Have you ever wondered why the United States doesn’t guarantee healthcare to its citizens? The push for Medicare For All has intensified, Due to rising healthcare costs and coverage concerns affecting millions of Americans. The debate, spotlighted by Bernie Sanders during the 2016 and 2020 presidential primaries, centers on the deficiency in our current system and the feasibility of a universal approach. This discourse reflects a deep cultural divide: the commodification of healthcare by corporations versus the prioritization of collective well-being. The United States should pass medicare for all because that would save America money while providing healthcare coverage to all citizens.
Opponents of Medicare For All argue the U.S. has an inability to pay for universal healthcare and that the private market is more effective. The fact is that multiple studies show that the cost argument is misplaced and unfounded. One study from the University of Massachusetts estimated that Medicare for all would save the American people $5.1 trillion over ten years, equivalent to $510 billion in savings every year. In another study done by Yale University researchers, their research team found that a single payer healthcare system like Medicare For All would save the American people $438 billion every year. Evident in these two studies, exact estimates vary. However, a story by The Hill found that 22 different studies agreed, a “Medicare for all” single payer healthcare system would guarantee comprehensive coverage to everyone in America and save money.
Healthcare spending per person in the U.S. was $12,555 in 2022, which was $4,000 more than any other high-income nation. The average amount spent on healthcare per person in comparable countries ($6,651) is about half of what the U.S. spends per person. The United States spends much more per person than any other country in the world. Despite having 37 million Americans with no health insurance at all and 41 million more who have inadequate access to care.
The simple reason why is that Americans pay more for the same healthcare than other countries. This is due to a multitude of factors that all tie back to the fact that America doesn’t have universal healthcare or enough regulation. For example higher administrative costs, these costs are driven by the fact that there are 900 health insurance companies. This creates a large system of bureaucracy, under medicare for all there is one healthcare provider which allows patients access to doctors in the whole healthcare system. Ultimately providing better care for patients.
The bottom line is that there isn’t government regulation in the U.S. healthcare system. Most developed countries control healthcare costs through government intervention, by forcing companies to negotiate on pricing. These governments in turn negotiate lower costs for drugs, medical equipment, and hospital care. In the U.S. every member of the system is incentivised to drive up prices for consumers in order to increase profits. From the health insurance companies, drug manufacturers, and hospitals, that is why healthcare providement doesn’t belong with the private market.
Medicare For All is often attacked as unrealistic or radical by almost all American politicians. However the United states is the outlier in the world in not having a universal system. 72 countries around the world guarantee healthcare to all their citizens, including all of the first world countries. Medicare For all is single payer healthcare which is simply a streamlined financing mechanism where one entity/organization administers the health care funding and payments. It expands the cost-effective and administratively efficient Medicare program to cover everyone in the United States.
How effective is Medicare? Medicare is universal healthcare for elderly individuals over the age of 65 which in turn provides healthcare to millions of individuals. Medicare provides the same healthcare than private insurers at much lower rates. Private insurers paid 222% of Medicare prices in 2018, and 235% in 2019. In 2020, relative prices for hospital facility-only services averaged 224%, while associated professional services, such as physician fees, averaged 163% of what Medicare would have paid for the same services. This again goes back to lack of regulation as the government can’t negotiate lower prices due to no laws being enacted to do that.
In conclusion countless studies have shown that Medicare is more cost effective than private insurance and private healthcare providers. Expanding Medicare to every citizen would ironically eliminate the issue of lack of healthcare experienced by millions of Americans while eliminating skyrocketing and sky high prices. In other words we would save money while doing the moral thing of providing healthcare to individuals regardless of income.
Reference:
https://www.medicarerights.org › 2022/05/19 › new-stu…
https://www.kff.org › medicare › issue-brief › how-mu…
https://www.pgpf.org › blog › 2023/07 › how-does-the…
https://www.healthsystemtracker.org › chart-collection
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