Many political pundits insist that we will never adopt universal coverage under a Medicare for All national health program because our taxes will rise enormously.
Actually, we are already paying most of the taxes that would be required.
By 2024, government health expenditures in the U.S. will exceed the share of total health expenditures of such costs than any other nation.
We are paying for a national health program but are not getting it!
Besides payroll deductions, personal and corporate taxes that pay for Part B Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP (Child health care), V.A. system, tax subsidies, benefits for government employees.
Obviously, if all of these costs were included in a single payer system, the separate funds would be eliminated.
Not even counted are the lower wages that employers pay to afford to support the subsidies, and the waste that we incur by inefficient spending that private insurance, with its profits, multiple choices of coverage, and high executive salaries adds to the bill.
It is obvious that consolidation of these costs would be the best course. And, I repeat, this would not be socialized medicine.
Medicare, the model, is not socialized medicine. It allows everyone to see the doctor of their choice. Ironically, the worst private plans limit the choice of doctors to save money for profit.
With the rise in popularity for Bernie Sanders, who proudly insists that he is a democratic socialist, we should realize that he follows the example of Norman Thomas, a minister who called himself a democratic socialist during his long and influential life.
Those of us who know about the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, a member of the elite, certainly must surmise that he adopted the conscience of Norman Thomas.
He brought us through the Great Depression of the 1930s, caused by the enormous crash of our economy. He ultimately initiated social programs that many of us remember. He initiated projects that created millions of jobs, saved the banks and saved a generation of young people.
I personally, along with many of my fellow seniors, am the beneficiary of a free public college education that allowed to us to pursue excellent useful professions, even to the level of Nobel Prizes.
Our parents, many of whom were low income, could never have been able to pay tuition.
Norman Thomas, who ran for many public offices, including president (six times) has been recognized for the many leaders of every political stripe that he influenced.
Many of these thinkers are still alive and active.
He strongly and clearly distinguished socialism from communism, a difference too many refuse to explain.
I end with a quote from Norman Thomas. “Most of us live by our group loyalties but we have to rise above them to the values of humanity so that we can co-exist lest we don’t exist at all”.
Esther Confino
New Hyde Park
