Trumpcare Would Leave 22 Million Uninsured But Give The Wealthy $250,000 Tax Break

[Mr Puggsly]

Zod95 said:

Mr Puggsly said:

Our military budget is very high yet still a fraction of our healthcare, social security and other entitlements spending. Our military budget could be 0% of the budget and we would still spend too much. The US has a spending problem and its not sustainable.

Well some countries pay high taxes for "free" healthcare. But they also have regulations that keep the costs of healthcare down. Canada inpaticular is known for long waits and that's because their healthcare needs more money in a country with already high taxes. So I dunno, its a more complex issue than people treat it. Seems like there are pros and cons no matter what direction we go.

I was talking to a someone younger than me about healthcare recently. He said he wanted a cheap healthcare plan that just covers major problems but doesn't cover the small stuff like checkups or other simple procedures. I had to explain to him that's what Obamacare took away, affordable coverage options that made us shop around for simple stuff. When insurance is expected cover everything, nobody price shops so all procedures get more expensive.

Anything is a fraction of everything else once nothing accounts for more than 50% of the federal budget:

https://media.nationalpriorities.org/uploads/total_spending_pie%2C__2015_enacted.png

Military + Veterans Benefits totals 20%, which is a big chunk of the budget (more than a half of either Social Security or Healthcare). If you shrink that to say 2%, as any non-imperialistic country has, you get 18% so spend elsewhere. Plus, if you create a healthcare-for-all-for-free system as scandinavian countries have, it will cost as much or even less than those 27% you already have today. Social security should be paid by the workers, not the federal government. A fraction of the salaries should be taken to finance pensions and unemployment subsidies. That's another 33% you would save. With those 51% I would increase spending on Education to at least 15% (in order to get equal opportunities for everybody) and increase Energy and Science to at least 3% each. The other 30% would be to pay off debt and decrease in the long term those 6% on interest.

Regarding healthcare, you shouldn't price shop it. You should get everything you need. I live in Portugal and in here healthcare is free. In some cases, you have long waits but when you really need it the system is there to treat you. That's not perfect (and I know there are great inefficiencies) but in my opinion it's much better than in the USA.

Seems like you're proving what I said already, US has a spending problem.

The lack of price shopping essentially keeps prices high. If prices are more affordable the average person can afford to pay more of their routine needs out of pocket or with an HSA. When insurance covers everything and nobody price shops, then prices are high. This is part of the reason there are long waits in "free healthcare." There isn't enough money to go around so people have to wait.

The biggest problem with health insurance in the US is it actually makes healthcare expensive because people with insurance aren't price shopping. The insurance companies basically give healthcare providers whatever they want, its kinda crazy.

I'm thinking the best solution is health insurance covers only covers major things we couldn't possibly pay for, like cancer, major surgieries, etc. That covereage would be cheap enough for basically any working person to have. While the simple routine stuff is paid for with a HSA or out of pocket, that would make it cheaper. Meanwhile those who genuinely need help paying for any medical treatment and routine stuff could get government assistance and it would be cheaper to do thanks to competition in the market.

Ultimately, FREE HEALTHCARE doesn't actually exist! Its a scam, its higher taxes. So bear in mind left or right we all want people to be taken care of. We just have different ideas how to do this. The right primarily wants it done in a more affordable way while the left wants limitless spending, atleast in the US.