Medicare for All, Really!

Why A Single-Payer Health Care Plan Would Be Disastrous for America

by Rich Yurkowitz

Healthcare in the US is broken. Everyone agrees on that. Solutions run the gamut from tinkering with elements to full-blown Single Payer. Single Payer advocates think the solution is extending Medicare to all, as if everyone should qualify for Medicare tomorrow with rich benefits and no cost sharing. This unique book puts an end to that concept with facts that show where healthcare is today, where it’s going, and what Medicare For All would do to healthcare and our society. Needless to say, the picture would be bleak if Medicare For All were to become the law of the land. 

COVID-19 has placed pressure on the healthcare system, and there are calls for solutions through Medicare For All. How shortsighted, to suggest long-term changes due to a short-term problem. That’s like suggesting Social Security should have been revamped because of the Great Recession of 2008. Expanding programs due to calamities is what brought Social Security about in the first place (due to the Great Depression), instead of allowing the market to react with better solutions (solutions that exist today such as mutual funds, indexed accounts, and sophisticated investment analysis and advice). The same can be said for Medicare For All and COVID-19, where the market swiftly reacted to the need for changes in the healthcare system, be it vaccines or therapeutic treatment. The “planners” in the government continued to plan, leading to inaction that got in the way of innovative market solutions. The solution is for the government to get out of the way.