The latest update on Medicare for all.
Medicare for all is a Bernie Sanders plan that aims to bring all Americans into a government-run health care system resembling Medicare. Over the next few months, we can expect to hear a lot about this potential plan. When Sanders introduced the plan in 2016, it had fringe status. Sanders aims to run for President again, this time with Democratic backing of his plan.
However, Medicare for all would be expensive, and it also might undermine the current program that seniors generally like. “We think the focus should be on strengthening and protecting our Medicare program, not trying to weaken it by adding more people to the program,” Seema Verma, who oversees the Medicare program at the Department of Health and Human Services. “Seniors don’t deserve to be put in the back of the line to wait for health care.”
Sanders’ plan wouldn’t enroll all Americans in Medicare. Instead, it would create a new government programmed, modeled on Medicare, that would cover everybody, with no fees or out-of-pocket costs. There would be no private health insurance and no employer-provided coverage. Although that would save businesses and consumers, it would require new tax increases and move nearly 180 million out of the private health system. Medicare isn’t without faults, though. The latest annual assessment by Medicare’s trustees determined that it will start running short of money in 2026, just seven years from now.
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