20 Things That Would Change In America With Medicare For All

By Someone Who Already Has It.

Now that America seems to be at a tipping point of joining the civilized world in regards to universal healthcare — most Democratic presidential hopefuls have some form of it in their platform — what would it really look like? While different proposals are on the table, the most common by far appears to be the single-payer-type Medicare For All. This contrasts with other proposals, such as the already tried but failed Public Option, in that it completely removes private insurance from the table.

With that being said, let’s look at what exactly would change. This is pretty easy for me having lived in such a system my entire life.

No more Premiums, Co-Pays, or Deductibles. No more paying anything at all to insurance companies who are more interested in their bottom line than your well-being. No more crappy health insurance commercials featuring happy families smiling gleefully at the prospect of paying all of the above for basic healthcare. No more would health insurance be a factor in anyone choosing or staying at a job. No more would Pharma Companies be able to charge exorbitant prices for life-saving drugs. No more Martin Shkrelis No more would any American have to ration their medications to be able to afford them. No more would emergency rooms be filled with patients who do the above or just do not see a doctor at all due to potential cost. No more would America be leading the industrialized world in price of healthcare nor medical bankruptcies as a result of it. No more would millions of Americans have to flee to access affordable healthcare. No more would GoFundMe.com be a necessary part of the American Healthcare system. No more stories like this. No more would Pre-existing conditions be a thing. No more would the phrase “Do you have insurance?” be heard in the halls of any hospital ever again. No more would the government have to manage a multitude of different exclusionary health systems (e.g Medicaid, Medicare, V.A.) nor allocate resources to prevent/punish their abuse. Planned Parenthood would also cease to be necessary for all but 3% of its services, much to the pleasure of some of a certain political persuasion. A government-issued Health Card would most likely be given free to every American, and perhaps also to the pleasure of those above, it would be complete with photo identification. Yes, taxes may have to rise for everyone — or maybe not — but even if they do it’ll be much less than most people spend on private insurance. So unless you’re wealthy, you would still come out ahead, particularly if you get sick. Wait times for non-emergency procedures may increase — or maybe not looking at the UK, which also has single-payer. More wealthy people from other countries may decide to make use of their own health systems, many of which rank higher than the USA in quality.

There you have it, though this list could very well be longer it gets to the main point. Many things would indeed change and most of these changes would be beneficial to the great majority of Americans.

While we’re here let’s also note the following:

Things That Wouldn’t Change