ICYMI: ‘Set Aside One-Size-Fits-All Proposals & Work Together To Strengthen Our Health Care System’

WASHINGTON – In a new op-ed for RealClear Health, the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future’s Lauren Crawford Shaver reminds us that “[e]ach and every American deserves access to affordable, high-quality health coverage and care – no matter where they live or how much they earn. While we’ve made progress over the past eleven years, we still need to work together to lower costs, protect patient choice, expand access, improve quality and foster innovation.”

She writes:

During this critical time when Americans are depending on our healthcare system more than ever before, the best way to achieve this is by building on and improving what’s working in healthcare, where private coverage, Medicare, and Medicaid work together to expand access to coverage and care. But, unfortunately, some politicians continue to push for creating unaffordable, new government-controlled health insurance systems that threaten to undermine the progress we have made, while imposing higher taxes and healthcare costs on taxpayers and consumers.

A large and growing body of research shows us that – whether the proposal is called Medicare for All, the public option, Medicare buy-in, single-payer, or the recently reintroduced “Medicare-X” – a one-size-fits-all approach to healthcare will lead to negative consequences for Americans. 

For one thing, each of these proposals would come with unaffordable new costs that would land at the feet of hardworking Americans, many of whom are already struggling financially in the midst of pandemic-driven economic pain.

In fact, a recent analysis by Lanhee J. Chen, Ph.D., Tom Church and Daniel L. Heil finds that the costs of a new government-controlled health insurance system like the public option could be even more than originally projected, particularly in the event of an economic recession – demanding unaffordable tax increases on working families, massive increases to our national debt, or a combination of both.

While supporters of the public option have repeatedly attempted to brand it as a more “moderate” alternative to Medicare for All, research also warns us that enacting any of these proposed systems would ultimately threaten patients’ choice and control over their coverage and force Americans off their current plan into a single, one-size-fits-all health insurance system controlled by politicians. Under such a government-controlled system, patients’ timely access to quality care and innovative treatments would be put at risk, meaning Americans would be forced to pay more to wait longer for worse care.

As Crawford Shaver points out, “[t]here is a better path forward, which is to build on and improve our current healthcare system to expand access to affordable health coverage and care. Despite attempts by some politicians to undermine our existing system in recent years, the facts continue to bear out the efficacy of this constructive, common-sense approach.”

• To read Lauren Crawford Shaver’s full op-ed at RealClear Health, CLICK HERE.
• To learn more about the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future, CLICK HERE.