Does Medicare For All abolish the insurance industry? I know it sounds like it would. If everybody has to pay the taxes that fund Medicare, why would anybody choose to pay for private insurance as well?
Thing is, they do.
I have Medicare and let me tell you, I love it. I spent years between my retirement when my employer supplied insurance disappeared and my 65th birthday when I was eligible for Medicare struggling to make my monthly health insurance payments. They were more than my mortgage. The largest slice of my much-diminished income was going to pay for health insurance.
Then, on the first day of the month of my 65th birthday, my health insurance cost dropped to about 33% of what I had been paying. It was like lifting a 500-lb. weight off my back.
But I still had private health insurance. Like many people, I opted for a Medicare supplement policy that pays all the deductibles and co-pays for my healthcare. It was affordable and it ensures that I won’t have many surprises in my healthcare costs. (I won’t say none. I was surprised yesterday when I found out what a medication my doctor prescribed cost. Thankfully, it wasn’t a critical medication and I had the option to turn it down.)
But a lot of people who don’t opt for the supplement or “Medigap” policy still have dealings with private health insurance. That’s through Medicare Advantage plans.
Many Medicare Advantage plans have zero premium.
In short, Medicare has options to work with private insurance.
It only makes sense that Medicare For All would work in some similar fashion.
Besides, the American health insurance industry is a drag on the economy as it exists now. It adds cost to healthcare without adding value.
While the health insurance industry would contract, the jobs wouldn’t disappear. Somebody still has to process all those Medicare claims. The difference will be who those workers get their paychecks from.
Medicare For All saves money. It saves the money being pocketed by the insurance industry. It saves the money wasted treating people who waited way too long because they couldn’t afford care. It distributes the cost evenly throughout society making the cost per person lower.
I haven’t had a lot of pleasant interactions with the private health insurance industry. I wouldn’t shed a tear if it was destroyed. But, frankly, I don’t think it will be.
The health insurance industry will have to adapt. It will have to become leaner and more efficient. It will have to refocus on providing value that will make it worthwhile for people to pay for it.
If you ask me, Medicare For All is all good.