The Post to Comment In

If you want to leave a message for me that is not about any particular other post, feel free to Comment on this post with it.

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Times are tough...

Times have been tough for a lot of folks these days, and unfortunately I am no exception.

Things have gotten pretty bad, so I'm putting up a donation button. If you decide to use it, thank you very, very much. If not, I don't mind. I know I'm not the only one going through tough times. It's on the right.


Thanks.

Why Everyone Should Support the Single-Payer Health System

One of the things I've noticed going on with the health care is businesses opposing health care reform, as well as various people and, of course, HMOs.


Look, if you're not someone making more than $200,000/year or a high-up-muckety-muck in the medical industry, you really ought to support a single-payer health care system. Here's why:


You probably keep hearing about how health insurance reform (especially a single-payer system) will add lots of taxes, maybe also 'hidden taxes'. Well... it will add taxes, but not hidden ones. However, you're still saving money.

Here's the thing- these new taxes won't be in addition to everything you pay right now. They will replace what you and/or your employer pay for health insurance right now. That $183.84/month ($2,206.08/year + 30% copayments) that Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan charges for personal medical health care would get replaced by the health care taxes which I seriously doubt would cost that much. At a 1% income tax, it would be less than that unless you earn more than $220,608/year. And you know what? If you make more than $200,000/year, you can probably afford to pay more than two grand on health care. And just for the record, if you make more than $250,000/year, you're one of about 2% of the population. If you make more than $180,000/year, you are (as of 2008) in the top five percent of the nation's income - and at 180 grand, you're still paying less than $2,206/year at a 1% income tax for health care.


So, if you're not in health care or HMOs, and not making over $220 grand per year, a single-payer health care system is only a good thing.

HMOs will lose a lot of business from this, of course... but that isn't a major concern, I think, because the government will be hiring many of them. Keep in mind we're talking about the government effectively doing the same job HMOs do, nationwide. That will take a lot of people, which means a lot of jobs. Jobs that former HMO employees will likely be perfect for.


Oh and let's not forget businesses here. With health care taken off their shoulders, they will be able to raise everyone's pay (since many business partly or wholly cover insurance costs for their employees) and may also be able to hire more people with those suddenly unspoken-for funds.


The real losers here are the people running HMOs for massive personal income. That's it. For everyone else it's either a winning plan, or (for the less-than-5% that make over 220grand annually) just another drop in a rather large bucket.


Hey, you know what? If the cost for everyone getting healthcare at a reasonable cost is that a couple dozen people lose their million-dollar profits, I can live with that. On the whole, it is a massive amount of gain nearly everyone, than it is a miniscule loss for a few dozen people.

Michael Moore debuts 'Slacker Uprising' before a packed house at the Michigan Theater.

I am in this article!

Alpha Point

Just made an account here, mostly to comment on other people's blogs, but I may eventually start posting here about my life in Vana'diel. If you want to know about my offline life check out my LJ at volkai.livejournal.com

Edit (2011): I have since repurposed this blog to include posts about my offline self.