By Ewell Scott, M.D.
The Morehead (Ky.) News, March 24, 2017
Let us explore this analogy to better understand the advantages of selecting MEDICARE FOR ALL as the sole provider of health insurance financing. Note the key word is financing, not care.
Assume the need to travel to Louisville every day to purchase groceries. You have two choices of transportation. The first is to buy an 18-wheeler and use it.
The second option is a brand new Larry Fannin Buick Enclave, including a chauffeur. The groceries you purchase will be exactly the same, no matter how you get to the supermarket. Parking may be a bit more difficult with the truck. It takes very little wisdom to make the right pick, unless you just want to ride in an 18-wheeler. I would choose the Buick.
Now do this: replace multiple private health insurance companies for the truck and MEDICARE FOR ALL for the Enclave, and health care for groceries in the metaphorical scenario. What do you choose? Your health care would be exactly the same, but the cost will be lower with Medicare for All. How could this possibly be true? Well there are two very good reasons. First, Medicare has the ability to control costs, and Medicare can process your claims and collect the premiums much more efficiently. Remember Medicare’s overhead is 3 percent while private, for profit health care companies usually take 30 percent off of the top. Good Grief.
We here in the USA are wasting 600 billion dollars per year by persisting in our reliance on private health care companies. This is a big lot of loot, when you consider our entire Kentucky State Budget is about 9 billion. I ask anyone reading this article to give me a good reason to continue this insanity.
Happy Travels.
Ewell Scott, M.D., FACP, is a health care reform activist. He resides in Morehead.
