Not since the Bernie Sanders presidential runs five and ten years ago has “Medicare for All” had so much attention on the national stage.
With multiple candidates winning primaries on a platform including this pledge, we gathered some evidence to demonstrate what costs could come with a dramatic scaling of the public health care program.
Splitting a Big Bill
Multiplied by the 342.85 million U.S. citizens, that would be an annual cost of $6.5 trillion, or an increase of over $5 trillion. That’s likely a significant overestimate – it would cost far less than $18,894 to cover most young people, since seniors require more healthcare.
Previous estimates from George Mason University and the Urban Institute predicted federal spending would increase $3-3.5 trillion under “Medicare for All.” That still brings the total potential spending to more like $4.2 to $4.7 trillion, a staggering figure.
Medicare Already Lacks Funding
Of course, “Medicare for All” would cause health care spending to go down in other areas, as it would replace private health insurance. It’s unclear whether the net result would be more or less healthcare spending, but those dollars spent by households on private coverage would not simply be freed up; they’d need to head to Washington to pay for massive growth to what was considered a safety-net program.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated in 2020 that total healthcare spending could decrease up to $700 billion or increase up to $300 billion per year under Medicare for All, a huge range that demonstrates the uncertainty to come with such a plan.
