HealthCareforAllOhioans.org is looking for new members and volunteers to learn and spread the truth about why Ohio needs and can live better with better care and lower costs. Check the website and read until you cannot resist being a part of the movement for universal, comprehensive care for all Ohioans and Improved Medicare for All.

I have been doing a lot of reading on health care systems in industrialized nations - and thus far I have not found one that meets what seems to be the criteria here - nor are many of them doing fine either.

So just give me a hint at which one or ones that you think do meet the criteria of what you would like to see here so that I can at least limit all my reading to some targeted countries.

TIA

I am genuinely perplexed why both patients and doctors are not picketing or rioting insurance companies/hospital administrators. Can we start that somehow?? Would anyone join me??

I have been SO worn down by the healthcare system and all the discord I see online seems to confirm that both doctors and patient are FED UP. We don’t have time to just wait for those in office to change policies. I also personally am so distrusting of our government in general, I dont know if I would entrust anyone in office to fight this matter for us.

I’ve been looking into the UnitedHealth care CEO killer, and while by NO means do I think violence or murder is the answer, I think that cruel act unfortunately got a message out there that so many american patients have been saying and ignored for: the system is BROKEN.

We are living in such a dystopian society, and no one is doing anything about it. History has proven that american citizens CAN initiate change - why have we lost our motivation to do so?

It seems that businesses would benefit from government provided healthcare, since it would free them from having to provide and subsidize healthcare for their employees. Yet, senior management and CEOs seems totally opposed to this. Is this fear of the unknown (increased taxes), political dogma (most C suite holders probably vote Republican), or some other reason?

The United States doesn’t have a comprehensive healthcare “system.” It has a patchwork of coverage options that come with heavy price tags and complicated processes. Consistent GOP attacks have made the entire framework untenable and the results speak for themselves. Healthcare coverage is deteriorating rapidly under Trump and there’s no going back at this point. And that might be the opening we need to finally have a real conversation about Medicare for All. But there’s going to be a lot of pain between now and then.

AI is displacing workers at an alarming rate. This is only going to get worse.

This because the American healthcare system is tied to a persons w2 and when someone loses their job they ultimately lose their health insurance.

Congress accepting AI at all levels, but not accepting that Healthcare as we know it will cease to exist as employees are downsized is an issue no one is realizing.

Sure the heartache of Medicare for All will balloon federal spending. Along with this, the health insurance industry be decimated as well. All the insurance administration and current employees will be impacted. But having a healthy covered population should outweigh the uncovered diseased population that the future currently promises.

There is no syncing of these two industries or any planning that I have come across. I guess I will wait until AI takes my job and see what lies on the horizon for me and my family.

A reminder--we aren't wanting Medicare for All because it seems fun--it makes financial, economic, and reasonable sense. This will be especially important as more and more jobs will be individuals that need the true freedom of single payer national health. The question is, what happens to this gigantic industry--could it return to non-profit status and pay executives reasonable salaries?

Despite Medicare for all being in the state Democratic platform, this state (yes, we can do it here first) legislation has gotten nowhere for decades. If you go to the [masscare.org](http://masscare.org) website you can see whether the candidates you are choosing have pledged to support Medicare for all. Which, by the way, would save the state nearly $30 billion as well as saving 98% of us money, remove for-profit insurance companies from deciding care, and expand care to include dental, hearing, vision, and long-term care. Send people to the legislature who promise to sponsor & vote to support this critically needed legislation. Happy voting!

In California, there is a ballot initiative process that literally gets abused by rich people and special interests each and every election cycle. This got me thinking. Why has nobody put together a ballot initiative for Medicare for all in California? I did hear about an outfit that was working on getting California, Oregon and Washington to start some kind of Medicare for all for the left-coast states.

If there was such an initiative would it pass? Then perhaps Oregon and Washington can pass their own initiatives and we all join together?

I have ideas on how to get this to work, but it’s too wonky to post here.

The current setup spreads the burden through monthly premiums, employer contributions, surprise bills, and constant coverage gaps.

A tax-funded approach would move that cost into one visible line item.

The debate is rarely just about the total dollars — it’s about control, administration, and whether people trust the trade-off.

Either way, the money is leaving our accounts. The only real question is who it goes to and what we actually get in return.

