#TheYoungTurks and their Single Payer misinformation Campaign – Kamala Harris’ Health Care Plan Exposes TYT lack of knowledge on the topic – July 30, 2019,
In a video, you can watch below titled “Kamala Harris’ Health Care Plan Exposes HUGE Campaign Flaw” the Young Turks sound like they’re genuinely working for the Kremlin providing inaccurate data about their Public School teacher style Single-Payer Health Care plan. A brief understanding of a single-payer or Universal Health Care model so the average person can comprehend what it is and why the average Democrat won’t subscribe to it.
Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare financed by taxes that covers the costs of essential healthcare for all residents, with costs covered by a single public system (hence ‘single-payer’).
Single-payer systems may contract for healthcare services from private organizations (as is the case in Canada) or may own and employ healthcare resources and personnel (as is the case in the United Kingdom). “Single-payer” describes the mechanism by which healthcare is paid for by a single public authority, not the type of delivery or for whom physicians work, which may be public, private, or a mix of both.
If you haven’t done so yet, watch the Young Turks video below.
In my attempt to educate the reader you should also consider reading the article below which talks about the National Health Service (The NHS) which to date is the 5th largest employer in the world, trailing only behind United States Department of Defense, China’s People’s Liberation Army, Walmart and McDonald’s.
One of the main reasons why moderate Democrats are against a single-payer system revolves around health care professionals right to form a union. Now, the main reason why I brought up The NHS being the 5th largest employer IN THE WORLD is that UNISON, is the largest trade union in the United Kingdom with almost 1.4 million members. Why did I compare Single-payer Health Care to Public School Teachers? Because part of the problem with public school education is the Teachers Unions.
Why doesn’t the government want to build housing? Maintenance! If the government builds housing the Government body in charge of maintaining those Projects have the legal right to Unionize, Private Sector Unions will go bankrupt if their demands aren’t economically feasible, Public Sector Unions, on the other hand, don’t have to worry about if their company is solvent, because their company is Federal, State or local government.
So once you have a single-payer system a lack of money no-longer becomes an excuse and similar to the Teachers Unions as their salaries go up so do State taxes and this becomes extremely problematic in America because unlike Canada there exists no mechanism called Equalization Payments.
A quick understanding of Equalization payments also known as Canadian transfer payments can be read below:
Transfer payments are a collection of payments made by the Government of Canada to Canadian Provinces and Territories under the Federal-Provincial Arrangements Act. Chief among these are the Canada Social Transfer, the Canada Health Transfer and equalization payments. The last of these can be spent however the receiving provinces see fit, while the first two are intended to support social and health services respectively.
The Cost of living in both the United Kingdom and Canada is very expensive, being that Canada borders with the United States, the question often overlooked by Americans who want a single-payer system in the United States is how do Canadians manage to pay for their Universal Health Care? Well, the inconvenient truth is Canadians pay for their health care system by manipulating their currency.
If you look at the list above minus the 2 Oceanic Regions (New Zealand and Australia) Canada is the only country in North America that made the list, but what’s odd about that list is the Canadian dollar? Notice also that the U.K doesn’t make that top 10 list, the reason Canada makes the list and continues to make every top 10 list for quality of life has a lot to do with where they’re situated, what their government doesn’t have to spend money on like… defending their border or policing the world the way America has to and also devaluing their currency to be a destination for private enterprise, Canada also charges a lot of tariffs on American made goods, which part of the reason Trump was able to get Farmers to vote for him.
Tariffs at the Canadian, U.S border, currency manipulation as well as high taxation that leads to their extremely high cost of living, contributes to their Single-Payer health care system. However, the cherry on top is their Transfer payments. Canadian Transfer payments explained in an easy to understand way, involves stripping the United States of its States rights! So being that Washington is one of the Richest States in America based on median household income and Mississippi is one of the poorer U.S States if America were to create a Transfer payments system, The State of Washington would be forced the State of Missippi money to pay for its Public Sector promises.
In Canada, there’s a province called Alberta (The rich Province) and a Province called Quebec (a poor province) The Wealth generated from the Albertan economy is used to pay for Quebec’s ever-growing increasingly more expensive public sector. There is also no incentive for Quebec to pay it’s public sector bills on its own because it will receive a bailout every time it experiences a financial shortfall. So I ask the question if in America a Rich State was forced to pay the public sector bills of a Poor U.S State, would there be any incentive for the Poor State to be fiscally responsible? If economic inefficiencies in each U.S State go unchecked wouldn’t that, in turn, would push the cost of living up in every U.S State.
Canada: A nation of strangers – Canadians don’t often move out of their birth province. – Macleans.ca
Canadians often to move away from their birth Province? Gee, I wonder why? If every other Province in Canada was just as bland and as expensive as the other, what would be the point in leaving? If the government rewarded you for being incompetent why leave for greener pastures?
This may not seem like a big deal until realizing that Canada has to devalue its currency against the U.S Dollar because if it didn’t the standard of living in Canada would take a serious hit. This actually happens a lot all over the world, most countries who’ve adopted Socialist policies really can’t pay their bills and often have to devalue their currencies to pay for the bills of their public sectors. The U.K Standard of living similar to the U.S Standard of living can’t keep pace with currency manipulator countries because the strength of the U.K and US currencies force both the U.S and the U.K to be efficient with the resources they have.
