More than a quarter of what someone pays in federal taxes goes toward Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare subsidies and other health care programs, according to a Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget analysis for the Wall Street Journal. And for all of the attention Obamacare is getting these days, it only gets a fraction of the tax dollars that go to Medicare.
The amount funneled to Medicare has gone up by 15% since 2011 as more baby boomers age into the program. Tax spending on Medicaid has gone up more than 25% since 2011 due to Obamacare's expansion of the program. For every $100 of tax revenue, this is how much goes toward health care:
President Trump signed a law yesterday reversing an Obama-era order that forbade states from withholding federal funds from Planned Parenthood. Here's a primer on the organization, both pro and con.
For: Planned Parenthood is more than just an abortion clinic, providing an array of health services to women (and men) who would otherwise go uncared for. Because of this, they qualify for government reimbursements through Medicaid and Title X.
Against: Anti-abortion citizens should not have their tax money going to an organization that provides abortions, so Planned Parenthood should not receive any government funding.
I attended Rep. Mike Coffman's town hall in Aurora, a Denver suburb, on Wednesday night, and this was the biggest takeaway: No one is very happy with his support of the House Trumpcare bill. Even his Republican supporters told me they didn't like it, either because it worsened existing problems or because it didn't go far enough.
Of course, there were also dozens of very angry liberals questioning Coffman about protections for those with pre-existing conditions and the newly insured. During the nearly two-hour event, the conversation kept coming back to health care. And everyone at the event seemed to agree on one thing: Trumpcare isn't dead.
