SINGLE PAYER — IN THE MEDIA
(aka Medicare for All)
On this page, we highlight a selection of recent articles and opinion pieces from mainstream media and think-tanks. Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between objective reports of events and statements of opinion, or between “mainstream” or “alternative.”In order to stay aligned with LWV non-partisan guidelines, we have tried to steer clear of partisan opinions, for example, when mention of a political party or candidate is not a report of something that happens.
NEWS
● “The health-care industry is letting surgeons behave like muggers.” Washington Post, Jan 13, 2020.
● “Envisioning a Better U.S. Health Care System for All:A Call to Action by the American College of Physicians.” Report of ACP Health and Public Policy Committee and Medical Practice and Quality Committee.Annals of Internal MedicineJan. 21, 2020.Read more..
● Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) takes out a full-page ad in the NY Times to celebrate the ACP endorsement, signed by 1,000 physicians.Here is the beginning of the ad: “As Physicians, We Prescribe Medicare for All”. Full list of signatures atwww.pnhp.org/2020.Read more aboutother media coverage lists.
● “Guide to following the Health Care Debate in 2020 Election”, Kaiser Family Foundation HealthBent Newsletter, 1-30-20.
● The Special Interests behind Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s Medicare for All Bill Are Not the Usual Suspects,”(that is, they are unusual special interests because they are advocating *for* the public good, not against it as are most groups lobbying for their private special interest).
● “Improving the prognosis of health care in the USA.”A Yale study inLancet, Feb 2020, demonstrates how Medicare for All can alleviate the crisis in U.S. Healthcare.
● “Thanks to the Koch Brothers, We Have More Proof that Single Payer Saves More and Cares for All of Us.” A study by the ultra-conservative Koch Brothers’ Think Tank, the Mercatus Center, was intended to make the case against Medicare for All, but revealed instead that the reform could save Americans trillions of dollars compared to business as usual.Read more..
● “The Leap to Single Payer: What Taiwan Can Teach.”NY Times, Dec. 2017. Taiwan’s ambition showed what is possible when there is political will.“It took five years of planning and two years of legislative efforts to accomplish its transformation [to Single Payer].”Read more..
● “How the Senate Paved the Way for Coronavirus Profiteering, and How Congress Could Undo It”, March 2, 2020.
● “Big Pharma Prepares to Profit from the Corona Virus”,in the Intercept, March 13, 2020.Pharmaceutical companies view COVID19 as a once-in-a-lifetime business opportunity.
● “Millions of Americans are about to lose their health insurance in a pandemic,” (TheGuardian, Mar 27, 2020).Former insurance industry executive, Wendell Potter, explains, “As people lose work, their employer-provided insurance goes away–at a time when premiums for health plans sold [to unemployed individuals] on exchanges are projected to soar, due to unexpected Covid-19 costs”.Read more..
● “Has Coronavirus Made the Ultimate Case for Medicare for All?”In the Intercept, April 23, 2020,public health care expert Dr. Abdul El-Sayed joins Mehdi Hasan to discuss whether universal health care — Medicare for All — could be the cure for the ills of our ailing system. Read more..
● “Masks, Gowns, and Medicare for All.” Healthcare worker J. Michels, in the Intercept, March 2020, says. “Thoughts and prayers are nice, but healthcare workers need personal protective equipment (PPE)…and transformative health reform like Medicare for All.
● “17-year-old dies of coronavirus, was turned away for lacking insurance,”NY PostMar 28, 2020.He died on his way to a public hospital.Read more..
OPINION
● “Sanders’ Plan May Be Expensive but Inaction Would Cost Much More.”Robert Reich, economist, professor, and author who served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, was Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton, and a member of President Barack Obama’s economic transition advisory board, reminds us in this article in The Guardian, Feb 23, 2020.
● “Free Market Fails on Health Care:We Need Medicare for All. ”USA Today, July 2019.Businessman and lawmaker David Steil says, “It’s time to accept that the free market doesn’t work for health care. Patients can’t do comparison shopping from the back of an ambulance.”Read more..
● “By Increasing Corporate Power over Medicare, Trump Threatens Health Care for Seniors and Americans with Disabilities.”Statement by Eagen Kemp, Health Care Policy Advocate, Oct. 3, 2019.
● Letter to the Editor of the MinnesotaStar Tribune(Dec. 2019), executive ruling mandating transparency in hospital pricing punishes the wrong people.
● “The ‘Strongest Argument Against Medicare for All’is very, very weak. “According to the author, Vermont does not represent a failure of Medicare for All–they never implemented it.