This of course, if you’re living in America can come across as being cruel, especially if you believe that a single-payer system is a far superior health-care model than the one you currently have. The problem is countries like Germany which has a multi-payer health care system paid for by a combination of statutory health insurance (Gesetzliche Krankenversicherung) and “Private Krankenversicherung” (private health insurance) would probably be the better country for Americans to mimic.
Furthermore, Switzerland who also made the list of countries with the best quality of life has universal healthcare and its system is regulated by the Swiss Federal Law on Health Insurance. There are no free state-provided health services, but private health insurance is compulsory for all persons residing in Switzerland (within three months of taking up residence or being born in the country). Their entire healthcare system is geared toward the general goals of keeping the system competitive across cantonal lines(U.S Equivalent to State Lines), promoting general public health and reducing costs while encouraging individual responsibility.
The main reason why you want to avoid a single-payer system which involves the Federal Government taking FULL control and responsibility for health care revolves around Austerity Measures.
What is Austerity Measures?
Austerity is a political-economic term referring to policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. Austerity measures are used by governments that find it difficult to pay their debts. The measures are meant to reduce the budget deficit by bringing government revenues closer to expenditures, which is assumed to make the payment of debt easier. Austerity measures also demonstrate a government’s fiscal discipline to creditors and credit rating agencies.
In the U.K as an example longer wait times in hospitals can’t be combated for the same reason why Public Schools in certain areas of the United States can’t be fixed. The Government is in charge of health care in the U.K and the workers have a Right to Unionize and fight back against cuts. Also because along with the Government taking full control over health care there’s also a separate regulatory healthcare body, this makes making cuts to health care or making health care delivery more efficient an almost impossible task.
The teacher’s Unions in the United States even fight back against Chartered Schools, why? Because anything that could lead to Privatization is a huge threat to their job security and Workers/Labor Unions are there to protect the jobs of the people they represent even if it’s at the expense of the Children or in the case of the U.K, their 1.4 million-member UNISON union will fight to protect their own livelihoods before they worry about the economic stability of their health care industry.
In Canada, their richer Provinces(Equivalent to U.S States) have to pay for the public sector bills of Canada’s poorer provinces. Currently, the United States has no such arrangement under its Constitution, for Richer U.S States to pay the public sector bills of the poorer U.S States.
I’m not sure if Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian of the Young Turks are intentionally trying to deceive people or if they simply haven’t researched the topic thoroughly enough, but it’s disgusting how they’re getting people’s hopes up for something that will actually make the lives of many poor Americans even worse. Kamala Harris’ healthcare plan from my standpoint is more thought out than Bernie Sanders’ plan. Bernie has frequently referred to his Democratic Socialism being something like what they have in Denmark and Sweden.
The Swedish health care system is mainly government-funded and decentralized, although private health care also exists. The health care system in Sweden is financed primarily through taxes levied by county councils and municipalities. Notice that their Federal governments minimal role.
Healthcare in Denmark is largely provided by the local governments of the five regions, with coordination and regulation by the central government, while nursing homes, home care, and school health services are the responsibility of the 98 municipalities. Some specialized hospital services are managed centrally. The central government plays a relatively limited role in health care in Denmark. Its main functions are to regulate, coordinate and provide advice.
Now, 2 other things the reader should understand about Denmark and Sweden which differ from the Bernie Sanders platform. Denmark and Sweden don’t have a Federal Minimum wage
5 Developed Countries without Minimum Wages – investopedia.com
Bernie Sanders intends to move minimum wages FEDERALLY to $15 per hour. The reason why Denmark and Sweden as an example dumped the Minimum wage is if you want to increase public spending you have to grow your Private Sector. Unlike the government, the Private Sector can’t print money to pay its bills. If Walmart or McDonalds can’t pay its bills they go bankrupt. If a small local business is forced to pay Bernie Sanders wages, that company might go bankrupt or be forced to lay off employees, which of course leads to fewer income taxes and other taxes levied on a business that help to fund retirements.
Brick and mortar businesses have to pay energy bills, property-related expenses other State and local taxes, like sales taxes as well as restock on their inventory that may or may not sell. Now, if a business is forced to pay a very high minimum wage along with higher taxes? Well, you start to see why the cost of living in Canada, Denmark, and Sweden is so high.
High Government wage controls on the Private sector don’t always play out as planned and the major reason why Democrats like Kamala Harris have taken a softer approach to the Health Care debate is that it’s a delicate issue to be playing with single-payer health care. You have to get it right, because if you get it wrong you risk making the U.S Health Care system worse than it is right now. It has to be a coordinated approach that matches with the current economy and culture of the United States.
You can’t Nationalise everything health care, in Ontario Canada which is Canada’s largest Province as an example they have a huge problem with hospital beds, hospital wait times are of course a huge problem and because hospital beds are not only regulated but also not made or manufactured by the Government they have to be purchased, and well there’s not enough money to purchase enough beds.
Again I remind the reader to consider questioning why the Canadian dollar is so much lower than the Greenback, especially if Canada neighbors with the United States and Canada by every metric has a higher quality of life than the U.S? Is Americas current health care system a disaster? Of course, it is, but I don’t think that the U.K or Canada are countries America should consider copying. Clearly based on my research Kamala Harris did more research than the Health Care topic than the Young Turks did.
Interesting times ahead