MEDICARE FOR ALL WOULD SAVE $450 BILLION ANNUALLY WHILE PREVENTING 68,000 DEATHS, NEW STUDY SHOWS

[CousinIT]

NOTES: Moved from GD where it was locked - mod said to put it in Primaries: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213002965
Sorry for damn Newsweek all-caps headlines - I get tired of fixing 'em to look normal!

https://www.newsweek.com/medicare-all-would-save-450-billion-annually-while-preventing-68000-deaths-new-study-shows-1487862

The Medicare For All plan proposed by Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren would save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars each year and would prevent tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths, a new study shows.

The analysis, conducted by researchers at Yale University, the University of Florida and the University of Maryland, found that transitioning the U.S. to a single-payer health care system would actually save an estimated $450 billion each year, with the average American family seeing about $2,400 in annual savings. The research, which was published Saturday in the medical journal The Lancet, also found that Medicare for all would prevent about 68,000 unnecessary deaths per year.

"Our study is actually conservative because it doesn't factor in the lives saved among underinsured Americans—which includes anyone who nominally has insurance but has postponed or foregone care because they couldn't afford the copays and deductibles," Alison Galvani, an author of the study and researcher at the Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis at the Yale School of Public Health, told Newsweek.

Overall, the new research anticipates annual savings of about 13 percent in national health care costs, while providing better health care access to lower-income families. According to the study, about 37 million Americans do not have health insurance, while an additional 41 million people do not have adequate health care coverage. Taken together, about 24 percent of the total population does not have health care coverage that meets their needs.

"The entire system could be funded with less financial outlay than is incurred by employers and households paying for health-care premiums combined with existing government allocations," the authors wrote in the study.

The authors also noted, as Sanders often does when discussing Medicare for all, that health care expenditures in the U.S. are "higher" per capita "than in any other country."

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread CousinIT.

[Faux pas]

2. Kicketty Kickin'

[Hermit-The-Prog]

3. Just as in 2018, health care is a top priority among voters.

[cynatnite]

4. This doesn't answer all the questions...

How this would impact hospitals, private practice and so on. Does the apparatus to provide healthcare to every American really exist?

I spent a lot of years working in healthcare. It's overwhelming as it is with not enough workers and too many patients. Is there a plan to help the healthcare system to deal with huge number of patients that would seek care under a medicare-for-all system?

If the intent is to wipe out the health care insurance industry, what happens to those workers. I read that it would cost almost 2 million jobs.

Don't get me wrong. I want a system in place where every single person does not have to do without healthcare. But this is something that shouldn't be rushed if it by some miracle passed congress. I'm saying it would have to be a gawd from above miracle because there are Dems in congress who wouldn't vote for it.

In our country today, I'm not confident that this has been thought through enough.

[SDANation]

7. Exactly! 👍

[guillaumeb]

5. Recommended.

The hugely profitable health industries fear the loss of those huge profits.

[SDANation]

6. Just throwing money

At a fundamentally broken system. I work in healthcare and until we switch to a preventative based system, we will continue to fight fires over and over which ends up costing significant amounts of money. That’s what the ACA was intended to do. Prevent long term illness from occurring or if it was found, stop it and treat it before it progresses.

How do you get Americans to all of sudden start caring about their health?

And a big question for those of us who work in it, will my wages stay the same or will the government now regulate how much I get paid based on what IT believes I should be paid? Part of the reason a lot of people get in to health care is because we do care, deeply about helping others, but a recession proof job with great pay and benefits is also a big part of it too. If there is no incentive to spend long hours away from our families on weekends and holidays to care for others, I feel a lot of would be doctors and nurses will choose a different career.

[Proud Veteran]

8. Is Medicare for All a non-starter in this political climate?

Don't Bernie supporters realize that Bernie's signature item,medicare for all, is a non-starter. To get it passed in the senate would require a super majority(60 votes). That won't happen any time soon or even later.
This disgusting senate has/is doing everything in their power to bring down the ACA.

[cynatnite]

9. Bernie is selling a pipe dream...

Along with Warren when it comes to medicare for all. Pete's plan won't get passed either.

It's like reality takes a vacation when it comes to wooing voters.