Medicare for All

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders proposed a plan named Medicare for All Act wherein a

single-payer healthcare system could cover the universal healthcare needs of all. It has worthy

goals that aims to provide healthcare to all citizens of United States without worrying about the

cost of insurance, hospital bills and deductibles. The plan envisions a future where citizens don’t

need to pay out of pocket when they visit the doctor.

The most significant benefit to Medicare for All is that the government covers healthcare

costs while ensuring doctors provide reasonably affordable quality care [ CITATION Lin21 \l 1033 ].

The Center for Clinical Standards and Quality created a set of standards that hospitals should

follow and observe. They would evaluate existing guidelines, quality standards and performance

measures. With this, hospitals will be forced to perform better and conform to the standards in

order to provide quality health care. They will surely make improvements in the health services

they provide.

Another benefit of this proposed plan is that it costs very little than the out-of-pocket

costs citizens provide for prescriptions, tests and even a one visit to the doctor. Low-income

families will benefit greatly from this because they will be able to acquire health services that

they once cannot afford.

On the other hand, like other plans, this Medicare for All Act has its own sets of cons. It

may seem counterintuitive, but single-payer health care proposals like Medicare for All could

very well destroy Medicare as we know it and jeopardize medical care for seniors [ CITATION

Sco201 \l 1033 ]. Under this plan, private insurance would be eliminated and physicians of private

practice will be paid at the current or even lower. Eliminating private insurance and slowly

switching to public option will not just eliminate million jobs bust also eliminate the freedom of
citizens to choose quality health service that they want. Also, this plan of Senator Bernie Sanders

has a high administrative cost. Many critiques questioned him on how this universal care would

be funded.

This debate about Medicare for All is not going to end soon. People should weigh the

advantages and disadvantages of this healthcare system.

References

Atlas, S. W. (2020, March 9). The New York Times. Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/09/opinion/medicare-for-all-cost.html

Malzone, L. (2021, May 18). Medicare FAQ. Retrieved from

https://www.medicarefaq.com/blog/medicare-for-all/