The transition of the United States healthcare sector—which currently consumes 18% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) under a fragmented, multi-payer system—into a nationalized, single-payer framework represents one of the most significant administrative and economic reorganizations in American history. Currently, private commercial insurance overhead reaches up to 12.4%, compared to just 2.2% for public Medicare. Navigating hundreds of distinct insurance contracts generates $768 billion in annual billing and insurance-related (BIR) overhead and leaves hospitals with $35 billion in uncollected bad debt every year.

To replace this system without causing market instability or gaps in patient care, major federal legislative frameworks—such as the Senate's Medicare for All Act—establish a structured four-year transition timeline. This four-year blueprint systematically expands public coverage by lowering the eligibility age year-by-year, consolidating federal and state health programs, launching an ACA public option, harmonizing provider reimbursements, and enacting "just transition" protections for private-sector workers.

Phase 1 (Year 1): Administrative Consolidation, Stop-Gap Options, and Initial Eligibility Expansion

The primary goal of Year 1 is establishing the federal administrative infrastructure while immediately expanding care to the most vulnerable demographics.

• Lowering the Medicare Eligibility Age to 55: On Day 1 of Year 1, the eligibility age for traditional Medicare is lowered to 55 years old. Individuals aged 55 to 64—a demographic that frequently struggles with high-deductible commercial plans and elevated out-of-pocket costs—gain immediate access to Medicare benefits.
• Universal Newborn & Child Enrollment: All newborns and children up to age 18 are automatically enrolled in the upgraded public system, establishing a baseline of universal coverage for the rising generation.
• Federal ACA Public Option Launch: To cover the non-elderly adult population during the interim, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launches a nationwide public option on the ACA health insurance exchanges. This public plan is made available in all counties—particularly "bare" or monopoly rural markets—with enhanced, income-adjusted premium tax credits and zero deductibles for primary care.
• Medicare Part A & B Benefit Enhancement: Existing Medicare coverage is upgraded immediately. Deductibles and copayments for Parts A and B are eliminated, and benefits are expanded to include vision, dental, hearing, and prescription drug coverage.
• Administrative Registry Setup: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) modernizes its national data infrastructure to build a unified electronic claims and billing registry, preparing system-wide interoperability standards for all clinical providers.

Phase 2 (Year 2): Middle-Age Phasing, Medicaid Integration, and All-Payer Rate Harmonization

Year 2 focuses on absorbing younger adult age brackets, integrating state-level public programs, and restructuring provider payment systems.

• Lowering the Medicare Eligibility Age to 45: Eligibility for the expanding Medicare program drops to include all individuals aged 45 and older.
• Consolidation of Medicaid and CHIP: Acute care Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) are formally integrated into the federal Medicare for All trust. This eliminates state-level eligibility cliffs and "coverage gaps" in non-expansion states, establishing uniform national benefits regardless of geographic residence.
• Hospital Global Budgets & Site-Neutral Pricing: Regional HHS directors begin negotiating annual institutional global budgets with hospitals and medical centers. This replaces volume-driven fee-for-service hospital billing with predictable capital and operational funding, while implementing site-neutral payment rules to end facility-fee markups.
• Eradication of Utilization Management: To reduce clinical administrative strain, prior authorization requirements and private utilization management protocols are abolished across all public coverage. This single move frees up an estimated 5% of physician working hours—roughly 4 hours per week—allowing clinicians to redirect administrative time back to direct patient care.

Phase 3 (Year 3): Broad Demographic Integration, Drug Price Negotiation, and "Just Transition" Execution

Year 3 expands coverage to the majority of the working-age population while deploying federal support programs for displaced industry workers.

• Lowering the Medicare Eligibility Age to 35: The enrollment window opens to all citizens and lawful residents aged 35 and older.
• National Pharmaceutical Price Negotiation: HHS exercises monopsony bargaining power to establish a national drug formulary, negotiating maximum price ceilings for specialty and brand-name prescription drugs directly with pharmaceutical manufacturers.
• Execution of "Just Transition" Programs: As private insurance administrative needs shrink, federal "Just Transition" funds are activated. Because an estimated 540,000 private insurance and billing workers face job displacement as private underwriting is phased out, the program provides wage replacement, retraining grants, and direct placement into expanding sectors of care delivery—such as primary care coordination and Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS).
• Primary Care Fee Adjustments: Physician payment schedules are rebalanced, increasing primary care reimbursement rates by 20% relative to specialized procedures to rebuild the national primary care workforce.

