Did you realize you might be paying up to 19.5% of your income for healthcare?
Here’s where I came up with that number: Let’s say you're making around $60,000 a year, slightly above Missouri's average income. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, healthcare insurance premiums for your family - including kids - will come to about $22,000 annually. If your employer helps with your insurance healthcare, they will kick in about $16,000, and you’re on the hook for the $6,000 difference. Plus, there's a $4,000 deductible, on average. If you have kids who need to visit the ER, that deductible could disappear overnight. Also, Medicare tax takes another 2.9% of your income.
When you add everything together, you're spending around $11,700 out of your pocket on healthcare, or 19.5% of your income.
In the bigger picture, the U.S. spends about $12,500 per person yearly on healthcare. That's far more than other countries like Canada, where they spend around $6,300 per person, and everyone is covered, no matter their income. The average among industrialized nations is about $5,000 per year. It makes you wonder if we're getting our money's worth, especially when no other country is rushing to copy our system.
We deserve better.
When people talk about Universal Healthcare, or “Medicare for All,” they’re talking about this enormous “tax” put on you and your family. It’s likely the largest tax you’ll ever pay. I say we kick insurance companies out of the healthcare business and take their 31% administrative costs with them. While Republicans struggle to cut our taxes, they completely ignore the 19.5% we’re already paying. With Universal Healthcare, we can cut the taxes that matter and get better healthcare in the deal.