employees/managers/owners/parent company's employees for that store. When someone buys software from my company, a small part of that price goes to subsidize part of my health care premiums (I pay the rest.) Lawmakers have famously pointed to the large amount of money for health care that is included in a new car's price - we all pay for each others' health care.
When you consider that many things you buy would cost less if the company did not have to figure health care costs into their bottom line, prices for goods and services could drop across the board. GM could immediately cut $1000+ off the cost of each vehicle they sell. Employers would not be saddled with additional costs for workers, and the overhead of having all these regional and national health plans could be turned into an efficient system like the one the VA system uses.
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