Medicare for America

WARNING: I can not emphasize enough just how many assumptions I'm making here. I could be ABSURDLY off at either end of the scale; the actual cost could turn out to be half as much as I project here...or twice as much. This is purely a crude, early attempt to game out the basic framework for determining the actual cost, and there's a lot of missing data, which means having to make some pretty big assumptions about the current situation, much less projecting things forward.

All of this being said, I decided to take a crack at figuring out just how much additional federal spending might be needed in order to properly fund the "Medicare for America" universal healthcare coverage proposal.

So, this is a thing which happened:

Had a great time discussing #MedicareForAll opposite @charles_gaba on Medicare for America for Ferndale Dems. Happy to report no one was called a neoliberal or a Bernie bro.

Follow @detroitdsam4a and @dsam4a for more on M4A. Charles' work can be found at https://t.co/RTP68atFhA

— Kyle Minton (@JuniorMinton) May 17, 2019

NOTE: Back in January, I wrote up an extensive explainer about the "Medicare for America" (Med4Am) universal healthcare coverage bill introduced in December by Democratic Representatives (and Progressive Caucus members, I might add) Rosa DeLauro and Jan Schakowsky.

Regular readers know that I've been a fan of the basic #Med4Am framework for over a year, dating back to the "Medicare Extra for All" proposal introduced by the Center for American Progress (CAP) back in April 2018.

Yesterday, DeLauro & Schakowsky have introduced a modified, improved version of Medicare for America, with some important changes. I'm therefore posting an updated version of my January explainer of the bill, with notes about what's changed since the December version.

Saturday, May 18th, 9:00am: Fems for Change: Healthcare, Who Knew It Could Be So Complicated?

  • Birmingham First United Methodist Church, 1589 W. Maple Rd., Birmingham, MI 48009

Turn on the TV, open a newspaper, browse social media: everyone is talking about new ideas for expanding American healthcare coverage. As consumers and voters, it can be hard to know which option is best for our families, our neighbors, and our nation.

This timely forum will help you make sense of Medicare for All; Medicare and Medicaid Buy-Ins; adding public plan features to private insurance; improving the Affordable Care Act (ACA); and other options discussed in the media.

*("major" is obviously a subjective term depending on who's using it.)

Until this weekend, "Medicare for All or Bust" seemed to be the most critical litmus test for any major 2020 Democratic Presidential candidate. No fewer than sixteen Democratic Senators co-sponsored Bernie Sanders' S.1804 "Medicare for All" single payer bill in September 2017, including five of the six U.S. Senators currently running for the 2020 nomination: Sanders himself, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren (the only Senator running who didn't cosponsor the bill was Amy Klobuchar.)

Recently, however, there have been a few interesting developments along the "Where do the Dem candidates stand on healthcare policy" front:

 

via Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent:

Early concept art has revealed a very different look for Toy Story's dynamic duo, Woody and Buzz Lightyear.

Pixar's first feature started life as a full-length take on their short Tin Story, which saw a mechanical drummer attempting to navigate his way through a baby's playroom. The drummer was soon ditched for a more glamorously conceived "space toy" named Lunar Larry, later renamed Buzz Lightyear in honour of famed astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin.

The original concept pitched its drummer against an antagonistic ventriloquist's dummy, who gradually evolved into a pull-string cowboy doll named Woody, inspired by Western actor Woody Strode.

Yes, Woody was originally the bad guy; though his character didn't prove popular with his voice actor Tom Hanks, who reportedly shouted "This guy is a jerk!" while recording lines for the story reel.

UPDATE 4/16/19: Please note that this overview refers to the version of Medicare for America introduced in December 2018. There's a revised version of the bill being re-introduced in the near future which is expected to include several important changes. The only two which have been made public so far are: 1) Deductibles are expected to be eliminated altogether; and 2) the upper-end percent-of-income maximum premium is supposed to drop from 9.69% to an even 9.0%.

There's a half-dozen or more different healthcare policy overhaul bills which are being batted around by Congressional Democrats these days, ranging from the fairly modest ("lower the Medicare buy-in to age 50!") up through the full-blown, "pure" Single Payer bill being pushed by Bernie Sanders & other "Medicare for All" activists.

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