Did you know we’re already paying for guaranteed, affordable health care for everyone?

We’re Just Not Getting It!

According to an analysis by Dollars & Sense magazine, something that is being greatly underestimated is the degree to which individual Americans—including the uninsured— “subsidize the current U.S. health care system out of their own pockets.”

The United States already spends more than other countries that guarantee health insurance to all. To put U.S. spending into perspective: the United States spent $6,037 per person in 2004, compared to Canada at $3,161, France at $3,191, Germany at $3,169, and the England at $2,560. (For more information on the health care systems in other countries, watch “Sick Around the World” by Frontline.)

The article outlines how even though people think of the U.S. health care system as private, more than 60% of the $2 trillion annual U.S. health care bill is paid through taxes. “Tax dollars pay for Medicare and Medicaid, for the Veterans Administration and the Indian Health Service. Tax dollars pay for health coverage for federal, state, and municipal government employees and their families, as well as for many employees of private companies working on government contracts. Less visible but no less important, the tax deduction for employer-paid health insurance, along with other health care-related tax deductions, also represents a form of government spending on health care. It makes little difference whether the government gives taxpayers (or their employers) a deduction for their health care spending, on the one hand, or collects their taxes then pays for their health care, either directly or via a voucher, on the other. Moreover, tax dollars also pay for critical elements of the health care system apart from direct care—Medicare funds much of the expensive equipment hospitals use, for instance, along with all medical residencies.”

It’s time to demand we get what we are paying for! Guaranteed, affordable health care for all.

Read the Article