Medicare For All is increasingly entering the conversation

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The main proponents of single-payer in the Democratic race, Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, have defended their plans against these attacks and more. And the fact is, many supporters of this plan don’t need all the details. The horrors of American health care have become so clear that Medicare for All feels, to many, like a refreshing breeze of simplicity.

Medicare for All is easy to understand and promote on social media. The idea is hashtag-friendly—#Medicare4All or #singlepayernow—in a way that “create a Medicaid buy-in” or “add ACA subsidies for people making more than 400 percent of the federal poverty level” are not. Medicare for All is “short and catchy,” says Adam Hodges, a linguist at the University of Colorado at Boulder who specializes in political slogans. And employing Medicare, a system that most Americans are familiar with, makes the concept seem less complex and unknown.

Still, it’s a bit surprising that single-payer is gaining speed now, because Physicians for a National Health Program, the main American organization dedicated to the single-payer issue, was formed in the late ’80s. Before that, Americans could have looked abroad for inspiration: England’s National Health Service came into being in the ’40s. Adam Gaffney, the president of PNHP, told me he attributes the popularity of single-payer to advocacy by his and other groups, to the continuing high cost of medical care, and to the rise of politicians who are willing to be out and proud about government-run health care.

Most of the people I interviewed either had heard about Medicare for All through Sanders’s 2016 candidacy for president, or said his campaign was when they became truly fired up about the issue. Jessica Neeley, of Veneta, Oregon, was a bookkeeper for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America for four years before a pulmonary embolism and Addison’s disease left her unable to work last year. She said when she first heard about Medicare for All, during the 2016 campaign, her ears “perked up.” Even with excellent union insurance, she was still paying more than $1,000 a month in prescriptions and treatments. She said she’s now uninsured and in debt.“Why should I suffer more than the millionaire?” she asked. “We have the same condition, but I just can’t afford to take my medication.”

Some support for single-payer is based not on personal experience, but that of others. Ashley Hudson’s family was so poor when she was growing up that her parents could rarely afford to see a doctor. When she was 14, her father was diagnosed with cirrhosis and died three weeks later. Today, the 32-year-old Hudson, who has worked for local Democratic political campaigns, thinks that if the disease had been caught earlier, her father might have lived. Hudson’s mother, who recently had to quit her job at McDonald’s because of poor health, now relies on a GoFundMe campaign to pay for her medical care. “My heart is constantly pounding, just kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop,” Hudson said—meaning, she’s dreading the day her mother gets sicker and dies.

Even with excellent union insurance, she was still paying more than $1,000 a month in prescriptions and treatments. She said she’s now uninsured and in debt.“Why should I suffer more than the millionaire?” she asked. “We have the same condition, but I just can’t afford to take my medication.”

Medicare will likely be more expensive than Cadillac union health care.

Medicare Part B (which is doctor services) requires her to pay $144/month + deductible + co-pay + 20% of services)
https://www.medicare.gov/index.php/your ... rt-b-costs