New Study: ‘Medicare For America’ Could Cause One In Three Workers To Lose Access To Employer-Provided Health Care

WASHINGTON – A new studyby KNG Health Consulting, LLC reveals that “Medicare for America,” a proposed new government-controlled health insurance system, could force one-third of American workers off of their current employer provided health care coverage, also known as employer-sponsored insurance (ESI).  This is yet another reminder that millions of Americans would, in fact, be unable to keep their current coverage under such a proposal – and that a new government insurance system would be a “stepping stone” to a one-size-fits-all system run by politicians.

According to the study, under Medicare for America, by 2023, “nearly one of every four workers who were previously offered ESI would lose access to ESI via their employer, with offer rates falling from 88 to 68 percent … This increases to about one of every three workers losing access to ESI through their employer by 2032.”  And, according to the study, instead of addressing rising health care costs this new government-controlled health insurance system, “would increase total health care spending, with the largest spending increases occurring among those who already had public coverage through Medicare or Medicaid.”

As primary authors Lane Koenig and Asha Saavoss of KNG Health Consulting, LLC write in their report, under Medicare for America, “[a]bout one-in-nine private-sector ESI enrollees would disenroll by 2023 (16 million) and one-in-four (37 million) would disenroll by 2032.”  Koenig and Saavoss also go on to write that “[w]orkers at small firms would be disproportionately affected, with more than half losing access to ESI through their employer by 2032.”

• To read KNG’s complete findings, CLICK HERE.
• For additional information, CLICK HERE.

Today, roughly 180 million Americans receive health coverage through their employers.  As politicians continue to debate various new government-controlled health insurance systems, Dr. Scott Atlas of Stanford University explainsin The Wall Street Journal that similar proposals would “mainly erode, or ‘crowd out,’ private insurance, rather than provide coverage to the uninsured.”  Not only that, another government-controlled health insurance system, namely “[t]he public option would cause premiums for private insurance to skyrocket because of underpayment by government insurance compared with costs for services … A single-payer option is not a moderate, compromise proposal.  Its inevitable consequence is the death of affordable private insurance. Even presidential candidates calling for ‘a public option’ have openly admitted in the recent debate that it would inevitably lead to a single-payer-dominated system.”

The KNG study on “Medicare for America” points to an unaffordable new government-controlled health insurance system that reduces Americans’ choice and control over their care.  Whether it’s called Medicare for All, Medicare for America, Medicare buy-in or the public option, Americans would pay more and wait longer for worse care.

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