After 43 days, the government shutdown has ended. After President Donald Trump illegally and cruelly cut off SNAP benefits to desperate Americans, including 16 million children, 42 million scared people will once again put food on the table. Federal workers get paid. And hopefully airline schedules will return to normal.
But here’s what will also happen: At a time when we are already paying by far the highest prices in the world for health care, insurance premiums will skyrocket for tens of millions, and 15 million of the coverage they currently have will be thrown away. As a result, studies tell us that 50,000 Americans will die needlessly every year. The lockdown is over. The pain, suffering and death begin.
And all this is taking place in an economy that is already rigged. The rich are getting much richer, while working families are finding it increasingly difficult just to survive.
SEN DICK DURBIN: DEMOCRATS FIGHTING TO PROTECT HEALTH CARE AS TRUMP, REPUBLICANS PLAY SHUTDOWN GAMES
Here’s the good news:
If you are Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, you are $163 billion richer since Trump was elected. And even better, you’re on your way to becoming the world’s first trillionaire by having Tesla build millions of robots that will otherwise decimate good-paying jobs across our country.
But it’s not just Musk. The other multi-billionaires who were behind Trump at his inauguration, people like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, are also doing phenomenally well. At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, the richest 1 percent now own even more wealth than the bottom 93 percent, corporate profits are soaring, and CEOs are receiving huge pay packages.
Here’s the bad news:
For those of you who aren’t wealthy, chances are you’re struggling to make ends meet. Today, 60 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Millions of hardworking families are finding it increasingly difficult to afford housing, healthcare, child care, education – or even groceries. Unfortunately, 22 percent of seniors try to live on $15,000 a year or less. Nearly half of older workers have no pension savings. And a majority of young people are likely to experience a lower standard of living than their parents. It is a shame that in the richest country in the world we now have the highest poverty rates among the elderly and children of almost any major country.
And it’s about to get a whole lot worse as a result of the continuing resolution recently signed into law by President Trump.
Let me give you some examples.
The average 60-year-old couple earning about $85,000 a year will see their monthly premiums rise from $602 to $2,647 – a fourfold increase in rates and an increase of about $24,500 a year. When you add in out-of-pocket expenses, many of these couples pay nearly 50% of their income for health care. That’s insane. That is untenable. People just can’t do it.
The average family of four earning $44,000 a year will see their monthly premiums triple – from $85 to $253.
The average person earning $32,000 a year will also see his or her monthly premiums triple – from $58 to $180.
For what? Why would we turn 15 million people off their health care and double premiums for over 20 million people? The answer: pay for a $1 trillion tax break for the top 1%. Yes. Musk gets a tax break. Millions are losing their health care. That may make sense to someone, but not to me.
President Trump and some Republicans in Congress have complained that the Affordable Care Act is not an efficient way to deliver health care. They’re right. Unfortunately, what they propose is even worse.
While details are still vague, they want to eliminate the Affordable Care Act tax breaks, which cost an average of $6,500, and send checks to about 20 million Americans to buy health care on their own.
Here’s the problem: How can someone who needs $150,000 a year for cancer treatment get the care he needs with a check for $6,500? What’s a pregnant mother to do with a $6,500 check when the average cost of childbirth in America is $20,000? How can someone having a heart attack pay for a $100,000 hospital stay with just $6,500?
This absurd proposal would lead to more medical bankruptcies, more unaffordable care, and more Americans without the health care they so desperately need.
So, where do we go from here?
In the short term, we need to expand the Affordable Care Act’s tax credits to avoid massive premium increases. We must repeal the $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and the ACA so that 15 million Americans don’t lose their health care. Too many people will suffer and die if we do not take these actions.
Longer term, as Congress and as a nation, we need to have a serious discussion about the kind of health care system we want. Here are some of the questions that need to be answered:
Should we remain the only major country on earth that does not guarantee healthcare for all as a human right?
What can we learn from other countries that provide health care to all their residents at half the per capita cost?
How can we provide high-quality healthcare to every man, woman and child in our country in a cost-effective manner?
Should the primary function of our healthcare system be to enable insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry to make enormous profits?
In my opinion, the answer to these questions is not complicated. We must improve and expand Medicare to all Americans.
And that’s exactly what the Medicare for All Act—which I introduced along with fifteen of my colleagues in the Senate and more than a hundred members of the House of Representatives—would do over a four-year transition period.
How does Medicare for All work?
It would provide comprehensive health care for every American and end all premiums, deductibles, co-pays and out-of-pocket costs. It would create a much simpler and more efficient system. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, Medicare for All would save $650 billion a year, largely by eliminating the extraordinary amount of administrative waste and insurance company profiteering. There would be no more “networks” and every American would have the freedom to choose their own doctors and hospitals. Medicare for All would also do a much better job of keeping Americans healthy by placing a greater emphasis on disease prevention and primary care. It would be financed by a progressive tax system that requires the rich and big corporations to pay their fair share of taxes.
In the first year, Medicare benefits for seniors would be expanded to include dental care, vision coverage and hearing aids, and the age of eligibility would be lowered to 55. All children under the age of 18 would also be included in the system.
In the second year, the voting age would be lowered to 45; in the third year up to 35 years. By year four, every man, woman and child in America would be covered by Medicare for All.
Guaranteeing healthcare as a human right is not only morally and economically necessary. At a time when the overwhelming majority of Americans understand that our current system is broken, dysfunctional, and cruel, the need to move in a very different direction is long overdue. Medicare for All is the answer.
Let’s get it done.
