During the most recent Democratic presidential debate, Sen. Bernie Sanders made the case for Medicare for All,♒ saying, 𓆉“We need a health care system that guarantees health care to all people as every other major country does.”
Sanders is right to point out the similarities between his plan and government-run health-care systems in other countries. But he’s wrong to think Americans would fare better under Medicare fo🍨r All. Just ask the millions of people suffering under such systems elsewhere.
Sanders and company promise a practically perfect health-care system, one even more generous than the existing Medicare program — comprehensive coverage, with no deductibles or co-pays, for every Ame🌠rican.
That care woಌuldn’t be free. It’d cost between $32 trillion and $38 trillion over 10 years, according to research from the Mercatus ওCenter’s Charles Blahous.
But that cost would be obscured. Patients could walk into any hospital or doctor’s office and leave without receiving a bill. Out-of-pocket prescription-drug costs would be . To the average American, he🎉alth care would seem a lot cheaper.
That would stoke nearly unlimited demand fo🌄r care. But there’s already a limited supply.
Hospitals are closing in rural and urban areas alike. America is by 2032.
Hospitals and doctors wouꦅld have no choice but to ration care — and force people to wait their turn.
That’s exactly what happens in Canada, the closest 🔥analog to Sanders’ Medicare for All plan.
There, the median wait for treatment from a specialist foll𒈔owing referral from a ge🎃neral practitioner is nearly 20 weeks. They pay a princely sum for that wait — more than $13,000 in taxes for the average family of four.
Doctors in theജ United༺ Kingdom only have enough time to treat their sickest patients. And so there are or elderly patients who have to wait until
Th🌟ings don’t improve much once patients get off the waiting list. To save time, Canadian doctors frequently . In the United Kingdom, patients could find themselves shoved into a
Worse, these folks are the lucky ones.
In Canada and the United Kingdom, patients have died in overcrowded, understaffed hospitals before seeing a doctor. One retired neurosurgeon in British Columbia reported to ൩the emergency department at the hospital he had served for 50 years with chest pains. Despite clearly expressing his symptoms, he was reportedly . He died in th🐠e waiting room.
Sen. Sanders’ proposal to “guarantee” comprehensive coverage to all Americans is understandably temptওing. But the victims of single-payer health care abroad show just how high the cost of Medicare for All would be.
Sally C. Pipes is president, CEO and Thomas W. Smith fellow in health-care policy at the .