WASHINGTON, DC (April 11, 2019): The Council for Affordable Health Coverage (CAHC) – a coalition of employers, insurers, life science companies, PBMs, brokers, agents, patient groups, and physician organizations – responded to the introduction of the Medicare for All Act by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and 14 Senate Democrat cosponsors.
The bill would enact a single-payer healthcare system in four years that outlaws private insurance coverage (Title I, Section 107), thereby throwing more than 180 million Americans off their current employer-sponsored plans. A recent study pegged the cost of Medicare for All at $32.6 trillion.
CAHC President Joel White released the following statement:
“The ‘Medicare for All’ Act, like similar legislation introduced earlier this year in the House of Representatives, is completely divorced from reality. It will cause healthcare costs to explode, it threatens to diminish access to lifesaving care through lower reimbursement rates, and it would disrupt coverage for millions who like their private insurance plan and want to keep it. Instead of ‘Medicare for All,’ it would mean choice for none. It is a fundamentally dishonest and wrongheaded way to address our pressing healthcare cost and access challenges.”
“Rather than committing to such unserious proposals, we encourage lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to join us in advancing market-based solutions to address uncompetitive markets, unleash the potential of value-based care, enact needed fixes to the Affordable Care Act, and combat the underlying drivers of our unsustainable medical cost trend.”
Read about CAHC’s policy solutions to save up to $100 billion annually in total health costs, as outlined in a recent letter to the Senate HELP Committee, here.
