Is JT wrong in this video?
I'm specifically talking about the very first evidence he points to when discussing the cost of free healthcare for all in America around 5:10. He says that healthcare would only cost another $290 billion per year. He also made it seem like this is money the US government could pay out of the defense budget.
I had done some research into this before, and I thought this number was incredibly low. After looking at the source he cited for this, the only thing that would increase by $290 billion is the total national healthcare expenditures, which also include private healthcare insurers, and not only government payments. Here's the paper he cites.
The study actually states that government subsidies would increase by $2,996 billion or around $3 trillion. This would be money paid directly by the government and would most likely be paid for using higher tax rates from not only households, but also employers. This paper estimates a 4% increase for the average household and around 14% for employers. This would still cause the people to pay less overall, but now it's a once-a-year payment instead of a monthly one.
I'm obviously not against this system, but I think the way JT presented it was slightly disengenous. And not only do I think that it was presented the wrong way, I feel like a much more powerful message would have been to argue against the fact that the healthcare industry as a whole is created around the need for more profit, and to expose contradictions there.
Just wanted to give my input on that data he cited, the rest of the video is amazing as always