About Elizabeth Warren’s “Healthcare for All and it’s $ Bazillion price tag.
Ezra Klein at Vox opines:
Under the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate, all workplaces with more than 50 employees have to purchase health care or pay a fee. Warren simply takes the money they’re spending now and redirects it to [WarrenCare]. To sweeten the deal for employers, she shaves their contribution by 2 percent — so whatever they’re spending on private health insurance, they send 98 percent of that to the government.
There’s wide variation in the quality of insurance employers purchase, and this plan has the consequence, at the outset, of punishing employers who purchased better insurance for their employees — now they’re paying more than stingier competitors, but without any recruiting benefit. Over time, Warren says she’ll adjust all employers to the same level, though the details of how that will work are sparse.
If Ezra Klein wonders about Warren’s fantasy then so should we all.