| This argument is long, long past its expiration date. While the US by some measurements has a lower overall tax rate than other developed countries [1], the difference between us and, say, Canada, who enjoy high quality socialized health care, is far from "exorbitant". There's a very reasonable argument for considering all of the consequences of our systematically broken health care system as a "tax" -- it amounts to a massive financial and quality-of-life burden for most Americans. Health care in the United States is more expensive than in other developed countries for identical procedures [2]. Medical costs are the worst kind of lottery, where an overnight visit for tonsillitis can get you a nice little $100,000 bill [8]. Do you not consider that a tax? Why not? Medical bills account for 60% of bankruptcies in the US [3]. High medical costs are literally causing people to commit suicide [4] or to die of entirely preventable causes [5] while others just forego care entirely [9]. For those people who do jump through the hoops to get private medical insurance, there are entire bureaucracies dedicated to denying claims [6]. There are so many perverse incentives involved that some doctors are taking it into their own hands to try to lower medication costs, and pharmaceutical companies are responding by tripling the costs of the medication [7]. Meanwhile tons and tons of Americans stay in jobs they don't like just to maintain their employer-sponsored health insurance [10], strangling their wages and preventing positions from being opened up to more enthusiastic employees. These things are all taxes. They are taxes on American society, impacting all of us. Anybody that's opposed to socialized health care "because muh taxes" is defending this system, this embarrassing, broken, corrupt system that endangers and kills countless people every year and acts as a massive multi-faceted anchor on our economy. [1]: https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-do-us-taxe... [2]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/03/15/why-a... [3]: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/06/05/bankruptcy.medical.bill... [4]: https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/co21rt/elderly_couple... -- linking to Reddit here because there are a lot of comments there worth reading. [5]: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/shane-patrick-boyle-died-a... [6]: https://splinternews.com/a-glimpse-into-the-bureaucratic-hel... [7]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/04/doctors-tried-to-low... [8]: https://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/ngngy/merry_fucking_ch... [9]: https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/06/09/sick-of-high-healt... [10]: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/13/fear-o... |