Considering healthcare will be a central topic in the run up to the 2018 mid-term elections, “Medicare for all” is a concept that is gaining traction among left-leaning politicians. A recent study, though, found that implementation of such a program would cost $32.6 trillion over 10 years.
Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia, a libertarian policy center subsidized by the billionaire conservative activists Charles and David Koch, reported such a policy would require historic tax hikes, according to the AP.
“Enacting something like ‘Medicare for all’ would be a transformative change in the size of the federal government,” said study author Charles Blahous, who was an economic adviser to George W. Bush and a public trustee of Social Security and Medicare during the Obama administration.
While the study cited an increase of $32.6 trillion over 10 years, some economists noted federal healthcare spending would drop overall by just more than $2 trillion.
All U.S. residents would be covered by the proposed health-care policy without copays or deductibles. “Medicare for all” was a central tenet to the 2016 presidential bid of Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont. The democratic socialist released a video thanking the study researchers for showing the plan could produce major savings.
"Let me thank the Koch brothers, of all people, for sponsoring a study that shows that Medicare for All would save the American people $2 trillion over a 10-year period," Sanders said. "I suspected that is not what the Koch brothers intended to do, but that is what is in the study."
Nicholas joined TriMed in 2016 as the managing editor of the Chicago office. After receiving his master’s from Roosevelt University, he worked in various writing/editing roles for magazines ranging in topic from billiards to metallurgy. Currently on Chicago’s north side, Nicholas keeps busy by running, reading and talking to his two cats.