Reply #14: Edwards' plan does not raise the cost of health care [View All]

[Time for change]

The plan will cost money, and it will be paid for largely by reverses in the Bush tax cuts.

The money that is paid up front by the government for the plan will be more than made up for by reduced out of pocket expenses for health care, so that the costs of health care will be reduced, though the plan will cost money to initiate.

As far as Edwards not having the guts to take on the insurance lobby, that's ridiculous. The insurance lobby hates his plan and they will oppose it every bit as hard as they opposed Clinton's 1993 plan. It will cut them totally out of the picture before long.

I don't know how the $6,000 figure was calculated. Krugman's point in using it was to show that U.S. health care was much more expensive than in any other country. So why would he try to lowball it? Keep in mind that those are 2004 figures.

Edited to add: The short answer to your question about the $6,000 is that the cost of health care is calculated by insurance premiums plus out of pocket expenses. Also, "per capita" refers to per person. So, if a family of 4 has a $10,000 insurance plan that insures the whole family, that is counted as $2,500 per capita.