How We Pay for Medicare for All: An In-Depth Breakdown (w/ Andrea Witte)

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The Humanist Report (THR) is a progressive political podcast that discusses and analyzes current news events and pressing political issues. Our analyses are guided by humanism and political progressivism. Each news story we cover is supplemented with thought-provoking, fact-based commentary that aims for the highest level of objectivity.

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How We Pay for Medicare for All: An In-Depth Breakdown (w/ Andrea Witte)

79 thoughts on “How We Pay for Medicare for All: An In-Depth Breakdown (w/ Andrea Witte)

  1. If we can afford to pay for conflicts in the middle east, we can easily afford medicare for all. Any counter-arguments? I’m all ears.

    • This cost 3 trillion a year, if the estimate is not lowballed too much. The military budget is 600 billions. So if you replaced the military With lovegunners, it would not fund healthcare. Dont anybody of you do the Math on the military? You are all so ignorant, it is very sad. It must be very hard to be your president.

    • WizardJohn So let me get this straight: The US dollar has no immediate value, unless it is backed by something. Since only part of it is actual gold and other precious metals, the value comes from outsourced oil reserves like the one the Saudi Arabia has. The money is not being spent to businesses in order to hire workers and thus we cannot afford anything because there is no money in the federal bank. The figurative game of Monopoly cannot start of no money is given.

      I decided to watch the videos in the two links below which was a little easier to digest, but I think I got the meaning? https://youtu.be/xNr1LWgIyiE https://youtu.be/VukW27Mp6jo

    • The difference is that inciting and fighting wars is very profitable for the banking establishment!

      Giving out free healthcare benefits them in no way.

  2. The same way we fund pointless wars and mass genocides but we cut spending on the funding of counterproductive policies like War to make medicare for all functional

    • Understand the difference between mandatory and discretional budget. Also, you fund WARs a bit through arms sales, that is not nothing. 35 billions this year. Over the NeXT 10 years, you get 1 trillion in trade on the F-35s alone. That helps the tradebalance quite a bit.

    • Salpertia there is no government debt, it’s a lie and a fucking illusion. Everyone has their treasuries which are a form of money.

    • @Salpertia First of all gold is a product, a resource. Your money stays for the products your country produces and not just for gold.

      Second everything is a fiat currency. Currency works always on faith. If you have famine, nobody will change their food for gold.

      Third gold reserves won’t last for long. Gold will limit the amount of money on the market and artificially cap the amount of products produced. It is better if your money stays for the products your country produces. We are not in the middle ages anymore.

      Gold was a very secure currency in the past, because everyone wanted gold. Today us dollars replaced gold. Everyone wants dollar today.

      See there were reasons why we have no gold currency anymore. I know not enough to explain it to you.

  3. How are we going to pay for federal Medicare for all? Congress approves payment everyone has single-payer healthcare that’s it. If a pundit, politician, or commentator talks about an increase in taxes they are either lying to you or do not understand how our monetary system works federal taxes do not fund governmental spending #modernmonetarytheory

    • +Salpertia THIS IS INCORRECT… where did the federal reserve from? The Federal Reserve Act is an Act of Congress …. OF CONGRESS.. hello…. anyway.. CONGRESS CAN DO WHATEVER THE FLIP IT WANTS…. Can it? Probably not. But the federal reserve idiots are a joke…

    • +James A Oglesby and if you comprehend what I’m saying the issue is that because of it’s exclusive power to lend money to us through buying our debt bonds is the reason why it’s an issue

    • +Henry Gustav they create debt simple as that. There will never be enough money in circulation to pay that debt that is newly made.

      Let me clarify again, when they LOAN money to us they create a new debt

  4. We have the money. We spend SO MUCH on healthcare already, M4A will SAVE us trillions. When someone asks “how you gonna pay for it?” I am going to ask “How you gonna pay for NOT having M4A since it costs LESS than our current system?” Make THEM argue for spending MORE to cover FEWER people. People against M4A don’t care about the morality of coverning everyone- they just don’t want to spend a DIME more than they currently do and want to try to take some kind of superiority by saying we proponents are pie in the sky crazy. THEY ARE WRONG BOTH FINANCIALLY AND MORALLY- make THEM defend themselves on both points.

