Medicare for All

I am not a knee jerk supporter of Medicare for All, because I see a lot of potential problems.  That is not to say I wouldn't vote for it, but I want to see proof that it will really work, first.

Here are some known problems:

  • People are afraid of being forced to change health plans.
  • Medicare is very new in terms of a bureaucracy.  A better example of how the federal government will deliver health care in the future is the VA hospital system:  the VA system has been around long enough to have a real track record.
  • The US is a lot larger than other countries using single payer systems.  A single payer system in the US becomes an unaccountable behemoth (way worse than the VA hospital system).
  • Medicare for All proponents claim it will fix everything by eliminating the corporate profits charged by the insurance companies.  But largest insurer in the country is Blue Cross -- a non-profit corporation.
  • Medicare still behaves like an insurance company:  It doesn't fix the seriously broken payer/provider relationship.  A fairly significant portion of a medical provider's staff is currently employed to fight with insurance companies in order to get paid.  And a fairly significant portion of the insurance company staff is tasked with trying to find excuses to not pay the medical providers.
  • A mass switchover to a Medicare for All plan would result in mass layoffs in every Congressional District in the country.