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American health care is at a crossroads. Health spending reached $3.5 trillion in 2017. Yet more than 27 million people remain uninsured. And it's unclear if all that spending is buying higher-quality care.
Patients, doctors, insurers, and the government acknowledge that the status quo is unsustainable. America's last attempt at health care reform-Obamacare-didn't work. Nearly a decade after its passage, Democrats are calling for a government takeover of the nation's health care system: Medicare for All.
Supporters of Medicare for All assert the right to health care, promising universal, high-quality care to all Americans at no cost. With a sales pitch like that, it's no wonder the idea has broad support. Democrats, particularly progressive ones, hope to capitalize on this enthusiasm.
Here Sally C. Pipes makes a case against Medicare for All. Using evidence from government-run systems in Canada and the U.K. she explains how single-payer health care makes a litany of promises it can't possibly keep.
Between unpacking the plans under consideration in Congress-including the real costs behind the claims-and detailing the horrors of single-payer care in other countries, Pipes highlights how Americans actually fare better than their peers in Canada and the U.K. on health outcomes. Included are heart-wrenching stories of the human costs of free, universal, government-run health care systems.
Pipes concludes with her vision for delivering the affordable, accessible, quality care the American people are looking for.
About the author
Sally C. Pipes is president, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy at the Pacific Research Institute, a San Francisco-based think tank founded in 1979. Prior to becoming president of PRI in 1991, she was assistant director of the Fraser Institute, based in Vancouver, Canada.
Summary
American health care is at a crossroads. Health spending reached $3.5 trillion in 2017. Yet more than 27 million people remain uninsured. And it's unclear if all that spending is buying higher-quality care. Patients, doctors, insurers, and the government acknowledge that the healthcare status quo is unsustainable. America's last attempt at
