"Medicare For All" Would Save Trillions

The proposed healthcare plan called "Medicare for All" or M4A would save the U.S. more than $2 trillion over the decade from 2022 to 2031. Details are hidden in a July 2018 Koch Brothers funded report by Charles Blahous of the libertarian Mercatus Center at George Mason University titled "The Costs of a National Single-Payer Healthcare System."  The report correctly estimates that federal health expenditures would increase by $32.6 trillion over the decade, but it doesn't clearly explain that this has no effect on the $2 trillion saving.

Federal health expenditures (FHE), mentioned above, refers to health spending by the federal government.  Another item, national health expenditures (NHE), refers to all or total health spending -- private spending and federal spending including Medicaid and Medicare.  The report estimates current NHE for the decade under the current healthcare system at $59.653 trillion, and NHE under M4A at $57.599 trillion, for a savings under M4A of $2.054 trillion, or 4% for the decade.

But what about the increase in FHE of $32.6 trillion for the decade?  Rather than paying premiums, co-pays, and deductibles to non-federal companies, everyone (because everyone will be insured) will pay a tax to the federal government, and this tax, on average, will be a bit less that they currently pay into the existing healthcare system.  So of course the federal government's expenditures would increase simply because they are being paid more than before to supply healthcare for everyone.  To emphasize that the $32.6 trillion increase in FHE has no effect on the $2.054 trillion savings, the report explicitly states that total national healthcare expenditures (NDE) would decrease by 4%. Note that $2.054 trillion is $2,054 billion. To quote Everett Dirksen, "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money."

Simple common sense also supports the above conclusions. Other progressive countries provide quality healthcare for half the cost of our current system per person and with better outcomes in many cases.  At approximately 2%, Medicare's administrative costs are less than one sixth of many private insurers.  Medicare-for-All would eliminate advertising expenditures which account for up to 15% for private insurers. 

Our current health care system will eventually bankrupt the country.  Compared to France, Japan, Australia, Spain, Italy, and Canada, the U.S. healthcare system: is twice as expensive per person, has several orders of magnitude more medically related bankruptcies, results in lower life expectancy, and has almost three times the maternal death rate. With a combined experience of over 250 years, the countries listed above have provided all of their citizens with less expensive high-quality healthcare.  It's time we joined them.

JLF

References:
- Even Libertarians Admit Medicare for All Would Save Trillions 
- Yes, Medicare for All is expensive. That’s not the point *
- Sorry, Bernie is Right 
- Conservative Think-Tanker Accidentally Argues That Single Payer Could Save Americans $2 Trillion 
- Why Single-Payer Health Care Saves Money *
- The Costs of a National Single-Payer Healthcare System 
- Medicare for All 

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