re: How much would single payer cost?

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How much extra would we have to pay in taxes for government run health insurance? I've seen anywhere from 6-10% extra for high income earners. Right now I pay ~$400 per month through my employer for a family plan. If you have a household income of $250k that means you would be paying ~$15k-$25k a year for awful service provided by the federal government. It's hard to believe that they would propose this but the money has to come from somewhere and it can only be from those that earn more. Why should this be supported?

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First roughly 40% of Americans are covered under a single payer plan currently either by Medicare or Medicaid. I am sure I know people on Medicaid I don't know who they are nor have I talked to them about it. As for Medicare I have dealt with it with my grandparents as well as discussed it with a few other seniors and they all seem to be happy with the coverage. I will say there was less red tape dealing with Medicare for my grandparents than my experience with private insurance, so the federal government CAN run an effective system at least on the payment side.

Another issue is employers usually pay some portion of employees premiums so the $400 you pay is unlikely to be the actual cost. The assumption is if there was a single payer then employers would provide the money saved to their employees (or continue to pay that portion as part of the single payer premium, like Medicare withholdings) so it SHOULD be a zero-sum game.

I am generally in favor of the IDEA of single payer since a healthy population has a more productive workforce as well as fewer people drowning in medical debt with the resulting bankruptcies.

I understand the idea the young healthy people don't feel the need for health insurance but they are sometimes the ones that rack up huge medical bills, default on them and we pay anyway.

I honestly think if people could get early intervention and avoid ED visits when things get bad there would be an overall savings.

In my life I have spent over $250k in various insurance premiums (not counting Medicare paid in as I have never gone through all my taxes to determine that figure) and been paid out only about $20k on my behalf. I have subsidized those sicker than me, ones that have been sued for malpractice, had houses burn down, had cars and boats stolen etc. I am not happy about it but I understand the cost of mitigating the possibility of huge losses.

One other thing to note is in most countries that have single payer there is still a private industry that provides policies to augment the single payer similar to the Medicare supplements we have here now.

In general I am for a "medicare for everyone" type plan but the transition would be painful and I understand the impact on the insurance industry (but can't quantify it). I think we would be a better more productive society with it. This position is based on the fact I think we all pay for the care anyway, just indirectly, and the way care for the uninsured is handled usually cost much more.

I do get that it is ideological and thus political and partisan but again I think it would be a net positive in the long run for our country.