Love this idea. I really want all people to have optimal health. Good health benefits the individual and the greater community.
However, expanding a poorly running system seems like a bad idea.
The costs of Medicare for All for 10 years are estimated to be about $32 trillion, according to the Mercatus Center, a free market-oriented think tank at George Mason University, as well as an earlier study by the Urban Institute's Health Policy Center.
Cortez has no way of paying for this. So, it has to be paid for by the middle class, as all things are. If you tax the rich, that may not increase revenue. Cortez claims $2T in increased revenues by taxing the rich. Revenue sometimes goes up when there are tax cuts, sometimes when there are tax increases. Just wishing that more revenue will come from taxing the "rich" has no inherent truthfulness to it.
Medicare and health care in the US is several times more expensive than similar systems in Europe. Why? I don't see her analysis of why the best universal system, that of the UK can cost about $3,400 per person, whereas in the US the cost is $8,500. Expanding this expensive, inefficient system to all people seems like a bad idea. Why not propose a better system?
Unlike most European countries, in the USA pharmaceuticals are allowed to market directly to consumers. Plans similar to Medicare may work out well in Europe, but the exact same plan will have drastically different end results in America.
She claims that prices for co-pays, premiums and deductibles are skyrocketing under our current health system that includes The Affordable Care Act. How is this going to be any different under Medicare for All? Medicare prices are rising. Compared to European models, Medicare participants pay a lot more and get a lot less.
Medicare as of 2018 is drawing down its trust fund assets. The fund will be depleted by 2026. So, we can't even keep the current Medicare alive, how is Cortez going to pay for Medicare for All? Wishful thinking and good intentions cannot pay for it. The only people that will end up paying are the diminishing middle class.
Medicare is bloated, complex and inefficient. So, unless I see more specifics on this plan (Medicare for All) and how it will differ from Medicare, how it will cut prices, how it will limit pharmaceutical's direct access to consumers, and how this plan is not just expansion of a decrepit system, I am not convinced at all.
Sources:
Comparison of health care systems:
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2014/jun/mirror-mirror-wall-2014-update-how-us-health-care-system
UK:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/05/americans-uk-health-system-trump-nhs