Where Premiums for employer insurance is more than 10% of incomes.
Source: Axios
Yesterday I mentioned the 10 most competitive global economies. Today, I want to reference an issue with giant implications for the economy, and specific companies within the stock market: the coasts of health care across the US.
Consider the map above . . . it shows where Premiums for employer insurance amounts to more than 10% of incomes. These effects would be especially noticeable in some politically important states — including Florida, North Carolina and Texas.
Obviously, health insurance might be a significant issue in the 2020 campaign. POTUS’s goal of overturning Affordable Care Act (ACA) is only part of the reason why. The rising costs of health insurance — my firm’s coverage averages about 9% annual increases — is the other reason why.
One last thought on this topic: We compare the US to other countries on a tax basis, but we ignore the “vast amounts of money we channel into employer-based health insurance.” Including that into the tax picture changes the calculus:
“If you account for the vast amounts of money we channel into employer-based health insurance, it turns out that Americans are taxed like Europeans and spend on social welfare like Europeans” with more expensive, worse results…https://t.co/9RWpofCScv pic.twitter.com/vveqEgCqjG
— Barry Ritholtz (@ritholtz) October 3, 2019
