Health Care Math

Someone I was speaking to online mentioned the total cost of the health care reform proposals being considered would wind up totaling $1.6 trillion over 10 years.  He feared this would lead to some kind of massive tax hike!

While, this number seems suspicious to me, it seems worth pointing out what $1.6 trillion over 10 years actually buys:

At $94 million apiece, we could have 1,702 and F/A-18 Hornets per year for the next 10 years.

Or we could ensure every man woman and child in the United States of America has guaranteed access to affordable, quality health care.

At $102 million each, we could have 1,568 EA-18G Growlers every year for 10 years.

Or we could ensure every man woman and child in the United States of America has guaranteed access to affordable, quality health care.

Clocking in at $118 million each, we could have 1,355 V-22 Ospreys each year for 10 years.

Or we could ensure every man woman and child in the United States of America has guaranteed access to affordable, quality health care.

We could have 487 C17A Globemaster III cargo planes each year for 10 years given as how they are $328 million apiece.


Or we could ensure every man woman and child in the United States of America has guaranteed access to affordable, quality health care.

Costing $2.4 billion each, we could have 80 B2 Stealth Bombers each year for 10 years.

Or we could ensure every man woman and child in the United States of America has guaranteed access to affordable, quality health care.

Want a more realistic perspective?

$1,600,000,000,000 (1.6 trillion) is equal to $160,000,000,000 (160 billion) per year over 10 years.  This is equal to one year's military budget for the US.  It's roughly equivalent to the current market cap for just 6 companies in the world.

So we are going to take that huge number, the number we spend in just one year in the US alone for our military, the one we could use to buy the 6 biggest companies on the planet, and spread it across 10 years, an entire decade so that every man, woman, and child in the United States is covered by health insurance.


What's the fight about again?