    • +Henry Gustav
      I still say she is spending less not saving, but if they raise taxes and take 2 trillion less in spending over 10 years?? The economy will shrink by leaps and bounds.
      People don’t understand federal tax is NOT saved.. it is destroyed..
      Oh well..

    • economy will shrink because of the savings(spending less) we get switching to med4all. That’s why a tax cut would be needed or a Fed jobs guarantee because we are taking money out of the economy. Remember the Fed debt/ world savings is 21 trillion. thats the money in circulation in the non-govt. Govt spending puts money into economy, taxes and bonds take money out, but because med4all would be more efficient, it cuts into the economy eliminating alot of administrative costs(job loss).

    • The op kingdom
      And it must be added that those 2 trillion dollars are before you factor in all the additional costs of unnecessary death and disability, and all the medical bankruptcies and so on. The savings would really skyrocket when all of that is factored in. Not to mention how much less human suffering and hardship a single payer system would give.

  5. We already pay for healthcare, with our LIVES!
    How can anyone justify allowing people to become homeless or die, when having access would limit the current costs in Dollars and Moral Decline.
    FIGHT CANCER, not WARS.

    • comingviking. Yes, USA and the west is in Afghanistan to make it better now. If they leave, it becomes a headchopping, womenstoning theocrazy again. That was not the reason for going in though. I think it was to get Bin Laden, but I hope it was the destruction of the world Heritage carved into the Mountains.

      Build infrastructure, deliver services like School and Health, not to mention training of personel for police and military, and pay them, so they are not corrupt. Don’t kill civilians. Kill soldiers and terrorists, who unfortunately hide themselves behind their women and children. That is one of the biggest reason to take them out, can’t let such People rule over People, then they create a nation of barbarians. 15-20 years is not a long time, considering the country lived in the stoneages. Takes time to build up institutions like School, Health and police from scratch. Takes time to educate enough doctors, Teachers, and police to give the nation a fighting chance. But of course you leftists want to leave, and let it fall again, dfestroying everything. You like having People to pity. Letting islamists take over and kill the Teachers, doctors and police, creating a stoneage society again, is what you want.

      Please, don’t come With the creation of Taliban, like that is not known by evabody and they mama. Does not matter what happened then. And Soviet union interfered, Taliban fought against that Foreign invader, so the support was good. Bin Laden went nuts because of Islam. Aiding him to stop USSR was good at the time. They knew full weel who they supported, but they had to support the most Savage to fight russia. They could not support a military Group of pasifistic gay men, who were feminists, it was war. CIA and USA knew what islamist were like, the lesser of two evils they thought. But in hindsight wrong. The world would be a better Place if USSR took Afghanistan and had gotten coastline in the gulf. Putin would have been a great sherif in the gulf.

      Supporting dictators is not autmatic bad, as stated, it is never about good leaders in muslim countries, it is about the lesser of two evils. There are no good People to rule there. The ones that are good, they get killed by the evil sosiopaths. You need to be a psychiatric case to get to rule in those countries. Libya and Syria, was DNC being paid by the saudis. Check the oilimport from those countries by USA. Bush started import from them after Clinton shut it Down, then Obama shut it Down again, and then went to war against them. Now we have Trump, and he has started importying their oil again. The corrupt DNC did that, has nothing to do With USA, only With the corrupt DNC, who sells WARs. Iraq was just a son trying to impress his father by killing his nemisis.

    • +comingviking Dilly Dilly was me agreeing with you 100% using a pretty funny beer commercial campaign tag line. Unfortunately I think we are both wasting our time with the child that is here to argue the corporate talking points. He’s either poorly educated or a troll.

