Monday, July 30, 2018

Who's going to pay for it? The other guy.

Hit and Run: "Bernie Sanders' Medicare-for-All Plan Will Cost $32 Trillion Over 10 Years - Yes, that's trillion with a "t."

Not to worry: super-smart economics major Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a plan to raise $2 trillion over ten years.  The other $30 trillion will be found (waves hands in air) with the magic of socialism!


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I laughed when I read the comment sections for this articles. "Trump can spend 80 billion on a wall, why can't we spend this on healthcare?"

Assuming USA population of 350 million.

32.6 trillion is 9314.2 dollars per man, woman and child per year, over 10 years.

80 billion is 22.86 dollars per man, woman and child per year, over 10 years.

#1 takeoff is that to most people, million, billion and trillion sounds similar and have no concept of the vast difference between the numbers.

#2 takeoff is if a family of 4 had $37,000 to spend on healthcare premiums each year, that this discussion would be moot.

#3 takeoff is that even if you tax the top ten most profitable companies at 100% each year, you'd still have a ~3 trillion dollar shortfall each year.

#4 takeoff is that the millennial's who propelled Bernie to his popularity are the ones responsible for Obamacare failing because as young, healthy people they did not want to buy health insurance premiums they weren't going to use to offset the price for others. Very socialist of them.

Anonymous said...

Typo, meant these articles.

Eric said...

#4 is the most correct one. C'mon kids, take one for the (elderly) team!

Anonymous said...

Bernie Sanders' tweet:
Even a Koch brothers-funded attempt to trash Medicare for All can't hide the truth: Medicare for All will lead to a $2 TRILLION REDUCTION in national health expenditures over 10 years.

That's trillion with a "T."

https://jacobinmag.com/2018/07/medicare-for-all-savings-mercatus-center-report


After we do this... we can build 25 walls!

Robert Fisk said...

The "reduction in health expenditures" that Bernie announces depends (among many other factors) on thousands of physicians sitting still for their rates being cut by 40%. From the Mercatus study:

It is likely that the actual cost of M4A would be substantially greater than these estimates, which assume significant administrative and drug cost savings under the plan, and also assume that healthcare providers operating under M4A will be reimbursed at rates more than 40 percent lower than those currently paid by private health insurance.

Oh wait - the physicians will be government employees, so they'll have no choice but to sit still for it. Score one for Bernie.

I also doubt this "expenditure reduction" factors in the new deductibles and out-of-pocket costs that would suddenly be faced by millions used to their current gold-plated private plans. Or the costs of the inevitable "Medicare supplement" plans that would have to be added onto the "free health care" scheme.

Another delightful thing to look forward to is hinted at in this quote from the linked article in the comment above:

[The study's author assumes] utilization of health services will increase by 11 percent, but aggregate health service utilization is ultimately dependent on the capacity to provide services, meaning utilization could hit a hard limit below the level he projects.

In other words, giving everyone "Medicare" will cause demand to skyrocket, leading to the compassionate necessity of rationing. But on the plus side, robust, draconian rationing can result in real-world cost reductions.

I wouldn't be concerned about this plan though. I doubt the public will accept a second round of lying promises from the Democrats on health care. Not within a single generation, anyway.

Anonymous said...

The estimate is from Mercatus' own study. Sanders is quoting it back at them.

Robert Fisk said...

Well thank you, CAPTAIN OBVIOUS!

Anonymous said...

The news gets worse and worse.

https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2018/08/obamacare-is-now-stable-and-providing-millions-with-health-coverage/

Endless whining is America's #1 entitlement.

Robert Fisk said...

"obamacare-is-now-stable" ... Let me make sure I have this straight - are you saying Obamacare didn't used to be stable? Because didn't you constantly claim it already was???

But Obamacare's newfound "stability" is indeed bad news, coming as it does just before that boondoggle gets replaced by "Medicare for All". The poor guy's legacy just can't catch a break!

Anonymous said...

One theory: Roger is an actual retard trollishly pretending to be a more retarded retard.

https://www.brookings.edu/research/how-would-individual-market-premiums-change-in-2019-in-a-stable-policy-environment/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5rRZdiu1UE

Robert Fisk said...

"Dear Diary,
Today I figured out that a retard is pretending to be even more retarded in order to more easily communicate with me. He tried to make me look bad by twisting my words around, but I won in the end by calling him a retard."

Anonymous said...

"Dear Diary" plus "I'm rubber, you're glue"? Roger is really stretching his creative muscles.

Is there any doubt that after every post, Roger leans back with both his hands behind his neck and grins with deep satisfaction?

Robert Fisk said...

None.