Some Democratic candidates support Medicare for All.

[TexasTowelie]

13. The questions that you are asking

only reinforce my point as to why I'm not going out and pretending that it will reduce overall medical costs. You even admitted that the cost for the examples that you provided is vague. The questions that you ask do not have tangible costs that can be identified and again rely primarily on the philosophical belief that all medical care should be paid for regardless of cost. So you are asking me (and other DUers) to make a case that costs that the average medical cost per capita will be reduced when it is plainly evident that someone who goes from having no medical costs to having a medical bill that someone (be it the patient or the government) has to pay.

But I will attempt to respond to your questions:

What is the cost of people dying due to delayed or non-existent treatment?

If the person never sought treatment, then the additional medical costs are zero. There may be other non-tangential losses such as loss of companionship or an employer may have a cost if a valued employee dies and has to be replaced, but those are not quantifiable medical expenses.

What is the cost of medical bankruptcies?

Minimal costs as medical providers have to rely on collection agencies to have the costs paid. However, most medical providers know that once a debt is turned over to collection agencies then the likelihood of getting paid diminishes significantly and they write off those expenses. The costs related to bankruptcies are effectively shifted from the health care system to the legal system.

What is the cost of the stress associated with the lack of access to healthcare?

Zero. The courts in some states don't even award damages for non-economic damages such as stress when adjudicating tort claims. Even if there are costs, those costs are not a component of how it will affect health care costs unless the patient needs additional care like psychiatric expenses or more aggressive treatment of the physical injuries.

What is the cost of lower life expectancies?

Cannot be determined and also non-tangible. In my personal situation, it probably would result in lower costs to have a lower life expectancy since I don't produce anything that shows that I have economic value to society. I suspect that may also be true for most retirees. A counter-argument would be what expenses would be avoided with lower life expectancies, including more potentially expensive medical procedures and the elimination of retirement expenses (if you broaden the scope from containing medical costs to containing all costs which you have done with several of your questions).


You're welcome to make an argument that M4A will result in lower medical costs, but seeing how that argument is debatable I won't be joining you in pushing your point. We can make the argument for M4A based on it being a humane policy and the correct thing to do on a philosophical and ethical basis, but trying to make an argument on a financial basis is full of pitfalls.