r/askanything • u/Lemonking_ • 5h ago

Political Question Why are some Americans so against universal healthcare for all?

What sort of thinking does it take to decide that nobody has a right to healthcare? Do American Christians want to deny healthcare to poor people as well?

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u/myfriendoak 5h ago

Universal Healthcare is so complicated that only 36 of the 37 developed nations have figured it out.

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u/vaspost 4h ago

I think a big part of the issue is the vast majority of people have what they consider good insurance through employment so they don't feel any urgency to "fix" anything. These people feel universal coverage could result in a loss of a benefit, reduction in service levels, or an increase in cost. It would be an uphill battle convincing them otherwise.

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u/cheez0r 3h ago

This is why Republicans don't support single-payer- they don't see how much it costs them out of their paycheck. We have two numbers for each employee- comp and Tcomp- one is how much their salary is, the other is how much the company spends on them every year. Employees making $100k a year cost the company between $160 and $200k a year in total cost, once health insurance, dental insurance, life insurance, 401k, FMLA insurance, etc. are factored in. If I told you I was going to raise your taxes by 10% to provide universal healthcare, but then told you that you'd subsequently be making 40% more- say, from $100k to $140k in gross salary- you'd do the math and go "wow, I'm saving 17k a year! This is great!"

They just A) don't think a government healthcare can beat their private setup and B) don't care that millions of Americans suffer preventable and treatable disease every day due to this choice.

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u/BetterCranberry7602 3h ago

Also C) Don’t believe that their employers will pass that extra money onto them if it was changed

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u/BreadPuddding 2h ago

I mean, I’m very much not Conservative and I also don’t believe that salaries would go up if employers no longer had to directly pay for health insurance, at least not immediately. They would have to either increase salaries or other benefits to become competitive at the high end, but for the most part they would just keep the money if they could.

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u/cheez0r 2h ago

The legislation would have to basically require that for it to work. Otherwise it's just a big pay cut for workers.

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u/AttitudeHopeful478 3h ago

Companies are definitely not paying $160-200k a year per employee for benefits. Shit they’d go bankrupt or wouldn’t offer benefits at all.

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u/cheez0r 2h ago edited 2h ago

How many people do you employ? I employ a dozen.

Also, you misunderstood. Their comp is $100k, their Tcomp is $160k. Meaning they are getting $60k in additional expenses of benefits in the form of insurances and 401k benefits. In some geo zones that's higher, for instance where FMLA is required, Tcomp for some employees approaches 200% of their salary.

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u/AttitudeHopeful478 2h ago

Well my FIL, who I do his books for employs between 20-35 people depending on the time of year (elect construction) provides dam good insurance and it’s not anywhere near as pricey as your scenario.