Below is a chart that shows the costs real people or businesses paid in 2010 and 2011 under the current healthcare system compared with what they would pay under single-payer. The single-payer costs are estimated based on the proposed funding for the Improved & Expanded Medicare for All Act (HR 676). Currently, we pay 1.45% tax for medicare. Under this proposal, 3.3% would be added to that, making a Healthcare Tax of 4.75% (no more separate Medicare tax). Since no specific number is guaranteed to be the final amount, this is just a starting place – obviously, Congressional wrnagling would be abundant and single-payer advocates would need to support the co-sponsors of any legislation and provide input, research, effort, and pressure to keep the amount of the tax balanced between being enough to maintain the system while being less than people now pay for private insurance. The following are examples of the kind of savings individuals and businesses could see.
There is a blank chart at the end that you can fill out to see what your savings would be. If you’d like to contribute to our collection and share your chart with others, please send it to sue4duh@gmail.com and it will be posted on this page. The chart will be anonymous, but must include what kind of employment you have (e.g. self-employed, government, private sector, non-profit, etc.), number of dependents, your yearly income, and what year your costs are based on. Thanks ahead of time for sharing!
2010 costs for a single person, no dependents, making $34,000 per year
Current Payments |
Amount |
Under Single-Payer |
Amount |
Medicare (1.45%) |
$493 per year |
Healthcare (4.75%) |
$1,122 per year |
Insurance Premium |
$1,200 per year |
Insurance premium |
0 |
Prescription Drugs |
$360 per year |
Drugs |
0 |
Diabetic testing supplies |
$600 per year |
Diabetic testing supplies |
0 |
Lab work |
$116 per year |
Lab work |
0 |
Co-pays |
$480 per year |
Co-pays |
0 |
Deductible |
$500 per year |
Deductible |
0 |
Co-insurance |
$1000 per year |
Co-insurance |
0 |
Costs not covered |
average of $1,200 per year |
Costs not covered |
0 |
Stress, worry, fear |
Unlimited |
Stress, worry, fear |
0 |
Grand Total |
$5,949 per year |
Grand Total |
$1,615 per year |
Annual Savings |
$4,334 per year |
Sorry for the formatting confusion – scroll down for other charts. I own my computer idiocy!
Costs for a non-profit small business with 45 employees
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Cost Comparison tool for you to figure out your own savings
*Elective cosmetic surgery/treatments and experimental or unproven, unapproved treatments/procedures. |
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You’re most welcome, Sue.
Considering that we cannot control whether or not some American will “lock in” their expectations about what health care will cost … based on whatever they happen to read at the moment, thanks for catching the critical point: that any specific set of funding sources or set of specific numbers are definitely funding PROPOSALS.
- Bob the Health and Health Care Advocate
Thanks, Bob, for your input. Sorry it took so long for me to reply – the disadvantage of having a “day job!”
I used the proposed numbers you mentioned, which were originally released by Congressman Conyers’ office and have been cited by single-payer organizations as a basis for figuring these costs. The 7.4% for employers includes the 2,9% they currently pay for Medicare.
While you’re correct that the bill would undoubtedly be wrangled over when it finally gains the required support, I believe it is absolutely crucial to provide people (both the public and legislators) with a framework upon by which to assess the real impact that universal healthcare would have on their personal and business economies. As we’re seeing in Vermont, not having at least a starting place to figure out how such a major sea change would be financed can hold up the ultimate accomplishment of the goal. And it has been my experience in lobbying for the bill we have here in Illinois that the first thing legislators ask is, “How are you going to pay for it?”
One of the challenges that, so far, the single-payer movement has not overcome is how to merge the very valid healthcare-is-a-human-right argument with the oh-so-American capitalistic mindset. Unlike Canada and other countries with universal healthcare, we (certainly those on the Right) seem to care more about our own wallets than we do about the greater good. And those of us on the Left tend to vilify the opposition as greedy, corrupt, and selfish, just as they dismiss us as bleeding-heart liberals, tree-huggers, and shiftless, unbathed slackers.
The fact is that we need each other if this is ever going to become a reality. And single-payer advocates already know how much good it would do the economy – we just need to learn to tell them in their language.
So that’s why I felt it was important for the DUH website to contain this information and why I hope to have many more charts (if only I could figure out how to post them as tables instead of word documents!) so people can find examples that are close to their own circumstances. Thanks again for the input and for making me aware that I need to emphasize that this is just PROPOSED funding.
Sue
Follow-up to my previous post…
You can go to H.R. 676 Sponsor Rep. John Conyers’ website to see one partial proposal for the details for funding. When you go to the website (http://conyers.house.gov) select Issues – Healthcare. The current numbers posted there as of today (2/4/2012) provide this partial set:
— 4.75% payroll tax on employees; 4.75% payroll tax on employers;
— 5% health tax on the top 5% of income earners, 10% health tax on top 1% of wage earners; and
— 1/4 of 1% stock transaction tax.
— No proposed number is included for the proposed modest tax on unearned income. [Subsection (c)(1)(D)]
After sufficient support is established in the U.S. House of Representatives, multiple funding proposals will likely be debated. An unwritten rule is that a bill must have over 100 members of the House be cosponsors prior to a bill being debated on the House floor. The Single-Payer Support Monitor provides a current bar chart that documents the degree of support:
http://www.medicareforall.org/pages/Current_Chart_of_U.S._Congress
- Bob the Health and Health Care Advocate
FYI —- Readers of duh4all.org should be aware that HR 676 does not propose specific funding details. HR 676 (as per its current version for the 2011 through 2012 session of Congress) One can find in the current HR 676 a general, not specific, proposal. [There are multiple ideas for what the set of details (such as the percentages) should be.] The general, high-level proposal is found in Section 211, subsection (c)(1) of H.R. 676:
Reference: http://www.medicareforall.org/pages/HR676#Sec211
- Bob the Health and Health Care Advocate