FACT: Medicare for All Would Help, Not Hurt, the Middle Class
Middle-Class Families Would Pay Less for Health Care Than They Do Now
As solutions to our current health care system continue to be discussed, it’s important that lawmakers and the public know the facts about Medicare for All and who it benefits:
ACTUAL COST SAVINGS:
Medicare for All opponents repeatedly claim that Medicare for All will cost $32 trillion. But they’re not telling the full story and are presenting misleading information.
A study by the Koch-funded Mercatus Institute estimates that Medicare for All would save $2 trillion over the next decade. The Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that under Medicare for All the U.S. could reduce total health spending over a 10-year period by more than $5 trillion.
These savings would come from the elimination of administrative waste, ending Big Pharma’s profiteering and allowing the government to negotiate drug prices.
MIDDLE CLASS WOULD SAVE:
While about two-thirds of Medicare for All funding would come from taking current public spending streams for health care programs and funneling them to Medicare for All, the remaining third could be raised through a progressive tax where high–income earners and corporations pay more.
Funding Medicare for All by having the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share has a double benefit, decreasing income and health care inequality at the same time. These funding sources would mean higher-income earners would finally pay their fair share of taxes while working families would pay less than they currently do for health care – up to 14% less for working families that make around $60,000 a year. Families would also no longer need to worry about out-of-pocket costs including copays and deductibles.
For more than 45 years, Public Citizen has called for legislation that would guarantee health care for all. To speak with a Medicare for All policy expert please contact Mike Stankiewicz at mstankiewicz@citizen.org, or (202) 588-7779.