Ever since the release of Kamala Harris’ Medicare for All Plan, there has been much disinformation spread. From interactions I have had on Twitter and on this site, it quickly becomes clear that those spreading this disinformation are remarkably ignorant of what is actually in the plan.
Clearly, it’s time to demolish the many myths being disseminated over social media.
Let’s start at the top.
Myth: There’s Already an M4A Plan. She can’t use that name.
I’m fact there’s currently two pieces of legislation titled Medicare For All, one presented by Representative Jayapal and one presented by Senator Sanders. These plans are not exactly the same, the most obvious difference being that Jayapal’s Plan is more ambitious in that it calls for a two year rather than four year transition.
The idea of Medicare for All, though, is hardly a new one. Senator Jacob Javitz used the phrase in 1970. Senator Kennedy, a man who worked his entire senatorial career to give Universal Health Care to Americans, introduced the Medicare For All Act in 2006. Representative Dingell introduced a companion act in the House. www.healthcare-now.org/...). This act, like Kamala’s, allowed for the participation of private insurers under highly regulated conditions.
The title “Medicare for All” has been present in one form or another for at least fifty years. It has been used to reference a variety of approaches to the provision of universal health care. No one has copyrighted it. No one owns it.
Myth: Kamala’s Health Care Plan is Not Universal
According to World Health Organization, “Universal health coverage (UHC) means that all people and communities can use the promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative health services they need, of sufficient quality to be effective, while also ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the user to financial hardship.”
WHO requires three conditions to be met.
1. Equity in access to health services - everyone who needs services should get them, not only those who can pay for them.
2. The quality of health services should be good enough to improve the health of those receiving services;
3. People should be protected against financial-risk, ensuring that the cost of using services does not put people at risk of financial harm.
All Americans will have comprehensive health coverage under Kamala’s M4A. All Americans will have equal access under Kamala’s M4A, whether covered under the Public Medicare Plan, Under a Private Insurance Plan, or under a Union negotiated Health Care Plan. If Kamala’s Plan is adopted, there will be no more bankruptcies because people had the misfortune to become ill.
Myth: It’s not Universal if it takes ten years to implement. Hundreds of thousands could die while waiting for the Plan to take effect.
Not after ten years, but right after it becomes law Americans will be able to buy into the current Medicare Plan. Not after 10 years, but right away, everyone who is uninsured and all newborns will be automatically enrolled into the Medicare Plan.
This means that if you have no insurance, have a junk plan with high co-pays, or have a decent plan but one with premiums that are too expensive, you can immediately enrol in the Medicare Plan.
Kamala’s Medicare for All Plan, like the Sanders, Jayapal and Conyers Plans, moves very quickly towards universal coverage. And because it will be both cheaper and more compressive, it will drive down costs for all over the short term.
Myth: Allowing for Private Insurance means people will be denied access to health care, will spend too much or be subject to ridiculous co-pays.
Again, right from the start all uninsured and newborns will be automatically enrolled in Medicare. All will have the ability to leave expensive, inefficient private plans and buy into Medicare. Everyone covered under Medicaid, CHIP, and other government programs will be transitioned to Medicare. If you’re currently covered under an Employer Plan, and you don’t like that plan, you can buy into Medicare.
The private insurance that remains will be subject to strict conditions. “Medicare will set the rules of the road for these plans, including price and quality, and private insurance companies will play by those rules, not the other way around“.
Right now in America, if you want health insurance you have no choice but to use private coverage, unless you qualify for Medicaid or CHIP, are over 65 or on disability. That will end upon passage of Kamala Harris’ Medicare for All Plan. The only Americans that will still be covered under a private plan are those who actively choose to do so. Almost all of these will be those who choose to remain on Employer or Union sponsored plans.
Why anyone would, other than as part of a union contract, choose private over public insurance, is not something I understand. But there are many who have said they want to have that option in place. Kamala listened to these voices and will allow those who prefer this option to have it available.
But the fact of the matter is this. Under Kamala's Medicare For All Plan, if you don’t want to be covered under a private plan, you won’t be.
Myth: “The effect of not supporting [Sanders M4A Plan] is that people will die. And it is fair and honest to point this out”.
This particular atrocity was recently put on Twitter. It is not the first time I have seen criticisms made of Kamala’s Plan using this dishonest and disgusting argument. In fact, similar arguments have been made on this site. Equally ugly, ethically challenged and factually impaired variants of this argument include, “Kamala has been bought by Health Insurance and Pharmacare lobbyists.”
Far from being “fair and honest”, this statement is an outright lie that attempts to demonize good faith attempts to provide Americans with universal coverage under a Medicare For All Plan. It paints both Kamala and those who support her plan, or any other plan that finds a different path to universal coverage, as immoral, as lacking in compassion, lacking in decency, and perfectly willing to allow American citizens to die.
If you prefer Biden’s Healthcare Plan, or Sanders Healthcare Plan, or substantive plans introduced in the House and Senate by Lauren Underwood, Brian Schatz, or Jan Schakowsky, that’s perfectly fine. A reasonable discussion can be held on the merits of each.
But to frame your argument by denigrating the morality of these plans, and to make personal attacks on the honesty and decency of their supporters, is divisive, lazy, and wrong.
Medicare for All is a very personal issue for Kamala Harris. She has spoken often and emotionally about her experience following her mother’s cancer diagnosis and her mother’s death at the hands of that disease. This is a woman who seeks the best healthcare outcomes for all Americans, who understands at a deeply personal level that healthcare is a right and that Americans should be provided with equitable access to care no matter their financial circumstances.
In addition, more than most, she understands that disparity in care is not just a function of financial ability but a function of race, sexual orientation, and gender. Equal access does not mean equal care, to which any woman or person of colour can attest. It is why, for example, she developed detailed legislation to target disparities in maternal health care outcomes over a year before anyone in the press knew it existed as an issue.
Kamala Harris’ Medical For All Plan is based on the long held Democratic Party belief that health care is a right, not a commodity. It will provide comprehensive publicly funded and publicly managed health care to all in America who choose it.
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