Issue Position: Healthcare Policy: Medicare for All

Issue Position

Texas and the whole United States of America need universal healthcare. This can be seen by looking at life expectancy and infant mortality in the United States[1]. The recent expansion of the fraction of people with access to healthcare by the Afordable Care Act (Obamacare) was a step forward[2]. However there are still millions of Americans that do not have access to healthcare. Texas is among the states with the highest rates of uninsured residents. Something more must be done.

Looking closer we see that there are two major problems in expanding access to healthcare. The first is that current law does not require that every resident have access to healthcare. Every resident of the United States must have a right to healthcare. The second problem is that healthcare in the United States is too expensive[3]. Healthcare in the United States is the most expensive of any developed nation on earth. Action must be taken to reduce the cost of healthcare in this country.

One way to establish a right to healthcare for all residents of the United States is to move to a single payer healthcare system. Then require that the payer to provide healthcare to all residents of this country. Medicare is almost a single payer system. When co-pays and deductibles are eliminated from Medicare it will be a single payer system.

Medicare is also the most efficient, lowest cost health care payment system for the elderly in the United States. Medicare costs less than the healthcare provided by private insurance companies. Part of the reason that Medicare is more efficient, more cost effective is that it does not pay a profit to stockholders. Medicare also has lower administrative cost[4]. Medicare makes sure that healthcare providers do not overcharge requiring providers to write down their charges to lower yet still acceptable, cost effective levels. Medicare also applies effectiveness standards to different treatment techniques. All three of these are important to reducing the cost of healthcare in Texas and in the United States.

So what we need is a Medicare for All system that provides healthcare payments for all residents of the country, eliminates deductibles and co-payments, and applies reasonable cost reduction methods to healthcare providers. Some people and organizations do not believe that this kind of system is affordable. And yet all other developed countries and most developing countries provide universal access to healthcare. Why is it that the United States cannot afford this when other countries can. It is a strange form of exceptionalism that says we cannot afford a right to healthcare when most other countires can.

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has introduced a bill that will provide Medicare for All[5]. His bill implements the right to healthcare over four years. His bill also provides affordable funding for Medicare for All. This bill is new. It will require inputs from stake holder before it is ready to be passed into law. His bill deserves support.

Congress must act to make sure that a bill like Senator Sanders' Medicare for All bill becomes law. Then all residents of our great country will have lower cost healthcare with better healthcare outcomes.

[1]WHO | World Health Statistics 2016: Monitoring health for the SDGs; http://www.who.int/gho/publications/world_health_statistics/2016/Annex_B/en/; Retrieved 4/18/2018.

[2]Nearly 20 Million Have Gained Health Insurance Since 2010; https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/health/obamacare-health-insurance-numbers-nchs.html; Retrieved 4/19/2018.

[3]How does health spending in the U.S. compare to other countries?; Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker; https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-spending-u-s-compare-countries/#item-average-wealthy-countries-spend-half-much-per-person-health-u-s-spends; Retrieved 4/18/2018.

[4]Bernie Sanders' "Medicare For All' Bill: Here's What It Would Do; National Public Rradio; https://www.npr.org/2017/09/14/550768280/heres-whats-in-bernie-sanders-medicare-for-all-bill; Retrieved 4/19/2018

[5]Medicare for All Act; https://www.sanders.senate.gov/download/medicare-for-all-act?id=6CA2351C-6EAE-4A11-BBE4-CE07984813C8&download=1&inline=file; Retrieved 4/18/2018

Source