Currently the insurance provided to an employee by an employer is tax deductible to the employer and not taxed for the employee but even if the employee gets that extra money (and I know for a fact I won't) that money will be taxed as the income it is. I am not necessarily against MFA but I do think we need to be honest.

People skipping medications is way more tangible than taxes.

Seeing donation jars in stores for kids with cancer is more tangible than taxes

Camping out in a parking lot for three days to get care is more tangible than taxes.

...the average voter doesn't experience any of those things.

Average voters don’t experience premiums and deductibles?

Premiums are paid by their employer, and if the employee pays a share, it gets lost in they paycheck total (I have no idea what my share is). And people who aren't chronically sick don't encounter deductibles.

People who are chronically ill meet their deductible more often and sooner. Everyone else, especially people with kids, complain about the deductible all year.

This is a bizarre conversation.

I see a handful of posts every few months about Go Fund Me pages for someone's sick child (or the sick child of a friend) who cannot afford treatments without help. So no, I've been lucky enough in my life that I haven't experienced the threat of bankruptcy because of medical bills. But I certainly am very familiar with the idea, as I see these requests for assistance frequently.


Now, I'm far from saying that MFA has been adequately explained in a way that the average voter will understand that it's better for them overall. Quite the opposite, actually. But don't discount the average person's ability to sympathize with their fellow person - and their ability to understand that we're all just one event (headache, car accident, whatever) away from being in a very similar position.

...I flew out of LaGuardia. At that time there were three flights per hour - United, American, and TWA (shows how old I am!!) When I got to the airport with a ticket from one of those three, I could walk up to the gate for the next departing flight and the ticket was honored. Round trip was less than $200 with no luggage charge and a halfway decent HOT meal.

Other countries, who have the equivalent of MFA, pay a lot less for "health care" than we do. So the comment that it, in the long run, won't make a difference to the average Joe or Joey, is not looking at the rest of the world. We pay a "tax" to the insurance companies to give us sub-standard care (not always, but frequently). For instance, a client of mine pays $300.00 a month for access to her health policy. That comes to $3,600.00 a year - a significant "tax" for anyone to manage, let alone someone earning under $20.00 per hour.

Doesn't pay significantly more than my adjunct work but a bit. I had great Obamacare.

Now, due to the insane rules I have to take the crappy high deductible plan from the company and can't afford to take the insurance for my family.

Yes, MFA please. I am tired of the evil joke that is our current system.

The only unviable part comes from.special interests annd their thralls in Congress