Does the 'zero out-of-pocket costs' promise of Elizabeth Warren's health-care plan make sense, given what it would take to finance it? jbarro writes
Do the tradeoffs in her plan make sense? Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images Elizabeth Warren’s health care financing plan, announced last week, threads several needles to attain three important characteristics: It is a universal health care plan with zero out-of-pocket costs for consumers designed to avoid a new, broad-based tax on income or consumption.
I think it’s important to note: While other advanced countries do a much better job than we do of providing the whole population with health coverage, and many of them use a system where the government is the primary or sole insurer to do so, it is not typical to completely relieve the health care consumer of any payment responsibility. In fact, out-of-pocket health care spending as a share of household consumption is already below average in the U.S. compared to other advanced countries.
I think if you’re looking at Bernie Sanders’ approach, you have a coherent argument for answering “yes.” Health care is a human right, you would say. Its cost therefore should be paid through the government and financed through taxes, levied so that those with higher incomes pay more. It’s expensive, but it’s a moral imperative.
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