Medicare for All and Private insurance

Clarifications on Medicare for All

In response to Al Haunold’s concerns about Medicare for All (Sept. 26), I would like to offer the following clarifications.

 1. Our current insurance system practices exactly what he fears. We already pay for non- and under-insured people who end up in emergency rooms and intensive care units because of delayed access to health care. Under Medicare For All, everyone will be insured, resources will come from everyone contributing into public funding through fair and progressive taxes — instead of facing annual premium hikes dictated by insurance companies with high administrative costs and profit margins, higher out-of-pocket expenses passed on to us by employers who can no longer keep up with rising health care costs, and “surprise bills” that are not covered by insurance companies.

 2. I am not sure where Mr. Haunold got the information that “in some foreign countries” highly skilled and specialized doctors as a rule demand pre-payment for their services. All industrialized countries (except the United States) have a dual system of universal coverage for essential health care that is publicly funded — like our current Medicare, and private insurance where patients can buy “extra.” usually for supplementary coverage or faster service for elective procedures. But primary and specialty care, and services for urgent and life-threatening conditions are never denied. These countries have quality primary and specialty care at well below the U.S. costs — mainly by regulating private insurance companies and drug costs, and limiting the use of expensive tests and technologies that offer marginal medical benefits.

 (Submitted October 1, published in the Gazette Times, Oct 15, 2019)