Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton attacked Senator
Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare
for All” as a plan that will end the Affordable Care Act (AFC), commonly
known as Obamacare, and the contentious congressional fight that will certainly
follow is not worth the effort. Other than some tweaks here and there, Clinton will
not change AFC.
“Medicare for All” is different from AFC. AFC relies heavily
on private insurance companies for funding and delivery of healthcare. “Medicare
for All” is a single payer healthcare system, sometimes referred to as universal
healthcare, national healthcare, or the public option. Single payer refers to
how it’s funded, organized, and administered by the government, but relies on private
healthcare insurance to deliver.
Sanders recognizes that the healthcare industry’s primary
responsibility is not to its customers but to its shareholders. Clinton, who
once supported a single payer system, does as well, but either is unwilling to
fight the hard fight on behalf of all Americans, or is unduly obligated to Wall
Street and the oligarchic healthcare system.
The Republican led Congress has tried over and over again to repeal AFC, but have not proposed recommendations or any alternative to make it better. Sanders’ single-payer plan, “Medicare for All,” builds on AFC, a plan initially proposed as a single-payer system, but when enacted essentially caved into the interests of the healthcare insurance companies. Sanders believes that AFC has not gone far enough to provide affordable adequate healthcare for all. The “Medicare for All” act is a logical next step to make Obamacare better.
“Medicare for All” will guarantee healthcare services, including eye and dental care, for everyone regardless of whether they are rich or poor. With his plan, no longer will Americans have to choose between getting healthcare and putting food on the table, or have to declare bankruptcy because they cannot afford to pay their hospital bill. No longer will Americans need to depend on private sector healthcare insurers to cover the cost of their healthcare needs.
Moreover, Sanders’ plan will cut health care costs, lower prescription drug prices, put money back in consumers' pockets, create jobs, and addresses a major cause of income inequality.
The Republican led Congress has tried over and over again to repeal AFC, but have not proposed recommendations or any alternative to make it better. Sanders’ single-payer plan, “Medicare for All,” builds on AFC, a plan initially proposed as a single-payer system, but when enacted essentially caved into the interests of the healthcare insurance companies. Sanders believes that AFC has not gone far enough to provide affordable adequate healthcare for all. The “Medicare for All” act is a logical next step to make Obamacare better.
“Medicare for All” will guarantee healthcare services, including eye and dental care, for everyone regardless of whether they are rich or poor. With his plan, no longer will Americans have to choose between getting healthcare and putting food on the table, or have to declare bankruptcy because they cannot afford to pay their hospital bill. No longer will Americans need to depend on private sector healthcare insurers to cover the cost of their healthcare needs.
Moreover, Sanders’ plan will cut health care costs, lower prescription drug prices, put money back in consumers' pockets, create jobs, and addresses a major cause of income inequality.
Former United States Secretary of Labor, currently Professor
of Public Policy at Berkley, Robert
Reich suggests how it might be implemented:
“Initially: A single-payer plan would be offered as an
option on state insurance exchanges (similar to the “public option” idea that
was briefly considered but then rejected by the designers of Obamacare). Assuming
that the single-payer plan’s premiums, co-payments, and deductibles would be
lower than those of private for-profit insurance, and its benefits higher – a
reasonable assumption in that the single-payer plan wouldn’t be paying for
advertising, marketing, billing, and distributions to shareholders – it would
become a steadily more popular option. But no one would be forced to take it.
Private for-profit insurance plans would offer the best deals they could. The
structure of Obamacare would be maintained -- unless or until so many Americans
opted for the single-payer plan that the private for-profits decided to
discontinue their own.
“Granted, getting to this second step would entail a
political fight. It’s also true that the current crop of Republicans would like
to scrap even the first step. But Republicans won’t get closer to succeeding
because Americans gain access to an even better plan than they have now. Quite
the opposite: It will be harder for Republicans [Clinton and others] to argue
against even lower costs, better coverage, and greater simplicity.”
© Copyright 2016 Horatio Green
