Health Care in the United States: Who Pays?
- 1 July 1973
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in International Journal of Health Services
- Vol. 3 (3) , 427-434
- https://doi.org/10.2190/w6ud-q8c3-ued2-ht3d
Abstract
The lopsided distribution of wealth in the United States is perpetuated by the regressive taxation system and the payment of public subsidies to large corporations. These factors operate in important ways in the health system. Health care finances—whether out-of-pocket payments, insurance premiums, or social security—burden the poor far more heavily than the rich. Even the more equitable federal income tax spares wealthy individuals and corporations. National health insurance will not rectify the unjust nature of health care financing since it relies chiefly on regressive payments and insures profits for health-related corporations. Because poor health is closely linked to poverty, the redistribution of wealth is a fundamental tenet of sensible health policy.Keywords
This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- FEDERAL TAX POLICY (A REVIEW ARTICLE)National Tax Journal, 1967
- Poverty and public health--new outlooks. I. Poverty as an obstacle to health progress in our cities.American Journal of Public Health and the Nations Health, 1965