How We Achieve It

Government is first of all an expression of our resources and will as a people. If we decide that the health of all our citizens is a priority, we can find and create sources of funding to achieve it. As a nation we spend more than any other in the world on health care, and yet in indicators like infant mortality rates (17th) and life expectancy (40th), we rank poorly among developed countries. However, in an expansion of Medicare for All, we will not only see funding become more effective in covering every United States citizen and increasing benefits, but in achieving much better health outcomes.

As noted before, considerable savings will be realized once the for-profit mentality is stopped from distorting the delivery of care. Over half of the funding for the health care industry comes from government subsidies anyhow, and substantial funding would be available in a move to Medicare for all. Through greater use of preventative care, electronic recordkeeping and prescribing and transparency in health care information for patients, a reduction in costly medical errors and resulting litigation, and through the natural elimination of the tax exemption for employer-based insurance and of hospital subsidies for the uninsured which would be rendered unnecessary under Medicare for All, hundreds of billions of dollars could be saved. Billions more of funding would be freed through closing tax loopholes for large corporations and the wealthiest individuals, cutting subsidies to various industries which profit from the exploitation of our natural resources, unwarranted earmark appropriations, and ending the Iraq War and its current funding mechanism as proposed in the Shared Sacrifice Act.

While some have proposed in legislation before Congress that we raise the payroll tax to fund national health insurance (and that this tax increase, in many cases, would simply replace what is now paid in premiums, deductibles, co-payments and uncovered costs), I think we must first look to other sources of funding. The payroll tax is currently among the most regressive taxes and is assessed on work, something we want to encourage. Instead, we ought to find funding through taxes on those things we want to discourage, things which contribute to higher costs in health care: addictive products which generate bad personal habits, and environmental hazards which pose public health risks. Funding national health insurance in this way increases revenue while reducing the amount the health care system is taxed and distributing the tax burden more equitably.

Health care should be acknowledged as a universal right. But with rights come responsibilities. Citizens can do their part by making every effort to stay healthy and to not overuse the system. Government can do its part by providing the necessary resources, the equitable and affordable access to health care itself, to education and housing; the environment (natural and otherwise) in which this is possible. The success of this system is a challenge for our generation. There are many interests within the current system which prevent progressive change. Yet we must put our national interest above personal, private, financial interests; for if we do make the health of our people a priority, our government's fiscal health and the health of our democracy will flourish as well.