Other Voices: The economic realities of universal health insurance

The quest for universal health insurance coverage is very noble and very passionate. There have been and currently are several proposals in Congress utilizing public/ private partnerships.

However, single-payer, government-run health insurance is not one with majority support, especially here in California. The reason? The legislative analyst's office, an independent, nonpartisan office, recently reported that SB840 would be short on funds of between $23 billion and $42 billion beginning with the second year of operation.

With a current $20 billion deficit, where will we come up with an additional $23 to $42 billion? Unless, of course, we pass an enormous tax increase. Yes, SB840 was recently passed by the Democrats. Should we not think about replacing people without principles who would put this kind of burden on the backs of the taxpayers? And who would pay the biggest share? Business, of course.

This is why the California Chamber of Commerce is against it. It would cost jobs. Even the proposed 1 percent increase in sales tax would cost an estimated 56,000 jobs. Don't believe the loss of jobs? A recent Wall Street Journal article showed more than 1.3 million citizens left California between 1996 and 2005, mostly due to one of the highest tax burdens in the country.

Let's look at other economic realities. Not having government-run health care does not alone put American companies at a disadvantage. Mostly, labor costs, and the value of currency. General Motors once said that the cost of their health insurance adds $1,500 to the price of a car. Then they looked hard at the single-payer system and realized the tax burden would still be $1,500 per car. Why do companies outsource? The cost of labor. Why did Ford decide to build its next car in Mexico? The cost of labor.

Thirty years ago, I had the privilege of meeting with Sen. Ted Kennedy's staff about health care and single-payer. I proposed that the U.S. government give every citizen a $5,000 pool of money to pay for all the little expenses, and the industry would sell $5,000 deductible plans with 100 percent coverage. They did the math and realized the cost and said it was not feasible. I then pointed out that a single-payer system would be paying all the cost. I made my point.

Interesting enough, Hillary Clinton proposed a similar idea during her campaign and was shot down because, financially, it is too expensive.

Another reality is Medi-care. This is a single-payer system. Do you know who pays for it? Every working citizen pays 7.5 percent of their payroll in FICA taxes. Your employer pays the other 7.5 percent.

Those of us who are self-employed pay the whole 15 percent. So, Medicare costs 15 percent of payroll, to insure 25 percent of the population, and it's going broke. So, if Medicare is the model we want to copy, then we will need to pay 60 percent payroll tax to cover the other 75 percent of the population. This would never fly. Even 45 percent would not be acceptable.

Someone also wrote that single-payer would save lives. Well, people die under single-payer as well. In Canada, the mortality rate for women who have breast cancer is 17 percent higher than in the United States. Over age 70 and need kidney dialysis? Don't go to England. They are mandated not to offer it; they simply give you a lot of pain killers and let you die peacefully.

Another statistic that is thrown around is the number of bankruptcies due to medical cost. This is partly true. When a head of household suffers a major medical condition that puts him/her out of work, then there is no money to pay bills. This is from a lack of disability insurance, not medical insurance.

Finally, who does pay taxes here in California? The Tax Foundation says that nearly 40 percent of Californians don't pay any state income taxes. The majority of Californians earning under $50,000 per year pay no state income taxes. So, who wants "free" health insurance? And who do they want to pay for it? Those of us in the other 60 percent.

To paraphrase a famous American, anytime you want to take from Peter, to give to Paul, you will always have the support of Paul.

Anthony Halby lives in Grass Valley.