I’ve heard a good argument: we can’t have universal healthcare because people abuse the system.
It’s true, some do and would try that.
And 5% of people account for almost half our medical expenses.
That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take care of those people.
I wouldn’t like being one of the people born with a costly medical condition or one who got a rare disease. I doubt you would either. The cost doesn’t really matter in that sense.
So, I still want a universal basic income and universal healthcare.
But we need boundaries on free care to prevent abuse.
Example story: A friend of mine was an EMT for a while. He said the homeless, drunks and slobs would call them almost daily for a free ride and to have something to do and somewhere to go.
Once the ambulance service put a 3 calls per month maximum on the people, they stopped getting those calls. Because those people didn’t want to have an actual emergency and not be able to get help.
If you eliminate the ability for people to cry wolf and always get free stuff, they won’t cry wolf until there actually is a wolf at the door.
With a UBI, people have money. So if they abuse the system, charge them.
If they can’t pay, put them in a mental hospital. If people knew they would be severely punished for abusing the system, they wouldn’t abuse the system.
Oh, but we don’t have mental hospitals! Well, universal healthcare, $400 Billion in charity money and 3500 newly empty business buildings across America smells like opportunity to me.
Also, we have a humongous problem with obesity (oh, the puns). Having a “fat tax” makes economic sense.
Obesity costs us more in healthcare than any other single condition.
It’s a completely preventable condition hurting literally everyone (the economy)!
The tax on obesity would incentivize people to not be fat so they could save money. People are more incentivized the prospect of losing something they have than gaining something they don’t.
Say, if your body fat percentage is over 25% for men or 32% for women (because BMI doesn’t account for muscle mass and we shouldn’t hit bodybuilders with a fat tax), then you are obese and 25% of your UBI is automatically deducted for medical expenses.
Obese people would suddenly find a reason to exercise and eat healthily. I guarantee it.
Yeah, I just provided a solution to end the obesity epidemic while preventing egregious abuse of universal healthcare.
Two bad birds. Meet one stone.