    • comingviking. It does not matter what happened, it was viewed as the right thing to do. The communists meddled in the Afghanistan election, and USA did the same to stop them couping the nation. In hindsight bad, but looked good at the time With the info. It would of course be better in USSR had gotten a puppetregime in the nation, and taken over the country. Taliban and al qaida would still act as they do, no matter if this did not happen. They are muslims, they follow the quran, they are true believers, infidels With low moral societies, are to be attacked. It was not the supporting of them that is the problem either, it is stopping giving them free Money and stuff. That is the same mentality the migrants come With. That is why we need Security at asylumcentres, and personel are not allowed to be alone. The migrants react With rage when they are denied more Money, this and that. Lash out.

      Mossadeq. He wanted to nationalize the oil industry, that is Theft. As a country, they had the option to increase taxes, not steal. They also had the option of giving future licences to a statecompany they created, but not steal licences that others had gotten, and invested to develop. That is just thuggish ruggish behaviour, that is mafiastyle politics. The Shah was a great leader. Iran was a great country, the most western oriented country in all of asia back in the 60s. They were the most liberated People in the gulf.

      Libya got overthrown by DNC, it was wrong, I agree. They started WW3, it was very wrong. Same With Syria. Check the oil import from Syria and Libya over the years. You will see that democrats shuts it Down, and GOPers starts it up. Obama shut it Down, and started war in both countries within 2 years. Saddam was also a good leader, an splendid sheriff of the middle east. DNC deliberately mess up the muslim world, to help saudi Arabia With their genocide and caliphate. Bush genuinly tried to do the right thing, but retaliated wrong. This is a shame With USA, that an attack on you, demands fire and fury, no matter what. Imagine europe acting like this, there would be 30 WARs started the last 5 years for all those terrorattacks.

  6. The U.S. is desperately trying to sink trillions into a war with Syria so Genie Energy, run by criminals like Cheney, Woolsey, and Rosthchild, can run their pipeline to Turkey. How about we scrap that bit of socialism for billionaires and choose socialism for ourselves this time?

    • Because it’s not in the Federal reserves interest to do such a thing

      If all money is created out of debt and lent out with the application of “interest” how do you pay it off?

      DO NOT

      Tax the lower classes

      DO NOT

      Print more money

      And most definitely DO NOT

      give Banks bailouts

      ITS IMPOSSIBLE

      The dollar is literally a debt trap and we have not once paid off our debt since the creation of the Federal reserve, it is a fiat currency backed by nothing but manufactured belief that it has value

      Stay woke

    • Our “21 trillion debt” you are referring to is just the amount of dollars in existence. To “pay it off” means to kill off the economy literally. All money is created thru congress when it spends. spending = creation of new dollars.

    • Robgoren. Check out the oil-import from Syria and Libya, it tells you the Whole story. Republican presidents have started import from them, DNC has shut it Down, since they are paid by the saudis, who funded ISIS together With DNC. Bill Clinton cut it, Bush jr started it again, Obama shut it Down. And now, even With war and Anarchy, Trump started it again, even With Libya. And now the barbars that the DNC and saudis started, have done terrorism against the oilfields that just got up and running again. This is about sunnimuslims killing secular countries, and wiping out sjiamuslims.

  7. You’re an American hero Mike. Been watching your channel since the 2016 elections, and I’ve learned so much from this channel as well as the others, Jimmy D, Sec Talk, Rational Nat, ECT. Change is coming, keep the momentum going!

  8. As someone who is just denied the surgery by their insurance company that would help me walk right again and relieve me of some pretty horrific pain let me say from the bottom of my heart thank you for this fight. It is appreciated beyond words.

    • Fatlittle Kid
      No, they don’t. People in Europe do NOT get denied hip an knee replacements. Those are a priority.. There is no cost benefit analysis performed to shut people out of that sort of treatment. True, people often have to wait, but they GET it, and when they GET it, they GET it for FREE. Please do not tell such stupid lies. Europeans watch Youtube, too, you know.

    • Martin Kilgariff
      That is the way of the neolberal. What they cannot straight out kill, they starve to death by under funding it, and then, when it is completely useless, they can scrap it and give it to corporations. Evil fucks.

