KTRS 550am, November 19, 2020
PNHP-MO chair Dr. Ed Weisbart appeared on KTRS radio to discuss the urgent need for single-payer Medicare for All, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re all in this together,” he said, adding that, “you really, desperately want everyone around you to get health care when they need it.”
But given that president-elect Joe Biden does not support Medicare for All, Dr. Weisbart also outlined what a good and bad version of a public option would look like.
In a best-case scenario, he said, the public option would be truly public (not administered by commercial insurance companies), would offer generous benefits that exceed those of the traditional Medicare program, and would start big by auto-enrolling everybody who is uninsured (while also giving individuals the ability to opt out). In a worst-cast scenario, commercial insurers would use the public option as a means of not covering sicker, more expensive patients.