Medicare for all is a poison pill

The political left dangled new bait called “Medicare for all” in the political fishing hole during the recent election cycle. They did so with very little explanation as to what that would mean, how it would work, and who exactly would pay for it. I will gladly break down each of these elements.

“Medicare for all” definitely sounds better than other terms which more accurately describe what this new health care system really is: government run, socialized medicine that will double the size and scope of government power and control. If government seems bloated to you now, wait until it fully consumes one-sixth of the entire American economy.

We all remember the failed promises circulated during the formative years of The Affordable Care Plan also called “Obamacare.” Costs would go down, you could keep your current health plan if you liked it, and nobody would need to switch doctors or hospitals. All of these promises turned out to be systematically untrue, and the same crowd that fooled you once wants to fool you twice. Our initial grand experiment with government-run health care, also known as the Veterans Health Administration, fails our veterans every day. Magnify those problems by a hundredfold, and you now know what “Medicare for all” means.

Private health insurance plans that currently cover 157 million Americans will disappear overnight under a government-controlled system. Roughly two-thirds of Americans with private health insurance have a reasonably favorable opinion of their current health plan. This includes government employees, teachers, and organized laborers who by most accounts pay significantly less out of pocket than many of their counterparts in the workforce. I wonder how many of them will be eager to give up those generous plans in light of the concessions they made over the years on wages and retirement benefits.

Before I tackle the true cost, I want you to think of some things that government does better than a well-regulated private sector. The usual list includes national defense along with police and fire protection. Outside of these three things, what else makes the list? Some might add infrastructure, but the long term maintenance leaves most people scratching their heads on that one. The very nature of health care strikes me as the core definition of privacy, so who wants government calling all the shots in this realm of our lives?

The cost estimate touted during the recent campaign season places the price tag of Medicare for all at roughly $3.3 trillion per year over a year period. Federal government revenue currently stands at $3.4 trillion, so to describe a Medicare for all system as a doubling of the size and scope of government rings true. This estimated cost figure also assumes a reduction in the payments made to hospitals and doctors from the egregiously low levels currently paid. Ask anyone in health care administration, and they will tell you that Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates drive up the costs of health care for everyone else. Can you imagine if these reimbursements applied to every person receiving medical care, and what would happen to the financial well-being of our health care providers if these rates got reduced even further?

There also remains this misconceived notion that Medicare for all means that health care somehow becomes “free” for everyone. First, the government will need to collect everything you and your employer currently pay for health care (and more) in the form of taxes. On top of that, socialized medicine in many other western countries still requires paid deductibles and co-payments from individuals as high as 25 percent of the total cost.

We could tax the rich into oblivion to pay for this mess, but as the old saying goes, eventually the government will run out of other people’s money. What do we do then? Never forget that a government with the power to provide you something also bears the power to take it away. Breaking a broken system further will not fix it.

Columnist Justin Krych is an Esko resident and deputy chair of the Eighth District Republican Party. Contact him at 218-393-1989.