Medicare for All Report
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliations
Medicare for All Report
Issues
Lack of health insurance amidst rising healthcare costs is preventing populations from accessing quality health care services. Health care expenditure per capita still remains high in the United States despite the fact that millions of Americans still lack health insurance. The primary issue discussed in the article is the Medicare for All Act. According to Galvani et al. (2020), the Medicare for All Act proposes a universal system that will potentially increase access to healthcare services for Americans. Additionally, the policy will enable the national government to reduce its health care expenditure by 13%. The issue discussed in the article is timely because it is being presented at a time when many Americans lack health insurance and the United States government is incurring huge health care expenditures. Therefore, Medicare for All will cause a shift to single-payer health care thereby helping to reduce national health care expenditure, increase health care for Americans, and save lives.
Background
The Medicare for All Act is related to the national health insurance program which was established way back in 1965. It was introduced by Senator Bernard Sanders. The bill recommends the incorporation of a single-payer system of universal health care for all Americans. According to Galvani et al. (2020), those who perceive the Medicare for All Act to be economically and politically impractical in the United States should remember that Medicare has been a good test of what a government-funded single-payer policy can be. For more than 50 years, Medicare has been increasing health care access for older people aged 65 years and above. As a result, it has significantly improved the health of the elderly in the United States. An important lesson that people should learn from Medicare is that if it has succeeded in increasing access to cost-effective care for the elderly, then it would be reasonable to expand it to all Americans.
The national cost of health care under the Medicare for All Act has previously been estimated to be relatively high but has since reduced by approximately 27%. The Medicare for All Act is a bill that aims to ensure that everyone has access to quality and affordable health care. Borrowing from the benefits of Medicare, the Medicare for All Act will provide considerable savings for the healthcare system based on various assumptions about expanding insurance, improving service provision, managing efficiency of administrative services, and pricing of pharmaceutical substances. Galvani et al. (2020) anticipate that numerous benefits that have been observed with Medicare will be experienced with the Medicare for All Act. For example, millions of Americans will be able to receive coverage as it has been seen by the elderly under the Medicare program. The introduction of the Medicare for All Act creates a huge market for prescription drug manufacturers. In this sense, Americans will have more access to prescription drugs. The Medicare market still has untapped potential, and drug manufacturers need to start investing in developing pharmaceutical substances designed for Americans of all ages.
Considerations
Major Issues
The major issues highlighted in the article include high health care expenditure by the United States and the lack of health insurance coverage for many Americans that is preventing them from accessing quality health care services. According to Galvani et al. (2020), more than 70 million Americans lack e adequate health insurance, and several of them are at risk of losing coverage. Approximately 24% of Americans are inadequately uninsured including those individuals not insured at all and those with out-of-pocket costs and disproportionately high deductibles relative to their income. The crisis is further worsened by the fact that more than 70 bills have been introduced in Congress with the aim of undermining the improvements that are meant to increase access to health care already achieved by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Galvani et al. (2020) are concerned that the United States healthcare system can be funded by relatively fewer finances compared to the expenditures that are currently observed. They anticipate that this will be made possible by the Medicare for All Act. With the policy in place, the United States will be able to save close to 450 billion United States dollars in expenditures.
Points of View and Objectives
The authors of the article have numerous points of view and objectives in relation to the Medicare for All Act. The authors have made projections of both the economic and life-saving implications of the Medicare for All Act in comparison to the existing system. The authors anticipate that more benefits are expected from a nationwide single-payer system that would compensate for the extra costs that come with a healthcare system that is universal. Furthermore, a universal coverage model would save lives while also saving money, as well as enhancing the quality and productivity of those people’s lives. The authors further estimate that the Medicare for All Act would lower national healthcare spending, thereby contributing positively to national gross domestic product.
