Medicare for all who want it: Potential and pitfalls
I have suspected for some time that the longest-lasting Democratic presidential candidates may converge on health care reform plans that enable any American to buy into a strong public option (probably deemed "Medicare") at an affordable price. That would include people whose employers offer coverage -- they would be subsidy-eligible if they opt into the public plan.
The existing bill that fits this description is the Medicare for America Act -- a bill that takes such an open-to-all public plan to its logical conclusion by phasing out Medicaid and revamping the Medicare currently available to seniors and the disabled -- and, crucially, adding long-term care insurance. The bill is rich in promise and not free from pitfalls, which I've been more or less live-blogging over the past couple of weeks. I thought I'd take some space here to index those posts, a step toward making something of a coherent whole of them (including some earlier posts). Here goes, then.
The plan that lets anyone buy into Medicare (3/21/19)
This overview at healthinsurance.org starts with my core question: Can Democrats bite off as much healthcare reform as Medicare for America encompasses? Might they pare it back to its core -- a public option buy-in for anyone who wants/needs it?
Medicare for America might let private insurance thrive (3/22/19)
The key condition is that healthcare providers would have to accept "Medicare" payment rates from commercial insurers.
A major fix in Medicare for America 2.0 (5/14/19)
In the second iteration of the bill, employers no longer get off scot-free if their employees choose "Medicare" over the employer's insurance offering.
Would Medicare for America phase out private insurance? (5/15/19)
That's an open question...
If Medicare for America passes, some seniors will pay more (5/16/19)
A fearsome political vulnerability lurks in the bill's design
Seniors' costs under Medicare for America, cont. (5/19/19)
How affluent would you have to be to pay more under Medicare for America than under current Medicare?
Folding Medicaid into Medicare for America: Will states pay their share? (5/21/19)
Maybe not; is that a bad thing?
Medicare for America raises the kludge question (5/23/19)
Patch one more fix into our Byzantine healthcare system, or remake all of it?