Ah yes, the "death panel" movement goes on. I heard a rumor that the band "Death Cab for Cutie" was considering a name change to "Death Panel for Grandma." Sounds scary, doesn't it?
Yet, out of all of us, grandma is the least at risk because she has Medicare. The average working American under the age of 65, however, is at risk. The problem I have with this "death panel" debate is that the your health and wellbeing are already controlled by your employer and the insurance companies. COBRA coverage runs almost 4 times more than normal health insurance, if you lose your job... there goes your life. Sound like a "death panel" yet?
Worst of all, the constant drumbeat of "NO TAXES FOR HEALTHCARE" is another problem. How insurance is different from a flat tax, I have no idea. We pay about 25% of our salary, which we would much rather take home, to health insurance. The rich and poor pay the same amount, unless one of the two wants more or less "care." Here's another problem, paying more doesn't necessarily mean "more care," it just means that you pay less for more care than someone who pays a lower premium. If you were healthy and used less care, you really are just throwing your money away to the insurance company. How different is this from paying your money to the government as a tax?
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