Why Single Payer or Medicare for All is good for YOU

Progress is being made towards a Single Payer system but there is still a lot of opposition.
Here are reasons its good for you and some talking points.

I dont want to pay for someone elses healthcare, especially if they dont work

A common objection and while its not very christian or humanitarian it is pragmatic and understandable. But there is a problem with that objection.

• You already are. Those who dont have insurance or have medical conditions not covered by their insurance often raise medical costs which means higher costs for everyone.
• Understand how insurance works. Insurance companies are businesses that need to make a profit. To do that they get tax subsidies and charge customers more than thy pay out. I paid insurance through work for decades and almost never used it, they loved me. My coworkers benefited from that which I dont mind, the insurance company benefited more though. As a patriot I would rather that extra went to the USA than a private company, especially one I had no choice or voice in.

Government is inefficient, I trust companies to be more efficient

• We all know government bureaucracy can get crazy and a company is more likely to cut costs. So that makes sense insurance companies are better than government health care right? Nope, here is why. The goal of an insurance company is to avoid paying for healthcare so they have higher administrative and other overhead due to trying to male it hard for customers to get coverage. How pleasant is all that paperwork and phone calls when your sick? Its even worse for your doctor who has to hire staff just to navigate the insurance maze.  That drives medical costs up, while giving you less coverage and higher deductibles. Its just smart business for them to do everything they can to avoid covering your medical expenses.
• Medicare and VA healthcare are very efficient at delivering healthcare at a lower cost because they cut a lot of that overhead. As a veteran I see a huge difference between my VA care and private care covered by insurance. Now the VA is understaffed and underfunded so sometimes you have delays but there is no doubt its better and the numbers show costs less (not just me but overall costs).
• Singlepayer does not get rid of private practice, it just changes the dynamic of who you pay. Insurance or government. So its not privatized medicine or an attack on capitalism.
• Paying for our health care: Either way the money is coming out of our paycheck, either a payroll tax or a deduction to the insurance company. If I get taxed an extra 2% on my paycheck but dont have to pay $80 a check to an insurance company, plus no deductables and even better no paperwork or arguments with insurance companies I call that a win for me. How about you?
• Business no longer have to worry about paying and dealing with insurance companies. Maybe they get taxed so they pay the same as they do now, maybe not. Either way they likely will pay less, especially since they dont have to make deals. Also they dont have to worry about hiring part time to avoid medical requirements for full timers, same with how many people they can hire or have to force everyone to be a "temp" employee.

No lapses in coverage or preexisting condition restrictions

• If you change jobs you often have to wait 90 days before you can get coverage through the new job, your old coverage may lapse or requie special higher cost programs like COBRA. What if you get sick?  Or what if you get laid off work? No you have no coverage despite being a hard worker and taxpayer!
• Preexisting conditions, as a vet injuries sustained during military duty not covered by my insurance, If they could try and blame my doctor visit on that they would (and did) to avoid paying. Pregnancy is considered a preexisiting condition in some states so women have to pay more, that fair? Takes both sexes to have a baby after all. Injured on the job? Once you get another job those expenses may not be covered with new insurance.

Medicare for All means you pay less per paycheck and get better medical care. This is not a dream or guesswork, the evidence is in every other industrial country in the world where they have better care at less than half what we pay.  Why should the richest and greatest country in the world have the worst and most expensive healthcare?

The way we do it now just makes no sense.  Except to the insurance and pharmaceutical companies!

More notes here...