



It is not an overstatement to say that Bernie Sanders's presidential campaign is centered around the idea of a single-payer health insurance system that would cover everything for everyone and be paid for by the government. Dubbed 'Medicare for All' (although the system Sanders envisions is hardly even Medicare as we know it), it is the rallying cry, the litmus test, and the lifeblood of Bernie 2020.





Fourth, we will increase cost-of-living adjustments to keep up with the rising cost of health care and prescription drugs by establishing a Consumer Price Index for the Elderly.







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There has been plenty of questions about whether such a system can actually pass Congress. In public, Sanders claims he can will such a massive popular movement into place should he be elected president that Congress will have no choice. His supporters fantasize over the power of the bully pulpit.I have discussed the sheer wishful thinking involved in this line of reasoning, but few have asked whether Bernie Sanders himself believes what he's selling. Does Bernie Sanders actually believe that he, as president, can pass and implement single-payer Medicare for All that makes all medical services free at the point of service?The answer, if you look at Sanders's campaign website, is a resounding no.On the very campaign website where Sanders proposes Medicare for All, his plan for Social Security contains the following bullet point: This sounds fine, until one realizes its conflict with Bernie's Medicare for All plan. If single-payer, free-at-the-point-of-service Medicare for All becomes reality, the cost, to the consumer, of health care and prescription drug would be zero.It, therefore, makes no sense to establish a special price index for the elderly based on the cost of health care and prescription drugs, unless Sanders believes people on Social Security should never see an increase in their checks.Even for a Bernie skeptic like myself, it is pretty hard to believe that the nation's premier socialist believes there should never be any increases to social security payments. That leaves only one conclusion: Bernie Sanders does not actually believe Medicare for All can be a reality.Oops.