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How much would 'Medicare for All' cost? Democrats' health care plan explained

gjbankos

Well-Known Member
Jan 16, 2006
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Oh, Uncle Bernie. You think the government can do this more efficiently than the private sector. How foolish. And note that Bernie hasn't done a cost study on his own plan.


There doesn't seem to be much dispute that a single-payer system would require tax increases, since the government would essentially take over premiums now paid by employers and individuals as it replaces the private health insurance industry. The question is how much.

"Medicare for All" is estimated to cost tens of trillions of dollars over a decade.

Several independent studies have estimated that government spending on health care would increase dramatically, in the range of about $25 trillion to $35 trillion or more over a 10-year period. Specifically, a study released over the summer by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University estimated it would cost $32.6 trillion — $3.26 trillion per year — over 10 years. For comparison, the federal budget proposal for the fiscal year 2019 was $4.4 trillion, the Congressional Budget Office states.

Sanders blasted the Mercatus Center's analysis as “grossly misleading and biased."

“If every major country on earth can guarantee health care to all, and achieve better health outcomes while spending substantially less per capita than we do, it is absurd for anyone to suggest that the United States cannot do the same,” Sanders replied, arguing on his website that his plan would cost about $1.38 trillion per year. “This grossly misleading and biased report is the Koch brothers’ response to the growing support in our country for a ‘Medicare for all’ program.”

Analysis by The New York Times in 2017 showed at least 74 million Americans who currently benefit from Medicaid would potentially face higher taxes under "Medicare for All."

“The average of what people would pay when you take into account taxes, premiums and out-of-pocket costs would go down,” Larry Levitt, senior vice president for health reform at the Kaiser Family Foundation, told CNBC in August. “Generally, lower-income people would end up paying less for health care. But higher-income people would pay a whole lot more. It depends a lot on which taxes end up getting increased in order to pay for the new plan.”

BERNIE SANDERS' 'MEDICARE FOR ALL' BILL ESTIMATED TO COST $32.6T, NEW STUDY SAYS

However, a recent estimate from the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst suggests that it could be lower. With significant cost savings, the government would need to raise about $1.1 trillion from new revenue sources in the first year of the new program.

House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth, D-Ky., has asked the Congressional Budget Office for a comprehensive report on single-payer. The CBO is a nonpartisan outfit that analyzes the potential cost and impact of legislation. Its estimate that millions would be made uninsured by Republican bills to repeal the Affordable Care Act was key to the survival of Obama's health care law.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ho...all-cost-democrats-health-care-plan-explained
 
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