OPEN NOTE to Bernie Sanders

OK, I sent it in private, but got no acknowledgement from Bernie, so now we'll go public.

The following note deals with his cost of expanding ACA to cover everyone.  If the published numbers ... rather than the lack of data Bernie provides ... are to be believed, the cost Bernie cites are actually NET OF A TRILLION DOLLAR SAVINGS.

The tax money, or tax raise, represents a replacement of current medical premiums -- and also represents an enormous saving to the general public and the businesses owned by those 1% types, who would actually be paying it out of increased net revenue.  Thus, even paying more in taxes, their net of tax income would be larger.   Suire the Insurance companies will bitch, but they hire people for the express purpose of refusing to pay on claims, so should we, or they, really care?

OK ... here's the email I sent:

__________

First, you can look me up in Who's Who {no, I did not say which Who's Who -- I'm in twelve different ones in the USA, as well as related references in every English speaking nation, so whatever is on the shelf from the last three decades} -- I like numbers and the numbers Bernie is credited with don't make sense the way they are stated.

The headline "Bernie Sanders Healthcare Plan: 'Medicare-for-All' Proposal Estimated at $1.4 Trillion Per Year"

In the debate we have the statement "What a Medicare-for-all program does is finally provide in this country health care for every man, woman, and child as a right."  and  "Tell me why we are spending almost three times more than the British, who guarantee health care to all of their people?"

TheWorld Bank states: In United States 9% of GDP -- 9% of $16.77 trillion USD (2013) -- or $1.5 trillion is spent on Private health expenditure includes direct household (out-of-pocket) spending, private insurance, charitable donations, and direct service payments by private corporations.

Medicaid and Medicare account for, respectively, 14% and 9% of the federal budget; or, in FY 2014, $505 billion and $492.3 billion. That adds another $1 Trillion.  But Bernie seems to be saying he is going to ADD $1.4 Trillion to a $2.5 Trillion dollar current expenditure.

However, I believe he meant that he was going to REDUCE the expenditure to $1.4 trillion and, therefore, SA VE the American Public $1 trillion per year -- by calling upon Capitalist efficiency and productivity, in the same way, the European nations have.  But, because this is America, we will do it better and more efficiently.  Unless the Republicans wish to insist on an inefficient economy designed to impoverish Americans rather than enable them to prosper as Americans have, for the past century proved they can better than any nation on earth.  (If that sounds like a TRUMP make America great again line, so be it.  Bernie does believe in American Greatness, doesn't he?)

Why isn't it savings?  Why do I believe he really meant it to be a huge cost saving? Because America currently spends $8,233 per person, and Europe spends $3,268, meaning they spend 40 cents on the dollar, to have more doctors (2.4 practicing physicians per 1,000 people — well below the OECD average of 3.1; The number of hospital beds in the U.S. was 2.6 per 1,000 population in 2009, lower than the OECD average of 3.4 beds.) and easier access to medical care.  

Part of the savings will come from including Veterans in the program. They will receive top rated local medical care rather than having to travel hundreds of miles to an underfunded VA facility.  The Republicans have repeatedly made it a point to ignore the medical post-service needs of our Veterans -- that must stop.  By removing medical insurance payments, and replacing them with the tax Bernie mentioned, the average American will save significant amounts monthly -- how much -- each can look at the payments their family now makes, or their employer makes on their behalf and gets an exact amount.

Of course, Bernie might not agree with my assessment.  He might like being TORN APART over simple phrasing, or he might actually mean he plans to increase American Healthcare costs.

But, as I believe my interpretation of his goal indicates, ACA is not eliminated -- it is simplified and expanded to include every American CITIZEN and LEGALLY DOCUMENTED RESIDENT (possibly, as in Europe, legally documented visitors would also receive some level of basic care).  

W. Lawrence Lipton