WHAT THEY ARE SAYING: Americans From Across The Country Denounce One-Size-Fits-All Health Care, Urge Lawmakers To Strengthen What’s Working
Americans From Across The Country Denounce One-Size-Fits-All Health Care, Urge Lawmakers To Strengthen What’s Working
In case you missed it, as Members of Congress introduced Medicare for All and Medicare buy-in legislation in the U.S. House, voices throughout the nation spoke out in opposition to a one-size-fits-all approach to health care and encouraged elected officials to build on what is working in our health care system, while coming together to fix what is broken.
Kate Bradford, Former Health Care Administrator, Arizona:
Medicare for All has been a major focus out of these early Democratic candidates and it’s alarming that people think that this is a realistic option for our health care future. Kicking off 180 million people from their insurance and putting them onto a government-run system where you won’t be able to pick your own doctors sounds like a nightmare to me … I think Democrats would be wise to think smaller, and improve the Affordable Care Act we already have.
Lee Newgent, Retired Union Ironworker, Washington:
As we continue this debate, it’s important to remember how hard union members have fought, and the sacrifices they have made, to secure good health-care benefits. Quality health care coverage doesn’t just happen, it has to be negotiated for and balanced with wages and other benefits. This has been done consciously through bargaining and ratified contracts. Policymakers should not act to scrap those coverage benefits that have been hard fought for … As we work to ensure every American has access to affordable coverage and high-quality care, let’s not lose sight of what’s been successful while we fix what’s broken.
Carlos Carbonell, Businessman, Florida:
Democrats in the U.S. Senate introduced a bill to allow 50-65 year olds to buy-in to Medicare. On its face, this proposal might seem a more reasonable step forward than single-payer plans being pushed by the Ocasio-Cortez-wing of the left, it’s actually just “Medicare for All” – lite and could have disastrous, unintended consequences in Central Florida … Bipartisan consensus is needed to fix and improve our healthcare system.
Ted Marin, Arizona:
… Medicare for All simply sounds like a huge tax without many more details. It seems to me that the better idea would be to fix the existing Affordable Care Act, which took years of planning and has shown real, positive benefits to so many people … Throwing the whole country off whatever health insurance they currently have invites more governmental chaos. Surely, we can come up with some means to strengthen and maintain this plan and provide quality and affordable health care. Every American deserves affordable health care options.
Jack A. Roy, Massachusetts:
Recently many politicians have embraced another healthcare proposal, “Medicare for All.” I do not understand how this could work … [T]he only thing we could be sure of is more chaos, confusion, increased paperwork and higher costs … For now, we should fix what we have, not blow it up, having to start all over again.
Mustafa Tameez, Businessman, Texas:
… I think we have to do is improve what’s working with the ACA and fix what’s broken before we try and change the system all over again … We have to have a better partnership with both the public sector and the private sector, and I think the solutions lie there, rather than all the solutions are with the private sector or all with the public sector. Anytime you see strong public-private partnerships, that’s when you find most efficiency, rather than putting it in one or the other.