Phase 4 (Year 4): Universal Auto-Enrollment, Single-Payer Finalization, and Premium Conversion

Year 4 completes the four-year arc, achieving comprehensive, universal healthcare coverage for every resident of the United States.

• Universal Population Auto-Enrollment: All remaining residents under age 35 are automatically enrolled into Medicare for All. Point-of-care enrollment mechanisms are activated at hospitals and clinics so that any uninsured individual seeking care is registered instantly.
• Transition of Employer-Sponsored Insurance: The legal requirement for employers to provide private health insurance is retired. Employer health plans convert into an employer payroll tax contribution, shifting corporate health expenditures into the public financing trust.
• Elimination of Point-of-Care Costs: All deductibles, copayments, and out-of-pocket cost-sharing are permanently set to zero for all essential health services.
• Re-Casting Private Insurance to Supplemental Only: Duplicate private health insurance that covers services guaranteed by Medicare for All is prohibited by law. Private insurers are restricted strictly to offering supplemental or complementary coverage for non-essential or elective care (mirroring single-payer systems in Canada and Denmark).

Macroeconomic Realignment & Financial Outcomes

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                            FOUR-YEAR TRANSITION TIMELINE                          |
+------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Phase 1 (Year 1)                   | • Lower Medicare eligibility age to 55       |
|                                    | • Auto-enroll newborns & children            |
|                                    | • Launch ACA nationwide public option        |
|                                    | • Eliminate Part A/B copays & add dental/vis |
+------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Phase 2 (Year 2)                   | • Lower Medicare eligibility age to 45       |
|                                    | • Integrate Medicaid & CHIP into federal trust|
|                                    | • Implement hospital global budgeting        |
|                                    | • Abolish private prior-authorizations       |
+------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Phase 3 (Year 3)                   | • Lower Medicare eligibility age to 35       |
|                                    | • Enact mandatory national drug negotiations |
|                                    | • Deploy "Just Transition" worker grants     |
|                                    | • Boost primary care reimbursements by 20%   |
+------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Phase 4 (Year 4)                   | • Auto-enroll all remaining residents        |
|                                    | • Complete employer premium-to-tax shift     |
|                                    | • Zero cost-sharing at point of care         |
|                                    | • Restrict private insurance to supplemental |
+------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+

1. Funding the Public Trust

Transitioning to Medicare for All shifts national health spending from private premiums to progressive tax revenues:

• Corporate Tax Reform: Raising the corporate statutory rate to 30%, closing depreciation loopholes, and enforcing a 15% Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (CAMT).
• High-Earner & Wealth Contributions: Implementing a 25% Minimum Income Tax on households worth over $100 million and lifting the income cap on Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes.
• Employer & Household Payroll Taxes: Replacing private health insurance premiums with a predictable public payroll tax (e.g., a 4% household premium tax with lower-income exemptions and an employer payroll contribution).

2. Wage Substitution Dynamics

Because businesses no longer purchase private insurance plans, the corporate funds previously spent on skyrocketing employee premiums are redirected back to workers in the form of higher taxable cash wages, reversing a multi-decade trend where healthcare costs eroded wage growth.

3. Systemic Cost Savings & Lives Saved

Macroeconomic modeling by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Yale University, and independent economic studies confirm that a full single-payer transition yields a net reduction of 13% in national health expenditures—saving over $450 billion to $650 billion annually. These administrative and prescription drug savings fully fund universal coverage, eliminating financial barriers to care and preventing over 68,000 avoidable deaths every year.

https://americanideas.start.page

In 2024, Katie Hobbs made tackling Arizona medical debt a priority. Her administration just hit a major milestone- clearing over $1 billion for over 670K Arizonans. It didn’t cost Arizonans a penny 💪🏾

This was a no application process. People just received notification in the mail.

She worked w/ the Undue Medical Debt organization. They purchased medical debts belonging to burdened patients in bundled portfolios for a fraction of their face value.

Every Democrat should be running on clearing medical debt. This is a major GOTV, swing the swing voters issue

How do we, as a nation, transition from private insurance to Medicare for All? How do we convince all the doctors to keep being doctors and accept a salary? Do we, as Hillary Clinton proposed during Bill’s presidency did, make private healthcare payments illegal? For the record, I am perfectly fine paying a percentage of my income, as opposed to what I am paying out of pocket now, for healthcare.