All About H.R. 676: The Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act
Debunking “socialized medicine” and the unwillingness of Democrats to support it
By Daniel Song
The Progressive Teen Staff Writer
IN EVERY CONGRESS SINCE 2003, REPRESENTATIVE JOHN CONYERS (D-MI) has introduced the United States National Health Care Act, or the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act. The act would establish a universal single-payer healthcare system in the United States, which is currently the only country in the OECD, or developed world, that does not guarantee healthcare for every citizen.
In the U.S., the uninsured rate has hit a record low of 10.9% as a result of better coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. However, various studies have concluded that the number of deaths annually due to lack of insurance is somewhere between 20,000 and 40,000. It has also been concluded that medical bankruptcies account for about half of all personal bankruptcies. Compared to countries with universal healthcare, that number is 0.
Despite this, the U.S. spends more on healthcare per capita than any other country in the world ($8,608), as well as more of a percentage of its GDP at 17%. This is mostly due to the inefficiency of private health insurance and the profit incentive. They are currently required to spend 80% of insurance premiums on actual care, as opposed to administrative costs and salaries. In contrast, Medicare spends only 1.5% of its budget on administration.
“… Medicare does not have to advertise its services, make a profit for investors, or reward its executives with multi-million-dollar compensation packages, as private insurers do.” — Daniel Marans (Huffington Post)
Opponents of the bill, like Paul Ryan, have expressed their concern that it gives the government too much power. However, without the government, that power would instead belong to the private health insurance companies, who have a vested interest to make profit and provide as little care as possible. Another talking point that is always employed against Medicare-for-All is the long wait lines in Canada and other countries because of big-government bureaucracy. The truth is, there is healthcare rationing in Canada, France, and other countries with universal healthcare, but the care is rationed based on need rather than the depth of one’s pockets. Therefore, it may be much easier to get plastic surgery in the U.S. than in our neighbor to the north, but at the cost of the lives of tens of thousands of people.
Another important component of the bill is the ability for Medicare to negotiate “covered pharmaceuticals, medical supplies, and medically necessary assistive equipment…” The Department of Veteran’s Affairs is already able to negotiate such prices and gets them at a much better value. Canadian healthcare plans also use their purchasing power to lower drug prices, which is why Senator Bernie Sanders proposed importing drugs from them. Unfortunately, Senator Cory Booker and a dozen other Democrats cited safety concerns and voted against it, even though enough Republicans voted for it to get it passed.
Not only is Medicare-for-All the only logical option for healthcare; the American people realize that, and it does very well in the polls. In total, around 60% of Americans are in favor of the idea, including 30% of Republicans and 60% of Independents. This is compared with the recently defeated GOP bill, Ryancare/Trumpcare, which had just 34% support according to a Fox News poll. If the Democrats are able to unite in its support for this bill, it would likely see regained support, but as of now, the Democratic Party is less favorable than our current president.
Speaking of Trump: the man has supported universal single-payer healthcare on multiple occasions in the past. Up until early 2015, Trump praised the systems in Scotland and Canada for their universal coverage. He called himself a liberal when it comes to healthcare, saying “I love universal”.
Instead, many Democrats are not pushing for single-payer Medicare-for-All. They care more about protecting Obama’s legacy and Obamacare, but there are still many problems that need to be addressed. In fact, a quick look at the history of Medicare shows that its original goal was to cover everybody. Single-payer universal healthcare has been the goal of Democrats ever since FDR, until the pharmaceutical and insurance industries poured money into the political system to make sure comprehensive healthcare reform like HR 676 is never passed.
It is important to remember that the main component of the Affordable Care Act was the individual mandate, originally a right-wing idea created by the Heritage Foundation and supported by prominent conservatives such as Newt Gingrich and Chuck Grassley. It is also what Mitt Romney passed in Massachusetts. It shows that the Overton window of the country has shifted so far to the right that the leftist party felt the need to support a previously conservative idea. This also explains the GOP’s repeated failures to draft any reasonable Obamacare replacement legislation, seeing that the only unpopular part about it is the individual mandate, even among Republicans.
The corporate Democrats are absolutely out of touch with the American people, and they will destroy the party by failing to support universal single-payer healthcare in Congress, along with new bills to provide free college tuition and the decriminalization of marijuana. The polls show that these ideas are extremely popular among the American people. With enough pressure, we can get all 193 House Democrats to support John Conyers and HR 676, and even when it doesn’t get passed, the Democrats can use this to run the GOP over in 2018.
