I’m wondering how much the average person will have to pay federally, as a percentage, for federal income if/when President Obama’s healthcare bill passes. What are countries that are currently using this system paying? Canada, for example.
|
I’m wondering how much the average person will have to pay federally, as a percentage, for federal income if/when President Obama’s healthcare bill passes. What are countries that are currently using this system paying? Canada, for example.
|
There are no increases in Federal income taxes in the pending healthcare reform legislation.
Countries with Socialized or single payer healthcare systems typically have LOWER costs when both taxes and the out-of-pocket patient costs are taken into consideration. Canada and the UK are good examples.
Countries with tightly regulated health insurance systems, such as Germany, Netherlands, and Spain also have much lower total costs when taxes and healthcare costs are added together.
Pinpointing exact amounts between countries is difficult because healthcare is not the only cost covered fully or partially by tax revenues. Many countries also fund post-secondary education in whole or in part through tax revenues or other publicly funded means.
One barometer that is very accurate in the US for comparison is the cost of delivering healthcare to US military personnel. The military healthcare system is a fully Socialized, single-payer system with over a century of historical cost data. When comparing DRG reimbursements between the civilian and military healthcare systems (such as when a GI is treated at a civilian hospital or a civilian is treated at a military Level one trauma center) one fact becomes glaringly clear: The quality of care in the two systems is similar, but the cost of delivering services in the military system is 40% to 60% of the cost at civilian treatment facilities. What’s the difference? Profits and waste, pure and simple.
There is no way to know as the Democrats have not yet looked that far in advance. They are more worried about PASSING the bill, rather then figuring how to pay for it. Most countries with universal healthcare have tax rates between 40-60%. The average US taxpayer is in the 25% tax bracket.
Bostonian has summarized the situation very accurately. For similar or better health care, other industrialized countries spend between 8 and 10% of their GDP to cover 100% of their populations. To cover approx. 82% of its population, the US spends over 17% of its GDP on health care. And it is only this low because Medicare covers the elderly and is much more efficient than the average private insurer-provided care. France, for example, spends 4% of its health care money on admin, whereas insurers spend over 20% on admin in the US.