There is much more to this than universal coverage.

Sen Sander’s vision of universal health care coverage carries no deductibles, no co-pays and adds dental and vision coverage. In other words, no cost at the point of service. It would be funded primarily through new taxes. Lots of new taxes. In Canada a typical family pays over $11,000 a year for their free health care.

His plan assumes large administrative savings, savings from government “negotiating” drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies and increasing use of generics and it assumes significant reductions in fees paid to doctors and hospitals.

Clearly all Americans would have better coverage and thirty million or so Americans would receive coverage free of out-of-pocket costs for the first time.

😷 Do you think it’s possible that pent-up demand plus free access to all the care you want might put a strain on the system to provide services, drive up demand and spending?

😷 Do you think that lowering the fees paid to health care providers might contribute, even create a shortage of providers just as demand increases?

😷 Do you think Americans would have any reason to care what health services they receive cost?

😷 Do you think negotiating drug prices would limit the choice of drugs in the same drug class? That is, limited formularies.

Now …

😡 do you think managing all this will actually lower administrative costs?

😡 do you think health care spending can be managed under such a system without the types of controls, oversight, reviews and approvals currently employed by health insurers?

😡 are you aware of the various forms of rationing used by other universal coverage systems as they struggle to manage costs on an ongoing basis?

😡 are you comfortable with a massive federal bureaucracy managing your health care?

Proponents of Medicare-for-All focus on universal coverage and converting payment from premiums and out-of-pocket cost sharing to taxes (implied mostly paid by others) … but there is much more to it that few people talk about.