In Florida, a 7-year old boy in remission from leukemia and in need of a biopsy recently lost his Medicaid coverage. His mother can’t afford private health insurance and has nowhere else to turn. When she calls her son’s doctors, they tell her, “it's absolutely necessary that he needs medical treatment but we can't make them give you your insurance back.”1
This boy is one of hundreds of thousands of low-income Americans who have been kicked off Medicaid in the past weeks as pandemic protections expired.>Many of those losing coverage are children. The government estimates that 15 million people will be kicked off Medicaid by the end of the year.2
This is unacceptable. In the richest country on earth, no one should have to avoid or delay medical treatment because of costs. Last month, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Pramila Jayapal reintroduced the Medicare for All Act with a record number of cosponsors. As millions lose their health care, it’s never been clearer why we need Medicare for All.3
Republican Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has led the way on aggressively kicking people off Medicaid. In April, Arkansas took coverage away from 73,000 people, including about 27,000 children 17 and under. A majority of those who lost coverage in Arkansas were dropped for procedural reasons.2
Instead of subjecting Americans to our current confusing, expensive insurance system, the Medicare for All Act of 2023 would create a universal health insurance program that would ensure quality health care to everyone. There would be no out-of-pocket expenses, insurance premiums, deductibles, or co-payments.
As Senator Sanders said, “The American people understand, as I do, that health care is a human right, not a privilege...As we speak, there are millions of people who would like to go to a doctor but cannot afford to do so. That is an outrage.”4
Besides ensuring quality, free health care to everyone, Medicare for All would also be far cheaper than our current system. Americans pay nearly twice per capita on health care as other comparable nations, yet we have worse health outcomes. Infant mortality rates, life expectancy, and other markers are significantly worse in the United States than other industrialized countries with public health care.5
We must fix this broken system and ensure that all Americans have access to free, quality medical care.
Sources:
- ABC, “Florida mom left with no answers on Medicaid as her child waits for treatment,” May 02, 2023.
- New York Times, “Hundreds of Thousands Have Lost Medicaid Coverage Since Pandemic Protections Expired,” May 26, 2023.
- Bernie Sanders, "NEWS: Sanders, Jayapal, Dingell More Than 120 Colleagues in House and Senate Reintroduce Medicare for All,” May 17, 2023.
- Bernie Sanders, Twitter, May 12, 2023.
- Bernie Sanders, "Medicare for All Factsheet,” May 12, 2022.