Government
The government is directly involved in the Medicare for All Act. The direct involvement of the government is related to funding. A big percentage of funds that will be required to run the Medicare for All Act will be generated by the government in the form of taxes. According to Galvani et al. (2020), close to 300 billion United States dollars required for the Medicare for All Act will be generated from 5% tax deductions from households. This is the role of the federal government. The government will benefit households in various ways when it replaces premiums with 5% tax. The burden of healthcare costs is redistributed through the proposed tax scheme, with lower-income households benefiting the most. Current Medicaid recipients, for example, will continue to receive benefits and will pay little or no income taxes to cover their healthcare costs because their household income is frequently below the poverty line and does not meet a typical tax deduction threshold. Furthermore, the Medicare for All Act removes copayments and all possible deductions that are currently in place and that pose great difficulties for low-income families. The government will also be responsible for ensuring system efficiency by setting appropriate billing tasks, workforce contraction strategies, and setting appropriate retirement options. There is no political party preference or bias identified in the article.
Key Players
A number of key players are involved in the Medicare for All Act. For example, the Medicate for All Act was initiated by Senator Sanders. The Medicare for All Act will affect healthcare providers, financiers, consumers, insurers, regulators, the government, businesses, and legislators. The elimination of government subsidies for low-earnings families and the following decline of enrolment in the Affordable Care Act has pushed an upward thrust of coverage charges for everyone, together with people with employer-sponsored plans. These families are the consumers of health care. The current economic stress faced by individuals and families may be eased by the financial savings that get up from a single-payer health care system. A recommended financing alternative might contain changing organization coverage charges into a payroll tax and family coverage charges into income tax. As such, the government will set taxation such that financial savings accrue in each case. The redirection of charges to taxes might additionally be tantamount to a switch of capital from non-public businesses to the public sector, with shared monetary impacts. Currently, employer contributions to medical insurance are relatively high. In this respect, financers and insurers will be affected by the proposed policy which is expected to change premiums. Therefore, an appropriate payroll tax might bring about financial savings for employers in the new health policy. Furthermore, the anticipated savings will reduce the financial burden for employers by billions of dollars. In the process, they might be relieved of the huge value of dealing with worker healthcare benefits. Healthcare providers will be compelled to adhere to the requirements of the Medicare for All Act when delivering health care services. Most importantly, legislators are charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the proposed bill becomes law.
Authors/Sources Quoted
Five authors collaborated to write the article. They include Galvani, A., Parpia, A., Foster, E., Singer, B., and Fitzpatrick, M. (2020). The authors developed an interest in the Medicare for All Act because they perceive it as a policy that will help the United States to reduce healthcare expenditure, expand health insurance coverage for all Americans, increase healthcare access, and save lives. The authors are concerned with the conflicting perspectives from various corners regarding why the health policy should not be implemented. Such viewpoints are coming at a time when the United States is overburdened by its current payer system. The authors anticipated that the Medicare for All Act will create a single-payer universal healthcare system that will relieve the United States and its citizens of the economic burden that they are currently facing as they strive to counter the high costs of health care.
Opinions
- The Impact of these issues on Health Care Delivery System or the ACA
High healthcare costs and the lack of health insurance coverage for Americans have an impact on the healthcare delivery systems, especially on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Medicare payments for many healthcare providers were reduced under the ACA thereby affecting healthcare delivery (The Commonwealth Fund, 2021). The Medicare for All Act will increase Medicare payments for a good number of healthcare providers thereby strengthening the healthcare delivery system. Administration costs related to the provision of health insurance coverage will account for 12.4% of the cost of insurers compared with 2.2% of the current Medicare health plan in the ACA (Galvani et al. 2020). Expanding Medicare to a larger population comprising all Americans could facilitate more efficiency. Therefore, applying the current expense ratio, it is anticipated that an additional 219 billion United States dollars in annual savings could be achieved by consolidating all insurance plans under the Medicare scheme to the Medicare for All Act. Elements of this cost minimization include the removal of redundant functions by companies and the replacement of the highest salary structure of health insurers (Galvani et al., 2020). Excessive remuneration of health insurance company executives will be removed thereby creating an opportunity to improve the healthcare delivery system.
- The impact of these issues on Consumers/patients
The lack of health insurance coverage is associated with negative impacts on patients or health care consumers. Patients will benefit greatly from the Medicare for All Act. For example, apart from avoiding mortality, substantial morbidity will be minimized through both universal health coverage and single-payer funding mechanisms created by the Medicare for All Act. Universal health coverage eliminates restrictions to existing primary and preventive care access. Additionally, a single payment system encourages the expansion of prevention programs (Galvani et al., 2020). When consumers engage in preventive care, they help to reduce the occurrence of various diseases, such as hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases. This will lead to improved quality of life and reduced risk of dying. Affordable healthcare access will result in a rapid diagnosis of diseases combined with enhanced recommendations from health care providers about disease prevention (Galvani et al., 2020). With that, a single-payer system will be financially responsible for lifelong health care for all health care consumers in American.
