By Alex Gryciuk
Facing devastating consequences, as of 2021, almost 31.1 million of Americans live without health insurance in the United States. For those 31.1 million Americans, living without health insurance is extremely risky and dangerous. Without health coverage, many Amercians risk becoming the “41 percent of working-age Americans” that face serious debt or struggle to pay for expensive treatments and medical bills. For that reason, many Americans refuse to receive medical attention because of a fear of large bills or even the fear of not getting treated at all. Furthermore, even some health care providers “are not required by law to provide medical services to individuals without insurance” and thus leave thousands without adequate care. In fact, according to a study published in 2020, almost “45,000 annual deaths are associated with lack of health insurance and ensuring health-care access for all Americans would save more than 68,000 lives.” There’s no objection. America desperately needs health care that all Americans can access to live better lives. Yet, the Medicare For All proposal proves extremely detrimental to Americans because of lower quality care and a crashed economy; thus, cannot be passed.
Firstly, passing Medicare for All would transition the United States to a single payer system, or one party (the government) that would pay for all medical coverage. According to Health line, the bill entails comprehensive benefits, would be tax financed, replace all private health insurance (as well as the current Medicare program), provide lifetime enrollment, have no premiums/copays and care provided by all state-licensed providers. The Medicare for All plan would radically change an already fragile system and would devastate Americans. For one, wait times for healthcare would dramatically increase; leaving Americans at risk. When analyzing other countries on a single payer system like Canada, a report conducted in 2016 by the Fraser Institute found that the average wait time for neurosurgery was 46.9 weeks, first treatment for heart disease was 8.4 weeks, and orthopedic surgery would be 38 weeks. Furthermore, another study conducted by the Fraser Institute noted that Canadians were more likely to wait longer periods of time for care, rather than getting care quickly. The study stated that Canadians were most likely to wait at least four months for elective surgery, wait at least six days for a doctor or nurse when ill, wait at least two months for a specialist appointment, and were most likely to wait four hours or more in an emergency room. Such a lag in receiving care could be extremely detrimental to one’s health. According to the National Center for Biotechnical Information, “avoiding medical care may result in late detection of disease, reduced survival, and potentially preventable human suffering.” Transitioning to Medicare for All would mean that millions of Americans would face long wait times that would severely inhibit their ability to live healthy lives free of complications.
Another major flaw with the Medicare For All bill is its devastating effect on the economy. Currently, the private healthcare system makes up about a large share of the economy. According to Policy Advice, the healthcare sector was worth $8.45 trillion dollars with an increase of $808 billion in 2021. Furthermore, stating that in the healthcare sector, there are 784,626 companies that employ millions of workers. According to Brookings, as of 2020, the health-care sector now employs 11 percent of American workers and accounts for 24 percent of government spending. Effectively eliminating the private sector in healthcare with Medicare for All would result in a massive decrease of cash flow to the economy and could result in millions of Americans left without jobs. According to Kaiser Health News, “Any significant reform would require major realignment of the health care sector” where “5,000 community hospitals would lose more than $151 billion” and a “typical midsize, nonprofit hospital system would have a net revenue loss of 22%.” The same article states that 860,000 to 1.5 million jobs would be lost. Overall, the economic disaster that would ensue after Medicare for All would result in billions lost in the private sector and thousands more jobs lost. The economy would be in a meltdown.
Furthermore, taxes required to fund a single payer system will rise exponentially. On other single-pay health care systems implemented by the government, large income taxes fund health care. In Canada for example, income taxes make up “30 percent of the tax bill for the average Canadian family” and “the amount of money spent on health care by Canada’s governments is equivalent to about two-thirds of all personal income taxes.” A similar system would be applied to Medicare for All. Additionally, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget states that “even with extremely aggressive revenue-raising policy changes” they only found “enough revenue increases from high earners and businesses to cover about 40 percent of the cost of Medicare for All.” That amount of deficit would hurt the economy to an extreme extent.
In the end, Americans not only deserve but also need a form of healthcare available to all citizens. But, a plan that transitions our current healthcare plan to a single-pay system would not only hurt Americans with decreased care quality but also cause economic disruption. Thus, the US shouldn’t pass Medicare for All, but rather an alternative plan that covers Americans with the option for private sector coverage or includes business endorsement of healthcare.