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$1100 tax increase? Thanks Blue Dogs
BaucusBucks (tm), the fun game courtesy of Senator Max Baucus, where anyone can play along!!
Here's how it works:
Just try to imagine what you would have spent that $1100 that Max Baucus just picked from your pockets and handed to his friends in the insurance industry.
A weekend excursion? Getting those teeth fixed finally? Replenshing what's left of your 401K? A new distributor for that old jalopy which won't start?
Fun for the whole family!!
Here's how it works:
Just try to imagine what you would have spent that $1100 that Max Baucus just picked from your pockets and handed to his friends in the insurance industry.
A weekend excursion? Getting those teeth fixed finally? Replenshing what's left of your 401K? A new distributor for that old jalopy which won't start?
Fun for the whole family!!
What $1100 you ask? Via Nate Silver:
"The CBO estimates that the public option would save about $150 billion over the next ten years -- that's roughly $1,100 for every taxpayer. I'm certainly not thrilled to have to pay an additional $1,100 in taxes because some Blue Dog Democrats want to placate their friends in the insurance industry."
It's as simple as this:
- The public option will save each taxpayer $1100.
- Strip it out, and pay $1100 more.
- Keep it in, save that thousand bucks.
Sound like a good deal?
So tell us: How would you have spent your BaucusBucks (tm)?
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The rest of Nate's article is a must read as well:
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/08/life-after-death-of-public-option.html
August 17, 2009 11:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for this frog! Fiscal conservatives my ass...
August 17, 2009 11:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks. I revised this post here:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/observer2/2009/08/baucusbucks-tm-1100-tax-increa.php
August 17, 2009 3:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
It has been estimated that the for-profit insurance companies waste 1/3 of all the dollars on activities that provide zero care. Medicare's overhead is in the single digits.
Therefore Single payer would save the nation TRILLIONS of dollars over the next ten years. TRILLIONS, with a T! Lets take a conservative estimate of the overhead in the health insurance biz, which is 15% (that could be saved).
You're talking $10,000 per American over ten years! So why go with the BaucusBucks or the PublicOptionBucks when you can save ten times as much with a sane system like the rest of the civilized world in which insurance is mandated to be non-profit.
August 18, 2009 12:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
So you're saying we can play the game with 10 BaucusBucks? What fun.
The public option would be a good first step to get there. If we strengthened it enough, say with medicare like set pricing, it would probably shrink the for profit health care market.
August 18, 2009 8:03 AM | Reply | Permalink