  9. The federal government needs to fund Medicare for all. Taxes do not fund federal spending. Congress writes money into existence and federal taxes delete the money out of circulation. Modern Monetary Theory #MMT

    • It might have clicked for me but I’m just trying to make sure I got it. Are you saying that congress would just write the amount of money needed to federally fund medicare for all into existence- and then when our taxes charged have reached an equivalent amount then it’s been balanced? Cheers

  10. Unfortunately this is a level or two too complicated for some hat and Oakley sunglasses wearing Republican voters. They like to be mislead, it brings order to their view of the world.

  11. Myth #1: The government should balance its books like a private household.
    Reality: Our federal government is the issuer of the currency, which makes its budget fundamentally different than the average citizen’s.

    Myth #2: Fixing Social Security and Medicare will require “tough choices.”
    Reality: Social Security and Medicare are not facing a financial crisis.

    Myth #3: We are passing on debt to our grandchildren.
    Reality: Payments on Treasury securities are a matter of data entry, not a financial burden.

    Myth #4: What we don’t tax we have to borrow from the likes of China for our children to pay back.Reality: Paying our debt holders back consists of transferring funds between accounts.

    Myth #5: The government must tax or borrow to get money to spend.
    Reality: Government spending is not constrained by revenue.

    Myth #6: Deficits and government borrowing takes away savings.
    Reality: Deficits add to income and savings.

    Myth #7: We’ll end up just like Weimar Germany or Zimbabwe.
    Reality: Hyperinflation in both countries was caused by circumstances far different than ours.

    Myth #8: Government spending increases interest rates and ‘crowds out’ valuable private sector investment.
    Reality: Banks can lend essentially without limit, and the Fed can hit any interest rate target it chooses.

    Myth #9: The money spent paying interest on the national debt could be spent elsewhere.
    Reality: Interest rates can easily be brought to zero and are not an obstacle to federal spending.

    Full article: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-deficit-nine-myths-we_b_553527

    • Andrea Wisner no. MMT is the logical conclusion of a series of verifiable facts.
      Congress writes the budgets, therefore they control how much the government spends and how much they tax.
      Deficit spending is not real problem which is why they never care about it when it comes to military spending and tax cuts for the rich. Deficit spending is the only way to stimulate the economy. Every time the budget has been balanced or we had a government surplus the economy has slowed down into a recession. A surplus for the government is a deficit for the private sector (the economy) and a deficit for the government is a surplus for the economy. That’s how they can afford an 80billion dollar increase in military spending without raising taxes, while lowering them actually.

    • But does MMT say you can push another $1.5 to $2 Trillion out into the economy (~10% of GDP) every year ad infinitum without deleting some of that back as taxes so you don’t create inflation or a bubble elsewhere in the economy? I have yet to see an answer to this question specifically about Medicare-For-All (and I’ve been asking!). If so, please post link of the study. M4A is a much bigger, ongoing undertaking than say one-time erasing student loan debt or ongoing free college tuition (~60 Billion/year). Even Dr. Kelton says taxes are still vitally important to prevent inflation, inequality (hoarding), and to create demand for the dollar. MMT reframes the debate but does not necessarily eliminate the need for some increase in taxes under M4A.

    • Connect The Dots USA true, but what I’ve heard from MMT economists is that M4A is more efficient meaning there is less economic activity produced by it which means it would cause deflation and deflation is curbed by tax cuts. Not saying I fully understand that but that’s what I’ve heard MMT economists say.

    • I will respond to polka but I highly recommend people spend the time to understand this better. http://neweconomicperspectives.org/modern-monetary-theory-primer.html
      http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/

      3. The USA Federal government issues debt (Treasury Securities) denominated in US dollars, the same US dollars they issue. The US Federal government is the only entity that can legally issue US dollars. Private banks can issue debt denominated in US dollars, but upon repayment of that debt the “dollars” are destroyed. Where did China, or anyone else get US dollars? From the US Federal government. Where else could it possibly come from. The Feds can impose constraints on themselves, like requiring the issuance of debt equal to the amount of increased spending, or a debt ceiling, but they are just that, self imposed constraints. The issue of debt by the US Feds results in the entity buying the US issued debt instrument, with another form of debt instrument namely US currency, that had to have come from the US gov., having a savings account at the Federal reserve that pays interest in US dollar.

