By Joshua Freeman, M.D.
Arizona Daily Star, Letters, August 21, 2019
I was thrilled to read the letter by Drs. Eve Shapiro and Paul Gordon, “Local Opinion: We’re doctors, and we’re debunking myths about Medicare for All.” I, too, am a physician and support an improved and expanded Medicare for All as called for in the House (Jayapal) and Senate (Sanders) bills. The two most contradictory concerns the letter’s authors address are “how will we pay for it” and “we need to keep private insurance”; indeed a large part of the answer to the first is to eliminate the profit and administrative costs engendered by private insurance companies!
Under Medicare for All, everyone will get all the health care they need, without the restrictions on providers most insurers now impose. And, precisely because everyone will be in the same plan, and the wealthy cannot “buy out”, the more educated, better-off, and empowered will make sure that it is a good plan and it will work for everyone.