Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association, cautioned against "Medicare for All" proposals in a Feb. 22 blog post, writing that such legislation "could do more harm than good to patient care."
Four things to know:
1. About a third of Americans share Mr. Pollack's concerns about Medicare for All proposals. According to a recent survey from NORC at the University of Chicago, 30 percent of respondents said they think care quality would worsen under Medicare for All, while 28 percent said care quality would improve and 39 percent said it would stay the same.
2. In Mr. Pollack's post, he argued that patient access "could be impacted because physicians and other providers may limit the number of Medicare or Medicaid patients they see because of chronic government underpayment." He continued: "Hospitals are already paid far less than the cost of caring for Medicare patients, and more patients with Medicare would strain hospitals even more, and could threaten hospitals' survival."
3. In his post, Mr. Pollack warned that a "one-size-fits-all approach" to health insurance could upend coverage for more than 180 million Americans who receive insurance through their employer. He added policymakers should prioritize fixing "what's broken instead of ripping apart our entire healthcare system and starting from scratch." This includes Medicaid expansion in nonexpansion states, strengthening individual marketplaces and implementing insurance mandates.
4. Mr. Pollack's remarks come on the heels of several Medicare for All proposals that 2020 presidential candidates have brought to the campaign trail. Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., said in January she supports Medicare for All policies during a CNN town hall Jan. 28, and would consider ending private health insurance.
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