FYI (there I go again!
): while places like AUS and UK charge a specific levy on taxable income for their healthcare (and other programs in the UK), the monies raised under that tax don't come anywhere close to covering the cost of the service provided. The rest is funded out of general taxation. E.g. in Australia the Medicare Levy raises about $12bn AUD while the total expenditure in 21/22 was c.$85-90bn AUD. So the headline 2-3.5% rate can be misleading. In terms of the actual cost, it represents 13-14% of total (individual and corporate) tax receipts by the Australian government. In the UK it's about 16-17%.
The bizarre part of all this is that the US healthcare system is just
really expensive. The total cost of Medicaid and Medicare in the US, for example, already takes up something like 30% of the total tax receipts. And it's not even universal, not by any stretch. But rather than move to a far more cost-efficient system, the US would seemingly rather cut people out of those programs.
Too much money in politics in the US. Maybe a party, should they ever get a supermajority, do something to remove the funding/bribery that enriches many of the politicians. No more legislating to benefit the corporations but to benefit the US people. That would be nice, wouldn't it?
