Kaiser Health News Editor-In-Chief Elisabeth Rosenthal hits the nail on the head. She points out the difficulties that Medicare for All presents in a very circumspect manner.
Rosenthal is the author of the book, “An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business And How You Can Take It Back.“
Death Panels again for Medicare for All?
MSNBC’s Ali Velshi, one of the few journalists on TV that does his best to present the data and conduct interviews in an unbiased manner, read a statement released by Tom Nickels, Executive Vice-President of the American Hospital Association (AHA) after Elizabeth Warren release her Medicare for All plan.
“A one size fits all approach like Medicare for All could disrupt coverage for more than 180 million Americans who are already covered through employer plans.” …
“It could hurt the ability of hospitals and health systems to keep pace with new, life-saving advances in medicine; invest in new payment and delivery models; and innovate and transform to meet the future need of patients.” …
“The government can be an unreliable business partner.”
Let’s be clear here. That was nothing but a word salad of no value. These companies only change health care payment and delivery models to maximize profits for the shareholders and increase bonuses for executives, period. There is absolutely nothing in Medicare for All that stops the advancement of science or innovation.
“These things speak to America’s fears,” Ali Velshi said after reading the statement from the AHA.
“Yes, they speak to Americans’ fears but they also speak to what likely is to be the biggest resistance which is our healthcare system and its prices,” Rosenthal said. “Basically saving money for patients means losing money for this system. So when Elizabeth Warren — one of the parts of the plan that hasn’t got a lot of attention today is that she is trying to peg prices to Medicare, 110%. Hospitals are going to say, ‘Oh my God, you know, people are gonna die.’ It’s the whole ‘death panels’ thing now. Where is ‘the reality?’ What’s the right price? I think that’s something she is now throwing down the gauntlet to America and the other candidates to say, ‘How much do we want to spend?’ So I think what she has done is ambitious. It’s admirable. It may be unrealistic in terms of both ‘passage and the numbers.’ But I am glad to see someone actually trying to make a case for something specific.”
It has already been proven that our current method of delivering healthcare is a failure. We pay the most and have the worst outcomes than most industrialized countries. If the private sector has been unable to get their act together for north of 30 years of pilfering Americans, there is no reason to believe they ever will.
The profit motive in health insurance and other portions of healthcare does not promote efficiency nor wellness. Our outcomes are probative. And stating that the government can be an unreliable partner was rather projective given the private sector’s unstable and fraudulent health care record.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. It is time to stop it, disregard those who took advantage of us for decades and adopt Medicare for All. They have stolen enough!