These days, political rhetoric is all about how you frame your argument. It has never been more true than in the healthcare...ummm discourse? So that's how I came up with the title of this diary. Can there be any doubt that the GOP is just fine with the status quo...a 15% + increase in healthcare costs each year?
Let's face it, healthcare coverage is a tax. It really is not optional if you have any wealth that needs to be protected from medical bills. Yes you can skate by without, but you are really playing russian roulette with your life savings. And under our current system, very few "shop around" for coverage unless you are unfortunate enough to have to struggle with insurance companies as a self employed person.
So my question to America is, if you hate taxes so much, why are you supporting our current healthcare tax? Listening to the Republicans say that we just can't afford reform is staggering in its ignorance. What Americans can't afford is the system we have and what Americans don't seem to recognize is how heavily they are taxed by private entities to pay for it. Noooo, I am not talking about federal and state tax money spent on healthcare for the infirmed and elderly, I am talking about the private sector tax on your income.
In 2008, I personally made just under the median household income. I also have the good fortune to have an employer supplied healthcare plan. As healthcare plans go, it's not as good as say a Republican Senators, but it's probably above average for most Americans.
It's a darn good thing I have this medical coverage. It allows me to get medicine for three separate conditions I have...all three of which are quite common and very manageable with medicine and an occasional checkup. So you would think that with my privately funded healthcare coverage (funded in part by a private tax on consumers in the price of the product my company sells), I would be thrilled at the bounty I have been blessed with.
Here's the deal...and this shocked me when I did the calculations. Once you add up my deductibles, copays and required premium supplements from my employer, I paid 3.7% of my gross salary in healthcare expenses (well over twice my medicare tax payments). I take three medications, I had one cavity filled, and was required to see my doctor three times for medication monitoring and one other for the flu. So while my health is not excellent, I am not exactly "sickly". Also note, I did not include the cost of new specs and an eye exam as that is not a routine expense (much to my optometrists dismay).
Now of course if I were highly paid, say twice the median household income, my private sector tax would only be 1.85% of my gross. That also assumes I did not negotiate either better coverage and/or lower copays that the upper crust frequently negotiate.
So let's get real here. Americans, every single one of us, pay a tax for healthcare. We pay it in our premiums, we pay it in our goods and services and we also pay it directly to care providers. Like most taxes, they fall disproportionately on those that can least afford them.
When will Americans demand a tax cut on their healthcare? A single payer system or government run system would be almost 50% less expensive. I want that choice.