Underwriters Oppose Medicare For All Saying It Will Harm Businesses and Consumers

For health underwriters, the one issue that stands out as candidates campaign for the presidential election in 2020 is Medicare for All. The plan, and similar proposals, would replace the private health insurance market with a single-payer government plan.

  As we all know, the current health care system is far from perfect. But it provides the foundation for an effective insurance system. We need to fix what we have in place and bring costs down that way. Besides, surveys show most Americans like their health insurance plan.

The idea of a Medicare for All system can mean many things. Some people talk about proposals that allow supplemental health insurance for purchase on top of a government plan. But depending on the details of the system, employers could end up paying more in taxes for the government plan AND having employees pushing for their own supplemental plans.

Studies have shown this type of government health insurance system will mean dramatically higher taxes and more limited coverage options, while pushing us all into a system that is unaffordable and unsustainable.

Experts project that, to cover the stunning $32 trillion needed to pay for a Medicare for All system, income taxes on businesses would need to double.

Partnerships for America’s Health Care Future, of which the National Association of Health Underwriters is a member, is shining a spotlight on the challenges our nation would face under a Medicare for All system. If you would like more information on the issue or want to reach out to our members of Congress to let them know you are concerned, please go to the website, partnershipforamericashealthcarefuture.org, or contact Jeanette Krebs, who is working with PAHCF, at jk@krebs.solutions.