Moose wrote:
> Steve Dropkin wrote:
>> <snip>
>> It also strikes me as ironic that American business can complain so
>> loudly about the cost of providing health insurance for employees
>> and yet treat a more equitable solution as some sort of failed
>> socialist plot. General Motors estimates that approximately US$1,500
>> of the cost of each vehicle they make in the U.S. pays for
>> employee/retiree health coverage -- a cost that Toyota, Honda,
>> Volkswagen, and Volvo don't pay (directly) in their home countries.
>>
> <minor snippage>
> What I do remember is the enormous differences in structural and tax
> aspects of economies between countries. So I have a simple comment.
> Unless one knows what portion of the overall tax income that pays for
> the health care in those other countries comes from corporate taxes and
> how the overall, effective corporate tax rate, adjusted for accounting
> differences, differs from that in the US, it is impossible to come to
> any meaningful conclusion from the above.
I understand your point. The implicit assumptions I used are that:
1) government-provided health care does not have to profit (as
private insurers do), removing significant cost; and
2) a single-payer (especially when it is the government) can
negotiate lower prices and establish limits on expenses (not
performing expensive cover-your-backside tests, not establishing
multiple similar specialty-care centers in a limited area, etc.)
(Even within the U.S., Medicare [health coverage for senior
citizens, for those of you unfamiliar with it] pays less for
prescription drugs and medical care than private providers do. It is
documented that single-payer does this outside the U.S. as well.).
So while it is true that we do _not_ know how much BMW, say, may pay
in taxes to cover health care, I think it's a fairly safe assumption
that they are paying for a more efficient system than GM or Ford are
in the U.S.
Steve
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