Individual Taxes: TaxVoxNote to critics of the public plan option for health insurance: This debate is over. You lost. In 2007, more than 45 percent of all medical costs in the U.S. were paid by government, vastly more than the one-third funded by private insurance. Many Americans already have access to public coverage. There is Medicare for those over 65, Medicaid for the poor, SCHIP for kids, coverage for the active military, and for many veterans. Together, the share of medical spending paid by government has grown from one-third in 1970 to nearly half today, according to the Current Population Survey. If your definition of “public plan” includes insurance available through highly-regulated private carriers to federal, state, and local employees, the numbers are even bigger. And, of course, there is the quarter-trillion dollar government tax subsidy for health insurance.
June 16, 2009Howard Gleckman