Aldo Assali: Allow everyone to have Medicare and watch the savings roll in

I have an idea that would pay for all of our healthcare needs, and I believe it would work well. It is a form of socialized medicine. If someone is ill, they should be cared for. We already have a form of socialized medicine in Medicare and Medicaid, so why not have it for everyone?

Establish a “national sales tax” so everyone could pay for it. The rich would pay more because they spend more; the poor would pay less because they spend less, but everyone will pay – including the 546 people in our three branches of government – who should have the same health care as everyone else since they work for us.

We would not need health insurance companies. I am guessing that it would save somewhere between 20 to 40 percent of our healthcare cost because of what it takes simply to run the insurance companies at a profit. We would not need the medical part of Workman’s Compensation, which is quite substantial depending on the occupation. This would be a large part of “draining the swamp” in the medical field. Just think of the money it would save, and everyone would have healthcare and everyone would pay for it.

This story was originally published December 12, 2016 at 5:43 PM with the headline "Aldo Assali: Allow everyone to have Medicare and watch the savings roll in."