fb tracking

What is Medicare for All?

By Eagan Kemp

Download the full factsheet

Medicare for All is a health care system that would finally allow everyone in the United States to have guaranteed access to care throughout their lives. By improving Medicare and expanding it to everyone in the United States, families would finally be able to get the care they need when they need it. All medically necessary care would be covered and premiums, copays and deductibles would be eliminated. By removing profit-seeking middlemen from the health care system, Medicare for All would finally bring down the cost of the health care system, meaning Americans would no longer have to worry about whether they can afford keep their loved ones alive and healthy.

How Would Medicare for All Change the U.S. Health Care System?

End insurance delays and denials by covering all medically necessary care and giving patients the freedom to choose their doctor. It would also improve Medicare by improving coverage for vision, dental, hearing, reproductive, gender-affirming, and long-term care, including in-home care services.

Remove employment, age and marital status as barriers to receiving health care. Under our current system, Americans struggle until age 65 to ensure they have the coverage they need and can lose health care coverage for all sorts of reasons, including losing their job, turning 26 and no longer being eligible to remain on a parent’s plan, or having even just having their income change. Medicare for All means guaranteed, lifelong care.

End medical bankruptcy and save money for American families by eliminating insurance premiums and deductibles. High levels of cost sharing contribute to many Americans struggling to get the care they need, with half reporting difficulty affording health care costs and 1 in 4 facing challenges paying for care. In addition, Americans who seek care risk medical debt and even bankruptcy.  Medicare for All would end medical bills for patients by covering all medically necessary care.

Cut financial waste currently exacerbated by greedy, profit-seeking insurance companies. Medicare for All would bring down health care costs systemwide by streamlining our currently fragmented health care system. Our health care system is made up of thousands of health insurance plans as well as numerous state and federal programs that all play some role in paying for health care. By spending health care resources on needed care instead of corporate profit or administrative waste, Medicare for All would finally bring the cost of health care under control, similar to the experience of other countries with universal health care systems.

End Pharma profiteering and guarantee medications for all who need them. Medicare for All would also prevent pharmaceutical corporation profiteering and guarantee access to needed medication by using the full weight of the government to negotiate on behalf of the American people, while also holding the power to use compulsory licensing to ensure fair negotiations.

Stop hospital closures. Medicare for All would also mean that the many hospitals, particularly rural hospitals currently at risk of closure, would have the funds they need to serve their communities through negotiated annual budgets.

Reverse our status as the sickest population in the developed world. Unlike other comparably wealthy nations, the U.S. system is much more fragmented, leaving Americans to fall through the cracks in the health care system every day. Many are unable to afford the care they need and face financial hardship if they seek needed care. This contributes to the fact that Americans are sicker than citizens of peer countries. Medicare for All would mean the U.S. would finally catch up to peer nations by guaranteeing access to health care throughout a person’s life, regardless of income.

Why Do We Need Medicare for All Now?

The American health care system is only getting worse as greedy corporations find new ways to increase their profits while they leave working families in worse health and increasing levels of medical debt. Americans recognize the need for a health care system that serves their needs. In addition, the level of support for Medicare for All legislation in Congress remains high, with 114 cosponsors in the House of Representatives and 14 cosponsors in the Senate, and so now is the time to demand the health care system we truly need.

We will only be able to pass Medicare for All by continuing to build grassroots support and taking on entrenched health care interests. The people power on this issue continues to grow as Americans feel the pain of our broken health care system. While those who profit from the current system will put everything they have behind hindering reform, it is impossible to overcome the moral imperative that everyone in the U.S. deserves guaranteed access to health care. The American people are only becoming more vocal in pushing for significant health reform. So, the question is not whether we will achieve Medicare for All, but when.