Kevin Uhrmacher, Kevin Schaul, Paulina Firozi and Jeff Stein from the Washington Post highlight the presidential candidates and their positions on Medicare-for-All.  The information presented is based on the candidate's voting records, statements and answers to a Washington Post questionnaire. 

Dylan Scott from Vox interviewed Matt Bruenig from the People's Policy Project "on what he worries about — and what he doesn’t — for Medicare-for-all".  Matt answered some tough healthcare questions such as "How do you finance a single-payer health care system?" " Is it possible for the health care supply to meet its demand?"  and "What can the government do for rural hospitals that feel a pinch under single-payer?"
 

In the article We Don’t Need Private Health Insurance, a case is made that Medicare for All (M4A) health care reform is in fact a simple substitution of the private health insurance by a public national health insurance that provides access to basic health services. The article further defines the role for private health insurance including; “duplicative” plans, “supplementary” plans, and “complementary” plans, all of which are defined by the writer.

Many efforts in Washington focus on the privatization of Medicare to perpetuate a fragmented multi-payer financing model that is unsustainable and increases administrative costs. One-third of all Medicare beneficiaries are now on private Medicare Advantage plans, which have become major profit centers for commercial insurances who game the system to cover only the healthy. The best means to universal healthcare is one single large risk pool, traditional Medicare insurance. 

HCAC Foundation Board member Robert Messman has revised his original paper on sustainably financing and implementing a single insurer health care system.

Board member Donna Smith believes in building a better healthcare system in the United States, but not at the expense of the poor. Taxing the poor simply is not the way to improve our healthcare system or our focus on public health.

Adam Gaffney from PNHP examines the history of universal healthcare and his hope that the Democrats do not repeat mistakes from the past. He recognizes the need for a single-payer healthcare system and identifies the answer to be a “fully public national health insurance providing comprehensive, universal coverage to the entire nation.”

Medicare for All and the Myth of the 40% Physician Pay Cut  Dr. Carol Paris, President of PNHP (Physicians for a National Health Program), defends how Medicare-for-All decreases administrative waste without affecting a physician's salary.   She believes that the insurance companies are the big winners with our current system while patients are suffering. What are your thoughts?  Please write your comments below.

Senator Bernie Sanders makes the case for Medicare-for-All to replace the current healthcare system "that works for Wall Street investors, insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry" and ignores the needs of the people.

Tom Gottlieb attended the HealthcareNOW Strategy Conference in Minneapolis June 22-24, 2018.