Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., specified Tuesday how he
would pay for his "Medicare for All"program, which critics have
lambasted for its cost and impact on the federal budget.
While campaigning in New Hampshire, he responded to an audience
member's question about payment by saying he would likely raise payroll
taxes on employers as well as income taxes on high-income earners.
"It would cost you and ordinary Americans a lot less than
you are currently spending on average," he said before explaining his
payment method.
"What it will probably end up looking like is a payroll tax
on employers, an increase in income tax in a progressive way for ordinary
people -- with a significant deductible for low-income people who pay nothing
for it," he said.
He also said his campaign purposefully didn't put out a
detailed account of his payment plan because it would "engender enormous
debate."
Sanders was just one of many progressive, 2020 candidates to
advance "Medicare for All" and other policies, prompting more
vigorous debate about socialism in
the United States.
The proposal has received varying cost estimates from different
organizations. According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, one
Medicare for All proposal from Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. would cost about $28 trillion -
$32 trillion over a decade.
The American Action Forum, a conservative think tank, estimated the Green New Deal's provision for universal
health care would cost $36 trillion, with $260,000 in cost per household.
Another study from the Mercatus Institute, typically perceived
as leaning right on fiscal issues, similarly predicted in 2018 that the cost
would reach $32 trillion in 10 years but forsaw a scenario in which the nation could actually save
more than $2 trillion on health expenditures.
An alternative scenario, accounting for less effective cost
controls, would result in more than $3 trillion in additional costs.
Mercatus also claimed that its study's author thought the
assumptions showing cost-savings may be unreasonable.
When Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
Administrator Seema Verma commented on the issue in April, she described the
program as "the biggest threat to the American health care system."
"What we’re talking about is stripping people of their
private health insurance, forcing them into a government-run program," she
said. Her concerns echoed those of others who worried about the impact on
existing health plans.
Sanders and others have championed universal health care as a
human rights issue -- citing the U.S.'s high health care costs and lack of
coverage compared to other industrialized nations.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bernie-says-hell-probably-raise-payroll-income-taxes-to-pay-for-medicare-for-all
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