Funding Health Care For All Americans

Funding Health Care For All Americans

October 18-19, 2007

The paying for a comprehensive health care reform proposal is critical. It determines the economic feasibility of a proposal and it effects the efficiency of the delivery of care. There are many aspects of funding that must be addressed. What should the actuarial value of the basic package be? What factors should influence the actuarial value? How frequently should the value change? How should subsidies to the poor be structured? Is it better to have implicit subsidies or explicit income-related subsidies? If the subsidies are income-related, at what income do the subsidies end and how are these subsidies phased out?

There are questions about the taxes used to fund health care. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using different taxes such as VAT, income taxes or negative income taxes, payroll taxes, etc.? Should the tax be earmarked? If earmarked, how can this be guaranteed? How can financial reserves be created? How large should the reserves be? What happens if costs exceed financing? There are also considerations of how change in financing from employers and taxes related to Medicaid and other programs to a single tax would affect the economy. Also by separating health coverage from employment, there are serious questions about how such a plan would affect labor markets.

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