Vermont Senator and Democratic Presidential candidate , Bernie Sanders, has presented a pretty grandiose and enormously expensive universal health care plan, or “Medicare for All” for the country.

Image/Donkey Hotey
Image/Donkey Hotey

On his website it says: Americans need a health care system that works for patients and providers. We need to focus our federal investments on training the health care providers. We need to ensure a strong health care workforce in all communities now and in the future. We need to build on the strength of the 50 years of success of the Medicare program.

Just a side note, the CATO Institute said one year ago that “Medicare faces unfunded liabilities approaching $48 trillion. And, if we return to double digit health care inflation, we could see Medicare’s liabilities swell to more than $88 trillion.”

A lot of people love the Sander’s idea for single payer health care; however, most do not want to pony up the costs for such an elaborate plan.

In a recent poll, a question was asked: “As you may know, presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has proposed federal tax increases to pay for his proposed government programs. How much more would you be willing to pay in federal taxes each year for a universal healthcare system that covers all Americans?”

This is how Sander’s supporters answered: two-thirds would be willing to pay somewhere between $0 and 1000 in additional taxes annually and no more! In fact, about one out of every 10 Sander’s supporters polled say they are not willing to pay anything for his single payer health care program.

The Sanders campaign says his plan would cost an average of $1.38 trillion per year over the next decade paid for by increasing every tax imaginable.

However, Emory University Professor of Health Policy, Dr Kenneth Thorpe crunched some numbers and found that Sander’s estimate would cost approximately $2.5 trillion per year, a $1.1 trillion shortfall.

Feel the Burn?

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