Benefits
Improved Medicare for All
compared to
Current Health Insurance
| Improved Medicare for All Non-Profit Single-Payer: Simple, Efficient, Half the Cost, Full Coverage |
Current Health Insurance Complicated, Bureaucratic, Expensive, Partial Coverage |
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All medically-necessary care in one national plan Primary care; inpatient care; outpatient care; emergency care; prescription drugs; durable medical equipment; hearing services, long term care; palliative care; podiatric care; mental health services; dentistry; eye care; chiropractic care; substance abuse treatment |
Varying degree of (unknown) benefits – Variations among thousands of plans – Details of coverage are often unknown until the doctor, hospital, or patient calls the insurance company to ask for approval to get health care |
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Simple with Minimal Costs Payment of taxes to the Medicare for All fund, Examples of taxes from paychecks. All family members get health care, because everyone is always covered. – Low or no co-pays, no deductibles |
Complex with Many Costs – Payment of taxes and expensive health insurance premiums – Expensive co-pays and deductibles – Percentage not covered by insurance – Health care bills after the lifetime limit is exceeded – Interest amount(s) during the payment of medical bills – Our federal and state taxes used to pay for-profit insurers: – Incentives to health insurance companies – Tax benefits to employers who provide health insurance – Medicaid & many other programs in 50 states, many run by for-profit companies |
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Peace of Mind The Peace of mind of … - No major medical bills, the cause for positive experiences - Health care for all with dignity; show card & get care. - Everybody In; Nobody Out. |
Financial, physical and emotional stress - Hardships for millions - Uninsured or underinsured: 78.5 million 42% of 19-64 yr old adults |
Lifestyle choices and health care choices - New job or loss of job and always have health care - Any profession/employment choices - Leave of absence or early retirement to care for a relative - Selection of physicians, who will maintain their private practices, and selection of medical facilities - Minimal wait times via continued wait time (queue) management as demonstrated in & out of U.S. |
Insurance plan choices & health care restrictions - Yearly review & decision on which insurance plan(s) - Constant worry about the impact of your choice on the availability of care for your loved one(s) - HMO’s: specific physicians, specific hospitals - Restrictions: out-of-network, pre-existing conditions - Restrictions of care based on ability to pay - Wait Times, including infinite wait times for the uninsured |
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Single-Payer = One-Payer - One non-profit public agency, accountable to the people - Best version of non-profit health insurance - Improved Medicare for All, no longer privatized - Result: simple with minimal costs (below) |
Many Payers - Over 1300 health insurance companies and an excessive number of government programs: federal, state, and private (total is difficult to determine) – Result: complex with many costs (above) |
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Basis: Caring Principle of Social Solidarity - All other free-market high-income countries have non-profit national health insurance - Assuring health care for all - Result: healthier society, including the workforce: - More people will be able to go to the doctor - More preventive & wellness care from physicians |
Basis: Profits Free-Market Principles - The only free-market high-income country with this basis is the United States – Assuring profits for investors – Result: astonishingly poor health: U.S. life expectancy 30th in the world (50th as per CIA); U.S. rank of 19th of 19 in minimizing deaths due to preventable diseases |
Excellent efficiency – About 95% or higher estimated efficiency Managed by one public agency: - Insulated from the U.S. and state legislatures - Run by regional boards with people with appropriate backgrounds and expertise, not political appointees Special notes: Efficiency impacts physicians significantly: more job satisfaction, lower office overhead, more time with patients, more students wanting to be doctors. |
Very poor efficiency – About 69% estimated efficiency – About 31% spent on administrative functions Managed, influenced, and/or operated by many: – Over 1300 private insurance companies – Multiple federal government programs – Fifty states with their programs – Influence of corporate lobbyists – Large billing staffs in hospitals & physician offices – fund-raisers by friends, co-workers, relatives, charities |
We Need Improved Medicare for All
No Longer Privatized
non-profit single-payer health insurance
Residents of other free-market countries pay less than half the cost.
They get quality health care for their entire lives and live longer.
They have the peace of mind of knowing that they and their families get health care and have no major medical bills.
How to Help Get Medicare for All:
go here and join the Million Letters for Health Care Campaign
Be part of our unified voice to the U.S. Congress.
We receive monthly reminders and then print 1 pre-addressed letter, sign it and send it … and/or make a short phone call … to 1 person: our U.S. Representative.
We can and will do this!
Simple, efficient single-payer will support our health and well-being, instead of supporting the wasteful spending of our dollars on excessive government and over 1300 inefficient “middlemen”.
It is the only solution that eliminates the bureaucracy and provides the benefits documented at this web page.
How to Help Get Single-Payer — Go here for suggested ways to help, including making a one-time phone call.
Further reading
See: Introduction to Single-Payer (pdf)
Read more about: “One non-profit, public agency, which is accountable to the people and insulated from the U.S. legislature.” …
“Health Care Meltdown* by Robert H. LeBow, MD, which is revised and updated by C. Rocky White, MD. for the 2007 edition; p. 271.
Note: This web page was developed by a team of your fellow citizens from across the United States, including physicians and nurses, to help you understand why it is critical to implement an improved Medicare for All, preferably via single-payer health insurance, in the United States.
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