here is a powerful appeal to the promise of government-provided health care and other social programs without premiums, deductibles, or copays. But there are questions that politicians promoting Democratic socialism rarely answer, specifically, what will it actually cost and how will we pay for it? If we want to understand what these promises mean for middle-income families, we need to look beyond the sales pitch and examine the numbers.
Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan senator-elect, recently said of universal health care: “it is guaranteed health insurance from cradle to the moment you pass away. It comes without premiums or co-pay for deductions. It guarantees you care when you need it. This is a level of security we have never known in the United States.”
Any country that has adopted some version of national health care proves it does not work as the advocates promise. In fact, it is paid for through substantial taxes, requires some fees and co-pays, and means long waits for many of the medical procedures.
What would Democratic socialists’ programs cost and how would they be paid for? Advocates will argue that taxing the rich can pay for these programs. However, studies have repeatedly shown that the additional revenue from taxing high-income earners would fall far short of covering the costs. Even substantially higher taxes on the wealthy cannot close a funding gap of this magnitude, leaving middle- and lower-income taxpayers to shoulder much of the burden.
The U.S. is not paying for the programs it already has. For fiscal year 2026, federal spending was $7.4 trillion and revenue was $5.4 trillion, leaving a deficit of $2 trillion. To pay for our current expenses solely through increased revenue would require an increase of approximately 37 percent in taxes; doing so solely through spending cuts would require roughly a 27 percent decrease in spending. Adding the Democratic socialist programs would add a minimum of $8 trillion annually to spending, according to a Cato Institute study, and require a 166 percent increase in overall taxes to pay for all of the current and new programs.
