Leah Parmley

“Medicare for All” would prevent millions of uninsured Americans from being exploited by for-profit medical providers.

The idea of “Medicare for All” has been considered radical for as long as it has existed. Many of the critics believe it is too expensive, would increase waiting times, would promote laziness and unhealthy behavior, or would be government overreach. But there is evidence otherwise.

The United States spends more on healthcare than any other country in the world. Despite this, almost 40 Million Americans don’t have access to health insurance, and another 41 million are underinsured. Combined with the drastic increase in healthcare costs and rising prices of essential medical services, it should not be a drastic claim to say that the American healthcare system is broken.

A Medicare for All system as most recently proposed by Senator Bernie Sanders would change the medical insurance provider to Medicare for every American citizen. The Medicare system would be expanded to all ages and demographics. This would allow all citizens to have access to healthcare without fear of going broke. Beyond that, it would pay for every medically necessary service, also including dental, vision, and mental health services. There would be no copays or deductibles with exceptions for prescriptions, even then the costs would be limited to $200 per year.

Medicare for all brings innumerable benefits to the nation and is looking to be more and more needed as time goes on. By 2027, the United States will be spending $6 trillion a year on healthcare spending, meaning over $42 trillion will be spent on healthcare in the next decade if we do not change systems. Medicare for All would actually lower the amount the government spends on healthcare.

Yale and University of Massachusetts released statistics that state that Medicare for all would lower healthcare spending by 13% ($450 billion) a year as the Medicare for All system would cost $37.8 trillion in the next decade, which is over $5 trillion lower than the current system. The reduced costs come from government price controls through regulation and negotiations. Also, spending for the private sector would also decrease. Less cost when dealing with the administration of working with multiple private health insurers and companies, and companies would have standardized insurance policies, lowering costs.

Medicare for All does more than reduce spending. A Medicare for all health insurance system would boost wages and jobs, while also leading to a more efficient labor market. The reduction in health insurance costs for employers would ideally allow that money to be redirected into wages, and then reduces premiums allow more money to come back to the worker. which also reduces startup costs for small businesses, allowing more competition in the economy. With Medicare for all, job quality would grow, especially among women workers who are less likely to receive healthcare from employers. The loss of a job or the change between jobs would also become much easier on the worker, as the loss of healthcare from jobs would be supplemented by Medicare for All.

A Medicare for all system would drastically reduce the amount of needless deaths across the United States, almost 70,000 lives a year would be saved. That is a drastic increase in taxpayers and human health. A more healthy population is one of the most powerful resources of any nation on earth, and if the United States wants to continue being a superpower, it is time to reform a broken healthcare system.