Paying for U.S. Healthcare

As seen all over the developed world but here, healthcare is a right not a privilege. Yet the United States, self-proclaimed best country in the world, falls behind in infant mortality, preventable deaths, pretty much every health statistic, that is until you reach cost, where we truly are number one. And the last point pretty much sums up the problem, the ever increasing cost makes a lot of companies, and by extension people, a lot of money. This money in turn goes to lobby our government officials who in turn push bad coverage, add loopholes, leave the poor (who cost insurers the most), without coverage and even allow insurance and drug companies to write actual legislation.

Until we have legislators who actually work for the people, this is unlikely to change. If it ever does, I have a few ideas to fund a single payer government plan. I'm no expert, but maybe there are some things here that would work:

• Medicare lowers coverage age by one year, every year, until all are covered (two-fold benefit, it captures people aging in and scoops up the next year as well)
• As people fall off of insurance coverage at work, companies transition the payment to Medicare, and all companies of every size contribute a small percentage of sales or the like, so it scales with ability to pay.
• Medicare changes so that the percentage from payroll has no salary cap, there might actually be a surplus since wealthy people will be contributing more.
• Tax items that cause health issues (as in fast food, sugary drinks, non-nutritious snack foods), thus causing people to consume less of what is making people sick and paying for things like the rising cost of diabetes.
• Medicare being the major player/payer, negotiates on behalf of the American people and government on pricing (removing the drug benefit loophole introduced in 2006 not allowing Medicare to get the best medication prices for the American people).
• Insurance companies will have plenty of time to adjust. Medicare could give hiring preference for those in the insurance industry already. Insurance companies could began offering "Cadillac" plans that employers can offer to differentiate with secondary coverage.
• The wealthy can still opt-in for supplemental insurance coverage.

Benefits:

• Fair coverage for all, replacing the bloated Affordable Health Care Act and whatever is being peddled currently.
• Medicare being one of the more efficient government agencies, it may even save money across the board.
• Doctors and hospitals can focus on taking care of patients rather than billing and getting paid by a myriad of providers.
• People may actually see a doctor regularly, so emergency rooms will stop being flooded with preventable illnesses.
• The Veterans Administration could focus on combat and military related health issues rather than issues addressable by civilian services.
• We are properly funding healthcare for all employees of big box retail and fast food chains who have been putting the bill onto the American people via public assistance anyway.
• Businesses can compete better since healthcare costs are no longer their burden alone.
• Union and gov't jobs are no longer saddled with ridiculous healthcare benefits.
• Stem the tide of spiraling medical costs.
• We stop bankrupting people due to healthcare bills.
• We join the rest of the first world in adding a basic human right.

Nothing is a panacea, but it is worth doing. We are being crushed by the financial burden of the current system and it is literally killing us.