I remain skeptical about “Medicare for All.” My skepticism has many reasons but #1 is a worry that slogans make bad policy. My concern is also that it is all too easy to blame insurance companies for deeper problems that cause the costs of procedures in the US to be double or even five times what they are in other developed countries.
So this article, admittedly from a very pro M4All source, is very worth reading. The first author, David Himmelstein and his collaboratersco-founded the group Physicians for a National Health Program, which advocates for a single-payer system.
This is very worth reading. The authors, while coming from a well-known supporter of the Sanders and Warren Medicare for All plans, have now published an objective analysis that is convincing.
https://suneeldhand.com/2017/11/28/when-a-chart-speaks-a-thousand-words/?fbclid=IwAR0UgScyzvZiIOqu6OGI7JlLJ7Zb7g8pcU6AHkHPcVHQMhyxw0BiMwL1XSE
It is not a full study. Himmelstein deals only with administrative overhead. I can also fault it for assuming that a state-run system here in the US would be as well run as the Canadian system. Canada lacks the huge diversity of delivery systems with religious, ethnic and pseudoscientific health ideas. Administering that mess will be expensive!
And, the M4ALL administrative fix, does not address the even bigger issue .. why do procedures here cost so much? My guess is that we overspend on the workers from physicians to janitors. In many states, healthcare is now the biggest employer! The unions will not be happy if we cut jobs.
Himmelstein Single Payer paper