In a recent Associated Press article, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar speaks about the issues surrounding government spending. He starts the article by asking "Will taxpayers afford the new subsidies to provide health insurance for millions in such a weak economy?
At this point Obama is assuring citizens that he will not sign a bill that will add to the deficit that we are already experiencing. He also says that he is limiting the package to $1 trillion over the course of ten years; which means that the money they plan to use will have to be budgeted correctly to accommodate for a ten year span of health insurance for millions of uninsured citizens.
So where does that leave taxpayers??...at this point they plan to delay the expansion of coverage to after the next presidential election in 2013, however that doesn't mean that all taxpayers will not experience higher taxes sooner than that. It is said that the wealthy will pay for the plan much sooner, but it is not clear whether or not those that are not considered "wealthy" will begin paying at the same time. In addition to the tax raise for the wealthy, they also plan to cut cost within Medicare and Medicaid to help with the new plan.
In reality, President Obama's Health Care Plans will eventually help millions of uninsured/under insured citizens; the only problem with this is that the money needed to save the health care economy will also affect our entire economy before it helps anyone. This means that many people will begin to complain and tear down the efforts of President Obama before they actually see change, which can lead to chaos within our economy, and according Zaldivar, lead to many calls for repeal.
Below is the link to the above mentioned article:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hdgni2jdm4kvnmvjPGs-wL8n6gEwD9AJQJ281
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I think this article echos many other articles that discuss the issue of cost with the health care system. The idea of health care reform seems amazing - every American will have healthcare which they can afford, and recieve quality health care. However, this dream is quite expensive. It can only be exhaustive on the federal budget, but can soon affect the taxpayers. I think the wealthy in the system might be broken down as how the income levels are broken down under tax. Certain levels pay certain level of tax, and I think the same criteria will play a role in the health care system.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, this costing system is quite complex. How long wil the government be able to fund the program with tax payer's money? Isn't it reapting the same mistake of Medicare and Medicaid. Also, what if there is a huge recession and the income levels of Americans fall? They will pay less taxes and the supply of money for the program can decrease.