The logic underpinning Medicare for all who want it

Blog as sketchpad: as employer-sponsored insurance continues to slowly, steadily bleed Americans white, I think the case for a strong public option that anyone can buy into on an affordable, income-adjusted basis boils down to a few simple propositions:

1. Employer insurance is deteriorating because employers (through insurance intermediaries) lack pricing power. Every year, premium and OOP increases exceed inflation and wage growth.

2. The competition needed to endow them with that power is a strong public option paying providers Medicare rates or some variant.

3. Once such a public option establishes all-payer rates, either de facto or by fiat**, we will have space to determine whether private insurance adds any value

4. Under those revamped market conditions, we can afford to be agnostic as to whether private insurance survives or dies.

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FN - This little credo started life as a postscript to a slightly longer version of the argument.

* The Medicare for America bill, which establishes a strong public option paying modified Medicare rates (110% Medicare, with adjustments for primary care, mental health and underserved areas), stipulates that providers who accept the public plan must accept the same payment rates from commercial insurers. Competition from a strong public option could more slowly have the same effect.

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