Obamacare Transferred A Massive Amount Of Money From the Rich to the Poor

By Emma Roller  |  March 28, 2018 | 8:47pm
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Oh, a new report from the Congressional Budget Office finds that the Affordable Care Act redistributed an enormous amount of wealth—$16 billion annually—from the 1 percent to poor Americans?

Oh, the taxes put in place under Obamacare resulted in a slight decrease in income for the top 1 percent, while the bottom 20 percent of Americans saw their incomes rise significantly, as the Washington Post reported?

The ACA increased income among the 24 million households in the lowest quintile by about 3.6 percent. In contrast, the average of $21,000 paid by households in the top 1 percent decreased their income, on average, by 1.2 percent.

Oh, the new taxes put in place by the Affordable Care Act led the richest 20 percent of Americans to pay an average of $1,100 more in taxes each year—which amounts to a pittance for people making $281,000 or more?

Oh, you are saying this redistribution of wealth did not, in fact, cause civil society to collapse and the job market to fold? In practice, the Affordable Care Act helped make poor people both healthier AND wealthier—all by raising taxes paid by the already-exorbitantly-wealthy?

Oh, and you are now telling me that the United States spends far more on healthcare per capita than any country in the world, yet healthcare is still prohibitively expensive for many Americans?

Oh, you would like me to know, right now, that our current model of privatized healthcare is both insanely cost-inefficient AND hurts poor Americans most?

Oh, a single payer system would actually lower health care costs significantly by distributing resources more efficiently than the private health insurance market does?

Oh. Good to know.

[Washington Post]

 
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