CMS Administrator Seema Verma wrote in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal that "Medicare for All" proposals would harm seniors' access to care by bringing all Americans into a system created to support just older adults.
The op-ed, titled, "Medicare for All means hope for none," raises questions about wait times seniors would face under a single-payer system, and the taxpayer cost of such proposals. Citing data from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., and Atlanta-based Emory University's Kenneth Thorpe, PhD, Ms. Verma wrote that estimates of Medicare for All's price tag could total $32.6 trillion and $24.7 trillion, respectively.
"The monetary cost of Medicare for All is surpassed by its moral cost," she writes. "The plan would strip coverage from more than 180 million Americans and force them into government insurance. It will resemble the Veterans Administration, which has been plagued by unreasonable wait times, poor customer service, provider shortages and little accountability in the administration of care."
Medicare for All has become a major debate item on the 2020 presidential campaign trail. Democratic hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said March 26 he supports eliminating private health insurance companies.
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