Healthcare in America — The Next Conversation Part 5 – Where Does the Money Come From? – Video

Part 5 – Where Does the Money Come From?

In any healthcare system, sooner or later we have to ask the big question: where does the money come from?

It’s easy to say, “From the taxpayers,” and yes, ultimately that is true. But that’s not really an answer. The more useful question is how the money gets from all of us into the healthcare system, because as we’ve already seen, there isn’t one answer.

We already have several healthcare systems operating in the United States, and they don’t all get their money the same way.

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There is no magic pot of money sitting somewhere waiting for us to discover it.

Ultimately, healthcare is paid for by the people of this country, whether that money reaches the system through payroll taxes, income taxes, employer contributions, premiums, state budgets, federal appropriations or some other mechanism.

The question is how we collect it, how we distribute it and whether we can build a system that spends it wisely.

Maybe the answer is another payroll tax.

Maybe it is some combination of existing taxes and contributions.

Maybe a national resource investment fund could eventually provide part of the answer.

Maybe it is something we haven’t thought of yet.

What I don’t think we can do is look at the complexity, decide it’s too confusing and walk away.

Because if we do that, nothing changes.

And if we are serious about healthcare for all, then eventually we have to be willing to sit down, put all the numbers on the table and figure it out.

It won’t be easy.

But “it’s too complicated” isn’t really an answer.

It’s just another way of saying we decided not to try.