By Donald R. Frey, M.D.
Omaha World-Herald, December 27, 2018
In the frenzy of the last election cycle, it was easy to overlook the release of Americaās most recent health care data. But the picture this information painted was anything but pretty.
Our life expectancy continues to decline while the rest of the world improves. Maternal mortality is increasing, the number of children who are uninsured is growing and, while the rest of the world has seen a 29 percent reduction in suicide rates, Americaās has grown by 18 percent.
Despite a reduction of 20 million uninsured Americans since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, 30 million others continue to be uninsured, and still others struggle with medical expenses.
The situation has become so critical that even conservative pundits have felt compelled to offer suggestions. According to a recent Tom Purcell column ( Dec. 1, More Commentary), the answer is to spend hundreds of out-of-pocket dollars on tests of questionable value, then join an āassociationā where your care will be decided by the associationās religious beliefs. Ben Shapiro (Nov. 28, More Commentary) has an even more novel approach. Canāt pay for health care? Start a Go Fund Me page. And by now, weāve all seen the television commercial where a business owner describes how he can afford to offer health insurance to his employees because of his credit card rebate.
So whether you can get health insurance now depends on your bossās credit card?
As a physician, I first began writing about the inefficiencies and disparities I was seeing in American health care over 30 years ago. At that time, conventional wisdom held that our health care was the ābest in the world,ā our outcomes were superior and every country that offered universal health care would soon collapse.
Earlier this year, amid much fanfare, the Koch-funded Mercatus Institute at George Mason University released a 24-page analysis of Medicare for all and declared that it would add $28 trillion to the federal budget over the next 10 years. This news was splashed all across conservative media outlets.
Then, just as suddenly, the discussion went radio silent.
What happened? Buried in the study was this inconvenient truth ā under Medicare for all, not only would all Americans gain insurance coverage, but total health care spending would actually drop by $2 trillion over 10 years.
In other words, that $28 trillion that made such headlines? The truth is, we are already paying those costs through high premiums, co-pays, deductibles and uncovered expenses. Medicare for all would simply spend the same money more effectively.
And now, this conclusion has been further confirmed by a much more robust Political Economy Research Institute Study released by the University of Massachusetts. In a rigorous 200 page analysis, the study also demonstrates that Medicare for all would provide coverage for all Americans but calculates the savings at $5 trillion. Another analysis by Physicians for a National Health Program places the savings closer to $10 trillion.
Conservative study. Liberal study. Physiciansā study. It doesnāt matter. Each one shows that Medicare for all covers everyone and saves money in the process.
Both Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Harry Truman were adamant that America needed a universal health care system. Both hoped they would see it in their lifetime. Itās high time we carried their dreams to fruition.
Or maybe not. Instead, we can always just cross our fingers and keep taking our chances on Go Fund Me pages and our bossās credit card.
Dr. Frey is professor of family medicine at the Creighton University School of Medicine.