One would like to assume that the leader of this great nation of ours is able to grok How Things Work, because our experience in our own lives is that people who do not grok How Things Work have a tendency wreck Things so that they no longer Work.

Oh well.

Here is the man announcing… something?

(Click to see the original post and hear the man say those words.)

Let’s see if I can explain why this “idea” doesn’t work.

First, let’s be clear about why he’s pitching this “idea.” The [[[Republican Party]]] is way behind on every social policy you can think of. Their only defense at the moment is amgydala-stampeding — cOmMuNiSm KENNETH, tRaNs PeOpLe, WOMEN WARFIGHTERS WITH LOW TESTOSTERONE!!!!! — so this “idea” is a kind of sop thrown out there so they can say that they care about the healthcare issues that the rest of us encounter in this great nation of ours.^[1] 

Here’s how you know they’re lying.

We can ignore all the stupid stuff, the “two weeks,” the idiotic “name,” et al. Instead, let’s dissect the premise, that we’re going to kill off health insurance companies by giving the citizens of our great nation of ours cash that they can, and I quote, “buy their own healthcare,” and “will save a lot of money.”

First of all, the idea of killing off health insurance companies is a great idea (and obviously a ploy to engage the amygdalas) although I think I would prefer easing them out of the business so as to avoid massive disruptions.^[2] But [[[Turmp]]]’s alternative, to “give us cash” so we can buy our own “healthcare”?

Let’s grok how that’s supposed to work.

First, how much money are we talking about? I’m going to throw out a number, but you can substitute any number you like and the results will be the same. I’m going to suggest that [[[Turmp]]]’s minions would say that one’s deductible on one’s health insurance policy is a good place to start. So let’s say $5,000, which is above mine but below some others’ policies.

So I get $5,000 for my annual healthcare.

Stop right there. We know what a “deductible” is, right? It’s the amount that insurance companies require you to pay out of pocket before they will cover greater expenses. In other words, major healthcare expenses like surgery, long-term care, meds, are all your responsibility now. But you’ve got $5,000 for all that, right?

You see the problem.

The [[[Republicans]]] will argue that since you’re not paying health insurance premiums to the for-profit companies, you’re practically rich now. They’re lying, as usual. The amount coming back into your paycheck is still not enough to cover expenses, and that $5,000 you’re getting is tax revenue. In other words, you already had that money.

Let’s review how insurance works. It’s a risk pool, which means we all bet that we’re going to get sick at some point. The insurance company is betting that we won’t. Many of us will, some of us won’t, but a significant number will have extensive healthcare needs. By pooling our money, by putting all our $5,000 chips into the pool,  the lucky among us will “lose” our bets, i.e., the money we paid in premiums never comes back to us because we didn’t get sick, but overall we as a nation benefit from not having people die unnecessarily or lose their houses because they did get sick.

But Dale, I hear you expostulate, isn’t that what we’re doing now, pooling our money and doling it out to those who need it? Sure, except for a) a not insignificant amount of our dollars go for profit, which of course is the raison d’être for these companies anyway; and b) these companies can just decide not to honor the bet, denying your claim for coverage for your cancer surgery or your MRI or your meds. Instead of that, let’s do what societies who are societies do to ensure the greatest good for the greatest number. In other words, not a [[[Republican Party]]] healthcare plan.

[[[Republicans]]] find this icky. They want us all to be rUgGeD iNdiViDuALiStS KENNETh and tough it out on our homesteads with our tradwives and spawn. Or die.

All the evidence, both for economics and healthcare, points to universal healthcare as being more effective than our current for-profit system, which again^[1], we are the only nation that suffers under. You’d think that a party devoted as the [[[Republican Party]]] says they are to lowering government expenses would hop on that. It’s almost as if they are beholden to the profit-makers. Or something.

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^[1] And only in this great nation of ours. Everybody else on the planet has universal healthcare.
^[2] See the “Grok How Things Work” theory, above.