July’s Democratic presidential debates left seasoned health policy professionals confused, struggling to understand both the candidates’ policies and the differences among them. But working families should find Democrats’ health care debate taxing for another reason. For all their vows that Americans can obtain unlimited “free” health care while only “the rich” will pay, the major candidates are writing out checks that will end up on middle class families’ tab. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget believes the tax increases Sen. Sanders has proposed to date will pay for only about half of the more than $30 trillion cost of his single-payer scheme he envisions. Other candidates fare no better in realistic plans to pay for their utopian health care promises.
