BIlly Long: Medicare for All will be Health Care for None

(From Seventh District Congressman Billy Long)

After passing Obamacare without one Republican vote, the Old Blue Democrats promised over and over again that if you liked your health care plan, you could keep it.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Several months after Obamacare passed, 4 million Americans were told they couldn’t keep their health care plan. 

Now, almost 10 years later, the New Green Democrat Majority is serving up a whopper that would make Paul Bunyan blush. They are now proposing a one-size-fits-all health care plan in lieu of Obamacare.

The New Green Democrat Majority recently introduced Medicare for All legislation that would scrap our current health care system and replace it with a government-run, single-payer system. 

This radical socialist policy would eliminate all private and employer-sponsored health care plans that currently cover 216 million Americans. 

This so-called health care for all plan would get rid of a number of specialized programs that cover 58 million seniors and disabled individuals, eliminate TRICARE, our current health care system for our military and their families, as well as the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which covers nearly 7 million children.

A recent poll revealed that 60 percent of Americans wanted nothing to do with Medicare for All once they realized how much more in taxes they would have to pay. 

If implemented, Medicare for All would cost hardworking taxpayers $32 trillion over the next decade. This would require enormous tax hikes, specifically on middle class families. 

Numerous studies have shown that even doubling the federal and corporate income taxes and tripling payroll taxes wouldn’t be enough to pay for this new health care system.

Not only would Medicare for All cost trillions of dollars, it would hinder patient’s access to care. Hospitals would lose $150 billion a year under Medicare for All. Your access to care will certainly be impeded, and several countries are proof of this. 

In 2017, the average wait time in Canada for a patient going to see a general practitioner followed by a specialist was more than 10 weeks. Some specialized doctors had wait lists up to 5 months. That’s not an issue in the U.S. 

Along with longer wait times, a Medicare for All system would mean more bureaucratic red tape for new, lifesaving drugs. Compared to the Food and Drug Administration, the European Medicines Agency approves drugs at a much slower rate, and even when approved, takes longer to get them to patients. Again, not a problem in the U.S.

As much as the New Green Democrat Majority tries to sugarcoat this massive government overreach as a win for the American people, the realities of Medicare for All are much different. I will continue to fight against this socialist plan by proposing free market solutions that work for the people rather than against. When hospitals start losing $150 Billion a year, Medicare for All will soon need to be renamed Healthcare for None.