Mark Dudcik, National Coordinator of the Labor Campaign for Single Payer, offers ten important facts that will affect health care reform in 2021 and over the long-term. They help to highlight the challenges and opportunities for health care justice with President-elect Joseph Biden at the helm. Here’s what you need to know:
- 72% of voters support Medicare for All. Fox News exit polls reveal that 72% of the voters were in favor of a “government run healthcare plan”
- All House candidates who cosponsored the Medicare for All Act were reelected. These advocates for Medicare for All even won in swing states.
- The COVID-19 pandemic has caused 14 million people to lose employer-sponsored health coverage. The 14 million Americans include workers who lost their jobs and their families. Since 2017, when President Trump took office, and pre-novel coronavirus pandemic, an additional 2.3 million people lost their health insurance.
- Unions are beginning to see the risk of tying health care to jobs. They are struggling to guarantee health care to their members who have lost their jobs since the pandemic or who are likely to lose them if the economy sinks. With state and local governments in economic distress, union members are likely to face health care benefit cuts.
- President-elect Joe Biden is seeing an outpouring of support from the for-profit health care sector, including the health insurance industry and the pharmaceutical industry.
- President-elect Biden has said that he does not support Medicare for All. Indeed, he said that he would veto it, if passed.
- President-elect Biden proposes a “public option.” It doesn’t look like people will be able to opt for public health insurance, a “public option” in the next year or two. But, even if Congress were to enact legislation allowing people to buy a version of traditional Medicare with an out-of-pocket cap–the only public option that would give people access to the doctors they want to see at a lower cost than they currently pay–it would not address out-of-control health care costs or eliminate the $600 billion in administrative waste in our health care system.
- President-elect Biden proposes lowering the age of Medicare eligibility age to 60. Helping 20 million older people get good coverage is beneficial. But, if Congress were to enact this legislation, which is unlikely in the next two years, it would also need to offer a subsidy to people 60-64, or most people would not be able to afford to enroll inMedicare. Congress would also need to improve traditional Medicare, adding an out-of-pocket cap and drug benefits or it would not be a viable option. People under 65 do not have the right to buy Medicare supplemental insurance, which they would otherwise need to fill gaps in traditional Medicare.
- The Supreme Court could undo some or all of the ACA. Most people do not believe that the Supreme Court will completely undo the ACA, but it still might undo some of it. Democrats in Congress might not have the power to strengthen the ACA.
- Without Congressional action, our people and our economy are likely to suffer tremendously. Congress should pass the Health Care Emergency Guarantee Act, which would help Americans get needed care and stimulate the economy. So, long as Mitch McConnell is Senate Majority Leader, it is unlikely to happen.
Given the state of our Congress and President-elect Biden’s policy agenda, it’s hard to see a clear path forward to a better health care system in the near future. But, those of us who believe health care is a human right need to continue to make our voices heard and to pressure our political leaders to do right by Americans and guarantee everyone access to affordable care.
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