      4. If you accept point 3 above, then you realize the US government does not need to borrow or tax the money that it issues in order to spend. There are other reasons for the Feds to tax including; Creating a demand for its currency; Changing behaviour e.g., taxing polluters or cigarettes; Removing money from an overheated economy i.e., control inflation; Change inequality… You do not need to tax the rich to spend on social programs. The Feds do not “need” to issue bonds or debt period. Are you really interested in promoting Richard Wolff? If nobody pays you you have to cut social programs?? If you really believe that then why not say if nobody pays you you have to cut the military, or the “intelligence agencies, unless you are really promoting right wing ideas. In fact if you were in support of Richard Wolff’s ideas you would say that we should prevent wealth inequalities from happening in the first place by democratizing the workplace.

      5. Issuing more money into the economy does not necessarily by itself cause inflation. Inflation (or deflation) rates are affected by various factors like supply, demand, ability to increase or decrease production, saving desires etc. See http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=10554 or search inflation on either of the above websites to get way more information that you were hoping for.

      6. He is stating an accounting identity. If you divide the world into two groups, the government sector (issuer of the currency) and the private sector (user of the currency), Government debt, or the issue of more money than they collected back in taxes (or fees and fines) is equal in aggregate to the private sector savings, to the penny.

      7. See point 5 above concerning inflation. Inflation is the only real constraint on the Feds issuing more money. The rest of the sentence is incoherent.

      8. Not sure what point is being made here

      9. Unfettered Fire didn’t say interest rates don’t matter.

      I for one think Richard Wolff, who I am a big supporter of, is mistaken in his message that we need to tax the rich to spend. I too think we need to dismantle capitalism and replace it with a form of socialism, and I believe the MMT understandings can be a step towards that by empowering people by removing a lot of the precarity they now suffer and offering them the security to be bolder. As far as understanding how money works there is way more to it than I can write in a YouTube comment so again please inform yourself.
      In Solidarity

    • I don’t mind if a system works properly and keep me safe but if the system fails and makes us all go broke then you’re only creating a problem that’ll put more people out in the streets? Vene is a Good example and should learn from it and IT IS NOTHING TO LAUGH AT because it’s a whole damn country.

      If you can prove to me that you can keep things nice and easy while my security is secured while making me more money then I don’t care. I would vote for you either way but if you can’t then get out my face with your imaginary world.

    • @NightmareFD3S dude the working bums like me are the ones who benefit by not having premiums and co pays. Then you can argue to re up the corporate tax rate since they don’t pay insurance companies anymore. Even if someone was a bum, I don’t want to see them die of a preventable disease. So senseless. When helping others you might be made a fool of at times, but if you don’t take the risk you help no one at all.

    • Gumer Zambrano Maybe it was a politics or economics class which feature debate. Maybe he’s on the debate team or in the debate club? Maybe he got sick of factually wrong information? Debate is the best way to educate and learn about opposing views. It promotes civility and proper decorum that’s seriously declining

  12. We don’t need to ‘pay for it’ that’s not really how the govt spends money. We would just need to raise taxes high enough to prevent inflation in the event that health care savings for households and businesses causes a massive economic boom that causes the economy to overheat. But some claim the job losses from the private insurance under M4A would make it deflationary, so we might not need to raise taxes for M4A and could even need a tax cut or other govt spending to offset the deflationary effect of the job losses. #mmt

    • Has anyone seen an analysis specifically on M4A from Kelton or another MMT expert? Can you really shove another $1.5 Trillion/year out into the economy without risking inflation? $70 Billion/year for free college is one thing, but M4A would be on another level. How do we know in advance how much to tax back to prevent inflation? Good questions for MMT experts.

  13. Absolutely support Medicare for all. Well done on this presentation. Why is there not any suggested tax on corporations? Why are workers having to pickup the employers present contribution to healthcare. I noticed the presenter indicated that the cost of insurance was deducted from worker’s paycheck. I think the case is that is presently a shared cost between employer and employee.

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