- The impact of these issues on health care professionals (physicians, hospitals, and others) or industries.
Healthcare providers are unable to provide services effectively to patients who lack healthcare coverage. Besides, huge expenditures affect the budget and undermine the acquisition of relevant resources required for the smooth delivery of health care. As opposed to the widespread misconstruction that the federal health system limits provider selection to patients, a single payment system incorporates all providers into one financial context. Such reorganization removes the issue of healthcare providers refusing to admit individuals on the basis of their insurance status (Galvani et al, 2020). The choice of patients will be greatly enhanced if the universal health care system is adopted. Along with separating employment status from insurance plans, a single-payer system would also address the disintegration of the system that arises when providers separate with their patients at the time of discharge. The Medicare for All Act will increase the effectiveness of disease management by healthcare providers thereby ending delays in the care of acute diseases. Moreover, single-payer coverage under the Medicare for All Act will eliminate the risk of losing jobs by healthcare providers when it is needed most (Galvani et al., 2020).
- The Public Policy or Regulatory Solutions Proposed in The Article
The policy that is being proposed in the article is the Medicare for All Act. According to Galvani et al. (2020), the Medicare for All Act will address major issues highlighted in the article including high health care expenditure by the United States federal government and the lack of health insurance coverage for many Americans. The policy will compensate for the extra costs that come with a healthcare system that is universal. Eventually, it will save lives, save money, as well as enhance the quality and productivity of people’s lives. A healthcare system cannot perform effectively when citizens lack health insurance (The Commonwealth Fund, 2021). The process of expanding health insurance coverage for Americans was emphasized following the enactment of the Affordable Care Act. The Medicare scheme under the ACA only covered older adults aged 65 years and about (Galvani et al., 2020). The new health policy proposed in the article is an expansion of the Medicare program that will see all Americans having health insurance coverage.
- The Impact of The Proposed Policy or Regulatory Solutions on Health Care Cost, Access, And Quality
The Medicare for All Act will reduce health costs, increase healthcare access, and improve health care quality for all Americans. For instance, with increased health insurance coverage, Americans will be able to access healthcare from qualified healthcare providers. The high-quality care received will improve health and well-being, reduce mortality, reduce morbidity, and enhance the quality of life. Furthermore, the policy will reduce the economic burden for healthcare systems thereby minimizing expenditures. According to Galvani et al. (2020), the Medicare for All Act would lower national healthcare spending, thereby contributing positively to the national gross domestic product.
- The Proposed Public Policy or Regulatory Changes That Would Help Solve Those Issues In The Society’s Best Interest.
In my opinion, I believe that a public policy that advocates for the provision of health insurance to citizens and recommends the minimization of health care expenditure will help to address major issues presented in the article in society’s best interest. I think that the Medicare for All Act is an appropriate policy to address the major issues discussed by Galvani et al. (2020). As healthcare systems consider such policies, they should remember that the health care field has been tightly regulated in many ways some of which do not address healthcare costs. Potential criticism from powerful interest groups, including the pharmaceutical industry, legislators, insurers, and healthcare providers among others should be expected. To counter these concerns, it is important to create health policies that advocate for the provision of universal health care as a human right for both the poor and the rich. Such policies will help to promote health, improve well-being, and strengthen the health system.
References
Galvani, A., Parpia, A., Foster, E., Singer,B., & Fitzpatrick, M. (2020). Improving the prognosis of health care in the USA. Lancet, 395(10223), 524–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)33019-3 file:///C:/Users/Admin/Downloads/Improving_the_Prognosis_of_Health_Care_in_the_USA%20(1).pdf
The Commonwealth Fund. (2021). Could repealing the ACA impact Medicare? Definitely, but many questions remain. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2020/could-repealing-aca-impact-medicare-definitely-many-questions-remain