My name is Patrick. I am a progressive. The medical care I receive from the VA in Reno NV is superb. As a service disabled Vietnam veteran, I benefit from a single payer health care system: office visit – no copay, no charge; urgent care / hospitalization – no copay, no charge; prescription medications – no copay, no charge. What I want is for every American to experience medical benefits as a service disabled veteran does: no insurance, no copay, no cost; just a National health card, much like a debit card so the system can know who is being treated, what they are being treated for and how much to compensate providers of goods and services. What is unique about my plan is I have a way to pay for it, estimate the cost nationwide, balance the budget while providing a growth opportunity for insurance companies. I call it free-market socialism because it does not take over the means of production and distribution; instead, it is a 21st century remedy for income inequality that enhances national growth.
If nationwide ballot initiatives were a fact, you would see my initiative this way.
I propose a surtax on income above 100 times the minimum wage. For example, if the minimum wage were $15 / hr, the tax would apply to people making over $3M per year (100 x 15$/hr x 2000 hr/yr). Want to lower the surtax? Raise the minimum wage. Bottom line: if you make less than 100 x minimum wage, the surtax does not apply to you.
The proposed surtax would be at a flat rate based on a revenue neutral budget. Want to know the cost? Ask the OMB to calculate the number of service disabled veterans whose medical coverage is paid for by Uncle Sam, the average cost per disabled veteran per year and then scale the result nationwide. The ratio of the income that could be raised by the surtax to the scaled result is the tax rate for the surtax. Bottom line: this single payer approach pays for itself.
What about Medicare? Leave Medicare taxation unchanged and use it to offset the surtax.
What about the insurance companies? Scaling up from service disabled veterans to every American nationwide could be an administrative nightmare. Insurance companies already have established relationships with service providers and a large segment of the population. Let us repurpose the insurance companies as administrative contractors, pay them a fair transaction fee and let them grow their business by reaching out to the population at large. The congress legislates social controls on fair compensation to keep administrative costs low and directed. Bottom Line: smooth transition, jobs are created for the administrative contractors and there is minimal disruption to the existing work force. Compensation is both fair and efficient.
What should happen to the economy? The theory of bubble up economics suggests that when average Americans no longer have the barriers of copays and insurance company premiums and medical service claims to pay, there will be more disposable income and fewer bankruptcies. This will leave Americans with more disposable income to apply to the consumers’ 70% share of the GDP. Bottom line: it should stimulate the economy.
What about paying for a woman’s right to choose? Let the surtax and Medicare forms have a box to opt in for using a portion of their tax to pay for a woman’s right to choose. Those who do not opt in have the satisfaction of knowing that their money is not being used to pay for abortions. Those who do opt in have the satisfaction of knowing they are protecting a woman’s right to choose.
What about foreign nationals? Imagine a visitor infected with the corona virus not being able to seek treatment because of cost barriers. That is just wrong. Let the surtax and Medicare forms have a box to opt in for using a portion of their tax to pay for undocumented individuals and foreign nationals. Those who don’t want to pay for this service don’t; those who have compassion for our guests do. In the registration process, a national health card would differentiate Americans from guests. Social controls would place privacy restrictions prohibiting the national health card from immigration and naturalization use cases. It is up to congress to legislate whether Visa applications should include compensation for access to a national health card. Bottom Line: undocumented guests and foreign nationals may apply for a national health card and receive the same benefits as Americans thanks to the generosity of tax payers who opt in.
Bottom Line: Unlike 19th century socialism and even Democratic Socialism which take over the means of production and distribution, 21st century free-market socialism is a remedy for income inequality that grows a bubble up economy and makes health care a human right.