Healthcare as a Human Right
Medicare For All
As millions of people are thrown off their health insurance due to massive employment losses nationwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has made the case for Medicare-for-All better than any politician ever could. We must use this unprecedented moment to rally together to, once and for all, institute a single payer system; a move that enjoys major support across the political base of the country. We are the only major country in the world to not provide healthcare as a right, yet spend around $9,400 per capita- the most expensive in the world! That’s an average of 2.5 times more than other major industrialized nations who provide universal healthcare for ALL of its citizens. On top of high administrative costs, costly deductibles, and payments for procedures, most uninsured people are low-income and disproportionately people of color.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) made history by expanding health insurance to 30 million Americans by requiring people to buy private health insurance policies and expanding Medicaid. However, it left private insurance companies in charge of our healthcare system. Their ability to consolidate power in order to command market prices continues to drive up costs. So, while people may have more “access” to healthcare, the legal requirement to buy into private health insurance left many with high premiums, and a heavy burden of debt.
Basic human rights, like our healthcare, should not be privatized into a 100 billion dollar industry, PERIOD.
But we can’t stop at healthcare coverage alone. We must reform our health system to focus on public health prevention as opposed to treatment. Investing to prevent chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes, asthma, hepatitis, and other illnesses can save billions in healthcare spending per year. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a whopping 90% of our healthcare dollars go towards preventable chronic conditions like heart disease and lung cancer; yet less than 3 cents of every $1 spent goes towards preventing those conditions. But insurance companies rarely cover preventive services, and pharmaceutical manufacturers rarely invest in preventive drugs.
Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies have exploited our healthcare system’s focus on treatment as opposed to prevention by price gouging some of the most critical life-saving drugs on the market. For example, the cost of insulin is ten times higher in the United States than other developed countries, and its costs doubled from 2012 to 2016. Not only are pharmaceutical companies not required to disclose how they calculate their prices, there is barely any meaningful federal regulation of prices. Drug spending per capita has increased 40% since 2007, while our health outcomes and life expectancy have gone down; begging the question – why have drug prices soared if we aren’t seeing the benefits in our health?
Today, our healthcare system comprises roughly 20% of our annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and its profits are driven almost exclusively on costly treatments. In 2017, public health spending comprised just 2.5% of our roughly $3.6 trillion healthcare system. As stated above, we spend over $9,400 per capita on healthcare, but less than $32 per capita on public health.
The result is more sickness, more death, and lower health outcomes. Systemic racism throughout our healthcare system leaves Black, Indigenous, and Latinx communities with disproportionately higher rates of disease and death. For example, infant mortality rates among Black Americans are 2.3 times higher than for Whites, while Latinx Americans are nearly 3 times more likely to be uninsured than White Americans. We can reverse this trend by investing into community-based public health prevention programs and services. We can rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and ensure every American has access to healthy foods. Every $1 invested pin public health prevention saves $5.60 in healthcare treatment spending – a 560% return on investment. We can save the health of our communities by investing in their growth and prosperity.
The Profit Motive
Once we are able to eliminate private insurers and ruthless pharmaceutical companies from the equation, their ability to drive up prices for premiums, deductibles, and admin costs will, in effect, also be eliminated. That’s more money in your pocket. The only ones who lose are private insurance executives and shareholders. On top of that, the for-profit private health insurance companies have proven ineffective when it comes to negotiating with for prescription drugs and other forms of medicine. A Medicare for All “Single Payer” System will provide universal health insurance which will eliminate out-of-pocket expenses, the aforementioned costs of the private health insurance bureaucracy, and be able to negotiate for affordable prescription drugs.
What Is Single Payer Healthcare?
The United States is the only country in the developed world that does not guarantee access to basic health care for residents. Countries that guarantee health care as a human right do so through a “single-payer” system, which replaces the thousands of for-profit health insurance companies with a public, universal plan.
If you think this is politically unfeasible to win in the United States, take a look at the across-the-board support for the program. Afraid it can’t work? It already exists for seniors! Medicare is a public, universal plan that provides basic health coverage to those age 65 and older. Medicare costs less than private health insurance, provides better financial security, and is preferred by most patients. Single-payer is often described as “Expanded & Improved Medicare for All.”
A single-payer system would save at least $2 trillion in net savings over the course of ten years, which is now wasted on administrative overhead and monopoly profits.
And, finally, the $2 trillion-dollar question: How do we pay for it? For starters, we can increase personal income taxes on the top 5% of income earners, an additional 2% tax on those who make more than $250,000 (less than 3% of the population) in taxable income, and a 6% premium on large, billion-dollar corporations. The rest of the necessary funding will be through the authorization of funds via the Federal Reserve. Aside from the savings we would accrue over time as a whole (as previously stated), small-to-medium sized employers, as well as labor unions, will be relieved from the burden of negotiating healthcare services for employees, as they will already be covered.
As a first step in congress, we will support and co-sponsor H.R. 1384 – “Medicare For All Act” which will provide comprehensive healthcare coverage including at least the following:
- Primary care and prevention
- Approved dietary and nutritional therapies
- Inpatient care
- Outpatient care
- Emergency care
- Prescription drugs
- Durable medical equipment
- Long-term care
- Palliative care
- Mental health services
- The full scope of dental services, services, including periodontics, oral surgery, and dental (not including cosmetic dentistry)
- Substance abuse treatment services
- Chiropractic services, not including electrical stimulation
- Basic vision care and vision correction (other than laser vision correction for cosmetic purposes)
- Hearing services, including coverage of hearing aids
- Podiatry care
Control Prescription Drug Pricing
We need to end the monopolization of profits by big pharmaceutical companies by regulating the prices they charge for prescription drugs. On top of creating an government apparatus that can negotiate for better prices, we need to pass a bill that will allow us to purchase prescription drugs from other countries that are providing the same drugs by the same reputable companies from countries like Canada. In 2017, 13 Democratic Senators voted NO on an amendment that would lower prescription drugs by importing them from Canada.
We need to pass legislation like the Prescription Drug Affordability Act of 2015 that would allow the importation by individuals of prescription drugs from Canada and other countries. We need to establish restrictions on certain anti-competitive patent settlements known as “pay-for-delay” agreements which effectively block generic drug competition, and we must allow the Federal Trade Commission to initiate proceedings to enforce these restrictions. Lastly, we will fight to require drug manufacturers to provide rebates for drugs dispensed to low-income individuals.