New Jersey is launching a new fee on companies whose workers have Medicaid health coverage instead of being covered by their employers. Other states are considering it, too.
Democratic lawmakers and governors see it as a way to help pay for the joint federal and state insurance program that covers low-income residents as federal policy changes are expected to make the program more expensive for states and may lead to a reduction in the number of people with coverage.
Proponents also say it’s about fairness because employers benefit from having some lower-income workers with taxpayer-funded health coverage.
Here’s the money quote:
The fee New Jersey is planning to assess would top out at $725 annually per person, but it’s assessed on a scale based on business size in order to lower the impact to smaller businesses.
This sounds suspiciously good, at least in the absence of universal health care.
Here in Sweden everybody pays for everybody’s health insurance because it doesn’t go through the employer
(*there’s the option to offer extra coverage for the few things that aren’t free/tax paid or for base costs before standard coverage kicks in)
So for that same reason you also don’t pay double to cover other companies (unless they hire under the table entirely)
Yeah, I’m jealous.
Here in the US we have been largely brainwashed as a population by our education system and mainstream media to misunderstand how universal health care works, and people here honestly think that the price gouging and private health care system serve a purpose, even though they’re all wrong. They also are largely unaware that countries with universal health care still have private and concierge health care for people who want to pay for it.
It’s frustrating.
It’s also the racism. A lot of shit heads would rather personally die than have their preferred hierarchy be upended and have black people have anything nice.
Racism is close to the root of our problems