Brag

Go Hurt Locker. If you scroll down to October 17, i forewarned you about its awesomeness.

Quick note on health care. First of all, I'm am sick of the right just arguing for the hell of it. I love my father but it drives me crazy when republicans complain about change when they a) acknowledge and admit there's something wrong with something , b) complain that the leadership won't do anything about it but c) won't suggest a reasonable solution

I don't know that much about the health care but I do know this; lets assume American health care costs X. 20% is paid out of pocket, 50% by private insurance, 30% my the government (Medicare, Medicaid)

Lets assume that the administrative overhead costs of running Medicare/Medicaid are 20% of our FICA contributions. Now, since private insurance is for-profit, its fair to say that that for every dollar put in, 60% actually goes to health care costs, and the other 40% goes to compensation for admin, sales, executive, marketing, etc. Of course the out of pocket goes 100% to health care costs.

So what if we took all the revenue private insurance is generating and put in in the Medicare/Medicaid pool? Would you rather donate money to a charity that pays 50 cents on the dollar to the recipients or 80% on the dollar if the output of the charity is exactly the same?

First, the total percentage of admin costs as a percentage of the pool would drop dramatically if Medicare/Medicaid just became universal health care. The infrastructure has already been established (the SSA, Medicare, etc.). It would just handle more money. Every American is entitled to benefits after the age of 65 (or in some cases younger). We're already in the system; its just a question of allocation.

As the government is ostensibly not for profit, insurance profits and worker compensation would be eliminated for the pool. Also, the moral hazard insurance companies face of essentially losing money when they pay out a claim would be eliminated. Also, the larger the pool to share risk, the less each plan costs.

So the counterargument is that our FICA deduction would be higher? People forget that most people who have private insurance have thier employers pay half of their contribution. If that "payroll" tax was eliminated companies would just have more money to pay their employees.