Why Now is the Time to Fight For Medicare for All
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. Many pundits and people in the corporate class were caught off guard by the recent groundswell of criticism of our broken health care system – including many Americans taking to social media to report their terrible experiences with delays and denials of care. It is not an exaggeration to say that nearly every American has a health care story where they or someone they know has struggled to get the care they need.
However, this outpouring of frustration is just the tip of the iceberg. The statistics about health and health care already tell a dire story as highlighted by the fact that Americans are sicker than citizens of peer countries, despite the fact that we spend much more, per capita, than any other comparably wealthy country.
Americans have come to expect the health care system to fail them and often end up blaming ourselves for poor health outcomes. It can be hard to see behind the health care system’s opaque curtains to understand how companies put profit ahead of patients.
Profit is Ruining Our Health Care System
Companies trade blame regarding who is at fault for Americans falling through the cracks in our health care system, insurers blame hospitals and drug companies for charging high prices, big pharma blames insurers and hospitals for cutting into their profit margins, and hospitals blame insurers for denying care and drug companies for charging high prices. What gets lost in these fights are everyday Americans.
This fragmented system is why more than one in three Americans report being unable to access quality, affordable healthcare, including nearly 65 percent of low-income households. In addition, nearly 60 percent of Americans reported they were concerned they would face medical debt if they had a major health event.
At the same time, health corporations are earning massive profits and CEOs of many companies are making tens of millions of dollars a year. The profit motive is also leading to consolidation in health care, with dangerous consequences, especially when private equity companies are involved.
Best practices for improving our health care system are not hard to find when looking around the world. When residents of comparably wealthy countries (and even countries with far less wealth than ours) hear about just how bad the U.S. health care system is, they are often shocked.
Medicare for All Would Mean Lifelong Guaranteed Care
The reality is that only one health care policy under debate would move us from the most broken health care system amongst wealthy nations to one that we can be proud of, Medicare for All.
By improving the Medicare program and expanding it to everyone in the U.S., we can finally ensure that everyone has guaranteed access to the care they need. Medicare is already trusted by tens of millions of Americans and is a firm foundation on which to build a better health care system. Medicare for All would end the profit motive in health care and cover everyone from the time they are born and throughout their lives.
No more would Americans have to hassle with insurance companies, medical debt collectors, or try to find in-network providers. Medicare for All would mean finally having your choice of doctor and having decisions about medical care be between you and your doctor, without unnecessary middlemen getting in the way of you getting the health care you need.
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.
Public Citizen has been fighting for a single-payer health care system like Medicare for All for decades and now is a crucial time to join the fight. We will need a massive grassroots mobilization to fight back against the corporate interests that profit off of our health care system.