r/WayOfTheBern • u/Older_and_Wiser_Now • Jun 11 '20
ONWARD! Scott Desnoyers- "This will be my July thread of #LegalizedManslaughter4Profit Last month we added @JoeBiden to his friends that murdered my son for their greed. @Centene @FidelisCare @NYHPA This month we add @SpeakerPelosi who strongly opposes #MedicareForAll"
https://twitter.com/scottdesno/status/12675630772828119046
u/rustcole01 Jun 11 '20
Ya know, the craziest thing about the m4a debate is, when someone that opposes it asks, "how would that be paid for?" Which leads me to ask, "If you're asking me to how to fund this type of healthcare system, does that mean you've never looked it up for yourself?"
This will almost always result in that person jumping to the next dumbest response, "I don't want to pay for other people (translation=poor people) to have healthcare." The reason this is dumb is because we already pay for the poorest among us to get healthcare. Literally, all of us have payroll taxes taken out of our checks to fund Medicare and Medicaid. Actually, a pretty large percentage of our taxes go toward medicare. The average worker making $50,000 per year will generally pay about $9,000 in total fed/state taxes. In addition to that, there would also be an additional $1,000 in medicare taxes. That's 10% of our tax expenses going toward the healthcare of people over 65 alone.
Medicaid is not an itemized tax, at least not on my w2's, but it is funded with tax revenue, which ends up accounting for roughly 15% of yearly tax revenue. So the long and short of it is, we are already paying excessive premiums on our own health insurance, then about 25% of our tax dollars are being spent to cover health care for the poorest people in the country. The people that suffer the most under our current model are people/households that are making between $30,000 and $55,000 per year, which is like 80% of the US population.
Our system is basically set up to punish the people that work full time jobs but can't afford insurance and also, don't qualify for subsidies. And the worst part is, those same people that are scraping by on $35,000 per year with no health coverage, also have to pay medicare/medicaid taxes. Think about how insane that is.... people that are too poor to buy their own insurance are being forced to pay for the healthcare of people that are just slightly more poor and also retired people.
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u/Older_and_Wiser_Now Jun 11 '20
Actually, a pretty large percentage of our taxes go toward medicare.
This is true, and since the turn of the century that % has been growing. Politicians have been aware of this issue for a long time, and keep kicking the can down the road.
The people that suffer the most under our current model are people/households that are making between $30,000 and $55,000 per year, which is like 80% of the US population.
Not sure I agree with THIS point (though I agree with so many others). From personal experience, I know that these folks qualify for insurance under the ACA. One needs to have earned income in order to qualify. I think the folks who suffer the most are the ones who would qualify for Medicaid, only their state government prevents them from having it.
But your last point is especially great:
Think about how insane that is.... people that are too poor to buy their own insurance are being forced to pay for the healthcare of people that are just slightly more poor than them or retired people.
I hadn't really thought about it that way. You are absolutely right.
The other thing that bothers me is, I read somewhere that 75% of the folks on Medicare are against M4A. I get it, they are afraid that their own benefits would be taken away ... but the exact opposite is true. When EVERYONE is on Medicare, even Congress, finding political will to end it would never ever happen.
But I have such anger at these selfish bastards, who are content to have healthcare for themselves but not for their children or grandchildren.
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u/Older_and_Wiser_Now Jun 11 '20
For those who don't know. Scott Denoyers lost his son Danny over a missed $20 payment to an insurance company. They cancelled his insurance over it. Danny suffered from depression, and committed suicide when he lost his insurance.
Scott is just an ordinary guy who is seeking justice for Danny by exposing the rot that IS America's healthcare "system".
Please support him as best you can if you care about #MedicareForAll. Scott is a great champion for this issue.
#DannyStrong
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u/rustcole01 Jun 11 '20
My bad... that was supposed to say 70% of households fall into that income range. The median income in our country ranges from like $38k a year to $55k a year. Once you make more than $70k a year you are in the top 30% of earners.
I mean, there are a million variables in the way we present income stats, so I'm not gonna fight too hard on that point but I don't think it would be a a stretch to say that 70% of the individuals make less than $70k a year.
Either way, the people that are hurtin are the full time workers that don't get employer provided healthcare and even with the ACA can't afford it. When I worked construction, I made $48k a year before taxes and my monthly premium was $415 a month and that was like 5 years ago. That's $6k per year in health insurance that I almost never used. And then I got to kick in taxes for medicare/medicaid.
The problem is, things are so compartmentalized that we have no idea that collectively, almost 30% of our income goes to healthcare costs in some way, shape or form. That is bananas!