Perspectives: All About Bernie’s ‘Medicare-For-All’ Plan
Editorial writers offer a variety of opinions on the single-payer health plan proposal advanced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Los Angeles Times:
Does Bernie Sanders' Single-Payer Plan Have A Shot?
Sen. Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for All” plan, unveiled last week, is an ambitious and (to many) enticing idea: a single, government-run health plan with generous benefits for everyone — just like most industrialized countries have enjoyed for decades. If only it were feasible in today’s United States. (Doyle McManus, 9/17)
Chicago Tribune:
Bernie Sanders' Medicare For All Is A Delusional Promise
Bernie Sanders has a health care plan he calls Medicare for all. He’s underselling it. His proposal really should be called Medicare for all and a pony. It’s everything you could want and then some. ... It’s not clear that we as a country can afford Medicare as it currently exists. Merely preserving it without significant cuts would eventually require a tax increase that working people would resent. But instead of looking for ways to economize, the Vermont senator wants to expand the program in a way that the term “vast” barely begins to capture. (Steve Chapman, 9/15)
The New York Times:
Buried Inside Bernie Sanders’s Bill: A Fallback Plan
The Bernie Sanders “Medicare for All” plan promises rapid, sweeping change to the American health care system, with the elimination of all private insurance and the creation of a costly new government insurance program that will cover everyone and nearly every medical service. But deep in its back pages is a more modest fallback plan. ... During that interim, some younger Americans would be able to buy access to the traditional Medicare program, which is now mainly for those 65 and up. The provisions would also establish an option for Americans to buy access to a Medicare-like government plan that would be sold on the Obamacare exchanges. (Margot Sanger-Katz, 9/15)
WBUR:
Bernie Sanders’s Single-Payer Swoon
Bernie Sanders filed his “Medicare for All” bill to erect a single-payer system, plugging his plan from a prime perch on The New York Times op-ed page. ... Normally, this is where we’d cue the pitfalls-of-single payer part. But first, we need to hose down the fevered scaremongers on the right who oppose single payer for dumb reasons, insisting that would turn us into a goose-stepping Amerika. (Rich Barlow, 9/18)
The Washington Post:
The Democrats Have Become Socialists
When Bernie Sanders launched his bid for the Democratic nomination, he was often asked whether he, a democratic socialist, would actually become a Democrat. Now, more than a year after he ignited a movement with his unsuccessful bid, that question is moot. The Democrats have become socialists. (Dana Milbank, 9/13)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
We Need Conservative Health Care Solutions
This ... approach to health care would dramatically increase taxes on every American while also skyrocketing our national debt by nearly 70%. That’s socialism at work. It’s unconscionable — and frankly, it’s dangerous. (Kevin Nicholson, 9/15)
