“Medicare for All” is a Fraud

 

The view on the left – and heralded by most of the 2020 Democratic  Presidential candidates – is that since Medicare is such a great program, it should be extended to all.

That view, unsurprisingly, is myopic.  Consider:

*Medicare is a program which provides basically government health insurance for those over 65 who paid payroll taxes for such coverage over their work lives.  It was not intended as a welfare program.                       

*Medicare is today in serious financial trouble.  The payroll taxes designed to pay for the Medicare benefits for qualified beneficiaries (i.e. retired workers) are now exceeded by the program’s expenses.  Simply put, the number of workers paying into Medicare (“pay as you go”) has shrunk considerably over the past fifty years in relation to the increase of retirees taking benefits. 

*Expanding Medicare “to all” would turn an earned entitlement into what can only be called socialized medicine.  Some will be called upon to fund the medical demands of all.

So socialism in healthcare would become a reality in America.  Leave aside, if you will, the philosophical problems that would pose.  Individual freedom would of course be compromised.  But liberty is of less concern to most Americans that the availability of affordable and high-quality healthcare.

“Medicare for all” is for many a more agreeable expression than “single-payer” or “government run”.  Regardless of the appellation applied, socialized medicine is the result.

Is it reasonable to assume that the government can run a health care system that is either cost efficient or productive of quality results?

Americans know from lengthy experience that it is foolish to expect efficiency from any government–run enterprise… do recent experiences with your state’s motor vehicle arm come to mind?

So proponents herald the expected cost  savings which will ensue for most. TSC will admit to  a decided cynicism when assessing this promise.  Obamacare didn’t exactly result in lower insurance premiums for participants – quite the opposite.

Interestingly, health policy experts on both the Left and Right estimate that Medicare for All – along the lines proposed by Bernie Sanders, et al., would cost three trillion a year.  To put that cost in perspective, the IRS takes in half that amount in personal income taxes.  Who, outside of the Left in la-la-land, believes that the 50% of the American population who pay income taxes now will be able to tolerate a doubling of what they already pay?

“Medicare for All” will not provide better care nor be affordable.  It is a FRAUD!