r/FluentInFinance • u/The-Lucky-Investor • 11d ago

“Medicare for All” would save the U.S $5.1 Trillion over 10 years Discussion/ Debate

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/11/30/easy-pay-something-costs-less-new-study-shows-medicare-all-would-save-us-51-trillion
21.5k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

2.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

5

u/bellj1210 11d ago

yes- the postal service is so much more expensive than UPS.

0

u/Iamthespiderbro 11d ago

Oh, you mean the agency that ran at a $6.5B dollar deficit in 2023? That postal service?

10

u/teluetetime 11d ago

Their operations are profitable.

It’s just that Republicans passed a law requiring them to pay all of their employees’ fairly generous pension obligations in advance, rather than counting on long term investment gains like every single other institution does retirement plans. This was done to make them appear like they’re losing tons of money to justify selling the service off to private corporations which will just not offer any retirement benefits at all.

0

u/Iamthespiderbro 10d ago

I’m not sure why you’re stating that. The numbers are very easy to look up and it’s just objectively not true that they run a profit. They lost ~$6B last year and another ~$2B in Q1 this year.

Regardless, you made my exact point. The government makes stupid decisions that would never be made in the private sector.

2

u/Minute-Tale9416 9d ago

... You realize the postal service was never meant to turn a profit right? You realize the government isn't a private business and isn't meant to be for profit? That's why private and public sectors are specified as private and public... I guess you think roads and public schools should also be profitable?

0

u/Iamthespiderbro 9d ago

Yes, I absolutely understand that. Hence my original point. Government is inefficient as hell, so if you want to make an argument for government healthcare it shouldn’t be that it’s going to lower cost because that literally never happens.

2

u/Minute-Tale9416 9d ago

Except every other major country with universal healthcare spends less and gets better results, but go ahead and ignore facts because "mUh ProFIt MarGIn"

3

u/AverageAmericanGuy 10d ago

USPS isn't designed to be profitable, it's a service. And in 2023 the US spent 4.16 TRILLION dollars in government spending. So that deficit makes up 0.00156% of that money spent. That's chump change for us.

0

u/[deleted] 10d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Iamthespiderbro 10d ago

I have excellent and silly cheap private coverage.

I have the same opinion as I do all government programs. As long as I can opt out, I’m all for it. If someone wants to pay taxes because they believe the government can deliver better than the private market then have at it. Just don’t require me to pay.

-1

u/ClassicTrout 11d ago

It’s not your 6.5B

2

u/Iamthespiderbro 11d ago

Oh the treasury doesn’t pay the deficit with my tax dollars or by inflating the currency I own, which they force my employer to issue payment in?

1

u/DarkExecutor 11d ago

Just because you don't see a sticker price on a stamp, doesn't mean it doesn't get taken out of your taxes.