"Medicare for all" builds momentum

Following a survey of the political landscape from last month, the New York Times published a follow-up, detailing the progress of the "Medicare for all" movement. In particular, the article highlighted that "Medicare for all" would prevent private insurance companies from offering primary insurance. Such a drastic measure would have wide-reaching implications for the industry. Humorously,

"Gerald Friedman, a labor economist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who was close to Mr. Sanders's 2016 campaign, estimated then that it could reduce the nation's health care spending by $6 trillion over a decade, while the left-leaning Urban Institute said it might increase the overall bill by nearly $7 trillion."

Supporters of the sweeping policy change believe that removing private health insurance companies is key to reducing the administrative load of each provider group negotiating with several insurance companies. At the same time, many provider groups also favor patients with private insurance over Medicare. Regardless, it seems that as long as the Republicans have more than forty senators in Congress, Medicare for all is unlikely to be passed any time soon.