Rich guys (like nearly everyone else, to be fair) want (tax) laws that profit them. The difference to the Average Joe is that Rich Joe not only can pay for “institutes” that make “studies” for them, but also have easier access to lobby for the changes they want.
If it costs one million Average Joes a thousand dollars each to make one Rich Joe one million richer, so be it!
So of course when (again) a “Medicare for all” was proposed (what every other country on earth just calls a functioning health system), the Koch brothers, billionaires, didn’t want that to happen. Because while this could save the life of thousands of Average Joes, it might costs them a percent or two of their yearly income.
The result was hundreds of headlines about a study that showed how shocking high the costs of this “Medicare for all” would be. The analysis
was produced by the George Mason University-based Mercatus Center, which has received millions of dollars in funding from the right-wing billionaires Charles and David Koch, who have previously expressed support for abolishing Medicare and Medicaid entirely.
Well, you should think you can guess the outcome before they even start, right?
And of course the headlines do say that: The plan would cost $32.6 trillion over the next decade!! But, as always with numbers, that is only half of the story, and it is not even the important part. Even taking the Koch’s numbers,
U.S. could insure 30 million more Americans and virtually eliminate out-of-pocket healthcare expenses" while saving "a whopping $2 trillion" in the process.
But that part is hidden deep in the report, and not many journalists dare to venture this deep into science today, for fear of being called boring. But now, that you have read more then the first number, what do you think? Maybe
"Even if you take the report's headline figures at face value, the picture it paints is that of an enormous bargain. We get to insure every single person in the country...and save everyone from the hell of constantly changing health insurance all while saving money."
—Matt Bruenig, People's Policy Project
edit: I should stop forgetting to add the source O.o
