COTW: Paying for Medicare for All

'Crazy' Bernie Sanders has given us a menu of ways to pay for the increased cost of Medicare for All, which would save the government $2 trillion even with universal coverage, if the current broken system is not eliminated.  Critics argue that specific proposals for funding the change should be put forward.  Proposals will be made, once the basic concept of eliminating the role of insurance profit in the US health care system is accepted.  That in itself is a 'big lift'.  Here is a chart which shows the costs associated with Medicare for All:

The chart suggests that without the medical establishment accepting less for their services, Medicare for All would cost $3.4 trillion more.  According to the chart providers are expected to bear 70% of the cost reductions.  Ask yourself if the government is 'the only game in town' what option do doctors and hospitals have?  Not to accept Medicare patients when everybody has Medicare is to restrict their market to a tiny segment of wealthy patients who want gold-plated, Cadillac care for their elective treatments.  Unless these providers want to go out of business, they would be forced to accept the government's negotiated prices.

This is the major problem with health care in 'Merica--it is not about curing illness and keeping people well, it is about generating profits.  A regulated market for a social good is logically consistent, as well as morally justifiable. US Person thinks providers who espouse the Hippocratic Oath should understand that. Consulting  anesthesiologists, one of the most highly compensated specialists in the US, still can earn £173,000 a year ($260,000) under the National Health Service in the UK.  That's not chump change!