WASHINGTON (TNND) — From New York to Michigan, Medicare-for-all has become a major campaign issue this election cycle, drawing sharp opposition from many Republicans who argue a single-payer, government-run health care system would be too costly and disruptive.
With the November midterms approaching, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, recently criticized Democratic-led states and candidates who have proposed Medicare-for-all or other single-payer systems.
Brian Blase, president of Paragon Health Institute told The National News Desk Monday, annual cost estimates he has seen are in the trillions. “At a federal level, the estimates that I’ve seen of the cost of Medicare for all each year would be three to four trillion dollars,” Blase said.
Why have the Democrats not implemented socialized medicine in California?” Cruz said while speaking with Fox News over the weekend.
Cruz said California has not moved forward because of the potential economic impact. “They studied it, they examined it, and they discovered that it would destroy the economy, that it would cause billions of dollars of economic damage, that it would cause small businesses to flee the state. That they couldn’t afford it,” Cruz said.
No U.S. state currently operates a comprehensive statewide single-payer health insurance system. However, several Democratic-led states have pursued one, with Oregon currently developing what could become the first.
Single-payer and government-run health care systems have also been central to the campaigns of multiple Democratic candidates, including in Michigan, where Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed has pushed for transforming the American health care system. While appearing on “Meet the Press” this past weekend, El-Sayed described the proposal this way:
What Medicare for All is, is guaranteed health insurance from cradle until the moment you pass away, G-d willing at 120 years old after a long, healthy life and it comes without premiums or co-pays or deductibles and it guarantees you care where you need it.
Estimates of the federal cost vary because benefit coverage, provider payments and financing differ across proposals. The Urban Institute has estimated a single-payer system could add around $34 trillion in new federal spending over a decade.
Brian Blase, president of Paragon Health Institute told The National News Desk Monday, annual cost estimates he has seen are in the trillions. “At a federal level, the estimates that I’ve seen of the cost of Medicare for all each year would be three to four trillion dollars,” Blase said.
Blase said there are two main reasons state-level single-payer health care has not been implemented: disruption and financing. “At a federal level, you could raise the national debt. States can’t do that. So states wouldn’t have any capacity to be able to finance it,” he said.
Blase also said he believes many Democratic candidates are running on Medicare-for-all and single-payer policies because the message is simple, but he said there are tradeoffs. “One, is to increase the role of government and the size of government, you’re going to have to have significantly higher taxes and then the second is the allocation of services,” Blase said.
In Oregon, the state’s single-payer health care system is being designed by the Universal Health Plan Governance Board. Lawmakers are expected to vote on the proposal next year but because of the tax changes required to fund it, the plan could be referred to voters as a ballot measure in 2028.