Presently, three types of actors pump money into the US health care system: the government funds programs like Medicaid and Medicare; employers pay premiums to private insurers; and individuals pay premiums to private insurers and pay deductibles and copayments. Shifting to a single payer system requires capturing these various flows of money and redirecting them… Continue reading Single Payer Payroll Taxes
California’s Surprisingly Cheap Single Payer Plan
There is coverage today of a new report from the California Senate Appropriations committee estimating the budgetary implications of a proposed single payer health plan for the state (Sacramento Bee, LA Times, Vox). I’ve not yet been able to access the report directly, but the coverage of it is pretty encouraging. After the implementation of… Continue reading California’s Surprisingly Cheap Single Payer Plan
More Job Guarantee Muddle
The Center for American Progress wrote a post today advocating for a job guarantee. As with similar posts written by others sympathetic to the idea, the CAP proposal was muddled and failed to offer any plausible jobs that could actually be offered in a JG program. When you clear out the bloat, the proposal is… Continue reading More Job Guarantee Muddle
Would Ending the Mortgage Interest Deduction Reduce the Racial Wealth Gap?
Matthew Desmond has a piece at the New York Times about homeownership and inequality. In it, he rightfully takes on the Mortgage Interest Deduction, a tax expenditure that unfairly benefits those who own homes and the rich especially. Desmond ties the Mortgage Interest Deduction, and homeownership policy more generally, into the racial wealth gap. This… Continue reading Would Ending the Mortgage Interest Deduction Reduce the Racial Wealth Gap?
The Racial Wealth Gap and Homeownership Nonsense
Matthew Desmond has a piece in the New York Times about homeownership and racial inequality. The piece is mostly good, but one part of it irked me: While most white families own a home, a majority of black and Latino families do not. Differences in homeownership rates remain the prime driver of the nation’s racial… Continue reading The Racial Wealth Gap and Homeownership Nonsense