Sorry Bernie and AOC: 'Free' Healthcare Isn't Free
by Robert E. MoffitA majority of House Democrats are co-sponsoring legislation (HR 1384) to outlaw virtually all Americans’ public and private health insurance and replace their coverage with a new government plan. In the Senate, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for All” bill (S 1129) would accomplish the same objective.
Americans must fully grasp the necessary trade-offs—the sacrifices—they would have to make if Congress were to create and run such a massive program.
Medicare for All poses a very big question: Is the promise of universal health insurance under a new government health program worth the deliberate destruction of all other public, private, and employer-based coverage?
In today’s churning insurance markets, about 30 million American residents are uninsured. Examining the data, American Enterprise Institute analysts note that about 15 million Americans already are eligible for coverage under Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (also known as ACA or Obamacare).
Mysteriously, they do not enroll.
Almost 4 million are eligible for employer-sponsored insurance, but do not enroll. Several million (at least 4 million) are here illegally and thus ineligible for taxpayer-financed coverage. An additional 2 million have annual incomes that exceed 400% of the federal poverty level ($103,000 for a family of four) and are ineligible for Obamacare insurance subsidies.
Finally, about 2.5 million of the uninsured are poor Americans who live in states that didn’t expand Medicaid. This is a problem that can be solved through targeted measures—without destroying all existing health coverage.
Then there’s the cost. In the initial 10 years of implementing a Medicare for All program, the aggregate price tag could range between $54.6 trillion and $60.7 trillion, according to Charles Blahous, a former Medicare trustee.
Comprehensive econometric analyses, ranging from the Urban Institute to the Rand Corp., also show that such a program would substantially increase total costs over current law.