In the limited time he had, Dr. Adam Gaffney does a very good job of responding to Fox News correspondents who argue against Medicare-for-All. Several points he did not have time to make: People will only have true free choice of providers (doctors and hospitals), with a single public national health insurance. Because each private insurance has a limited network of providers, going outside of the insurer’s network results in higher costs of out-of-network care. Regarding physician compensation: Currently physicians’ compensation is undercut by higher office costs due to the need to hire staff to deal with multiple private insurers, each with different paperwork, and different requirements, including prior authorization. Likewise, physicians must deal with “denial management” practiced by private insurers, which often requires multiple submissions of claims previously denied. A Fox correspondent refers to Medicare as “socialism” – in truth, it is social insurance (the very definition of insurance). Medicare is insurance – the delivery of health care remains separate, mostly by private providers. The U.K. and the V.A. may be called “socialized medicine,” as the doctors are employed by the state. At the end of the video, the Fox host incorrectly stated that Dr. Gaffney misrepresented Medicare fraud as “2 percent” instead of “10 percent.” Actually, Dr. Gaffney stated that Medicare overhead costs are about “2 percent” compared to 10% for private industry – nothing to do with fraud.

Michele Swenson