The Case for Medicare-for-All

For decades, America has lacked behind first world countries in health outcomes, and has had stagnant real wage growth. Since the 70s, the real wealth of the average American has barely risen, whereas our corporatized healthcare model has left millions with high medical debt, which is why costs have skyrocketed by roughly 200% since the late 70s. It is clear that America is in a crisis, and is in dire need of fundamental change to our healthcare system. The answer to our growing inequalities is medicare for all. Medicare for all will improve upon health, and the economy, ensuring improved quality of life for all. Currently, the healthcare crisis in America has materialized into 30 million uninsured citizens. Simply put, the situation is dire, as the Harvard Medical School found in a holistic meta-study that citizens who are uninsured have a 40% higher mortality rate, simply because they cannot afford to visit doctors offices and get checkups. But even those who can get access to healthcare are left struggling. 40 million US citizens are underinsured, with lackluster healthcare, with many life saving treatments not being covered by their insurance providers. Because of this, 1 in 4 Americans skip medical care altogether due to the exorbitant high costs being pushed by greedy pharma and the elite. Due to these underlying health issues in America, life expectancy has dropped for the 3rd year in a row due to worsening inequalities and rapid escalations in health problems. Thus, medicare for all is necessary, as it combat and end our broken system of prioritizing profits over people as the plan would provide healthcare to every single American free of premiums, deductibles, and copays, all while covering more than private insurance. Empirically, Medicare in the US has worked wonders, and has mortality rates by up to 20% through having better treatments and an overall better quality of care. But more importantly, when the system becomes more efficient, lives are saved as medicare for all would standardize healthcare making patient data more organized allowing for efficiency to blossom. Because of this increased efficiency, European countries with single-payer healthcare reported lower wait times for physicals and surgeries than in the United States. The benefits to the health system go to doctors as well. Currently, our healthcare system is inefficient, with plenty of time consuming regulations that force billions of wasted dollars on administrative costs and unpaid time, and hundreds of private insurance companies with different paperwork forms. Thankfully, medicare for all would eliminate inefficiencies in the health system, and now have one central system for paperwork, allowing doctors to operate efficiently, and reducing the rapid doctor burnout we see in our current system. Thus, the NCBI reports that after a short period of adjustment, doctor compensation increased by 3x more than other jobs in Canada under Medicare for all due to increased resources. Fixing our shattered healthcare system is beyond crucial as Yale University quantifies that Medicare for all’s comprehensive coverage could save 68,000 people annually. Not only that, but medicare for all would improve the financial stability of Americans. Many who are able to afford care struggle to get by since medical bills can cost thousands. Due to this, 11.2 million individuals are pushed into poverty annually due to high costs. Families are forced to tap into savings, reducing their social mobility, at the benefit of the healthcare CEOs and Chairmen. Again, Medicare for all would be the essential solution, as the Guardian finds that Medicare for All would eliminate healthcare costs and would be the largest take home pay increase for Americans in generations. He finds that although new taxes would be implemented, exemptions would be created for the middle and lower class,increasing the average disposable income for Americans across the board. The Experts agree — the struggle for single payer healthcare is not economic or technical, but solely political.