Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has a plan to create national health insurance, a program he says would be paid for through increased taxes on the wealthy. Just one problem: Two studies today jointly published by left-leaning think tanks argue that, over the course of a decade, there's an $18 trillion gap between the money that taxes would rake in and the cost of his health care plan.
The work from the Tax Policy Center and the Urban Institute suggests that Sanders has just $15 trillion planned in new taxes, while his health care plan would cost the government $33 trillion, leaving the poor and middle class to potentially foot more of the bill than the Vermont senator has budgeted for.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Post Office's Capture software to be reviewed over 'glitches'Speed Read Solicitor representing accused postmasters says flaws in the IT system follow 'very similar pattern' to Horizon
-
How would we know if World War Three had started?Today's Big Question With conflicts in Ukraine, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific, the 'spark' that could ignite all-out war 'already exists'
-
Death Cafe: where people talk mortality over tea and cakeWhy everyone's talking about The meet-ups are intended to offer a judgement-free and respectful space to discuss the end of life
-
Texas dairy worker gets bird flu from infected cowSpeed Read The virus has been spreading among cattle in Texas, Kansas, Michigan and New Mexico
-
Dengue hits the Americas hard and earlySpeed Read Puerto Rico has declared an epidemic as dengue cases surge
-
US bans final type of asbestosSpeed Read Exposure to asbestos causes about 40,000 deaths in the U.S. each year
-
Seattle Children's Hospital sues Texas over 'sham' demand for transgender medical recordsSpeed Read Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton subpoenaed records of any Texan who received gender-affirming care at the Washington hospital
-
Afghanistan has a growing female suicide problemSpeed Read The Taliban has steadily whittled away women's and girls' rights in Afghanistan over the past 2 years, prompting a surge in depression and suicide
-
US life expectancy rose in 2022 but not to pre-pandemic levelsSpeed Read Life expectancy is slowly crawling back up
-
Vallance diaries: Boris Johnson 'bamboozled' by Covid scienceSpeed Read Then PM struggled to get his head around key terms and stats, chief scientific advisor claims
-
An increasing number of dog owners are 'vaccine hesitant' about rabiesSpeed Read A new survey points to canine vaccine hesitancy
