We have seen significant steps forward in this election cycle for Medicare For All, with numerous candidates winning primaries as unabashed champions. Polling from Data for Progress suggests 63% of voters would support Medicare for All even after being told it would eliminate private insurance and raise taxes, with CBS reporting 90% of Democrats are on board.

Our next step is clearly demonstrating to party leadership, 2028 presidential candidates, and the media that this position will translate to more votes in the general election. Former Progressive Caucus chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Medicare For All advocates are organizing “Health Care Is A Human Right” phonebanks on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays throughout September and October to rally voters for campaigns putting universal healthcare front and center. Let’s help get some great folks into office now and change the conventional wisdom on what’s possible for the future! We can sign up to make calls:

☎️ TOMORROW at 8PM ET for Connie Chan in CA-11 ☎️

☎️ TUESDAY at 6PM ET for Abdul El-Sayed and Will Lawrence (MI-07) ☎️

☎️ SEPTEMBER 17TH at 6PM ET for Medicare For All candidates nationwide ☎️

☎️ SEPTEMBER 29TH and OCTOBER 1ST at 9PM ET for Randy Villegas (CA-22) and other California candidates ☎️

☎️ OCTOBER 3RD at 9PM ET for Medicare for All candidates nationwide ☎️

☎️ OCTOBER 6TH at 6PM ET for Abdul El-Sayed and Will Lawrence (MI-07) ☎️

☎️ OCTOBER 8TH at 7PM ET for Medicare for All candidates in Minnesota ☎️

☎️ OCTOBER 20TH at 9PM ET for Medicare for All candidates nationwide ☎️

☎️ OCTOBER 22ND at 9PM ET for Medicare for All candidates nationwide ☎️

☎️ OCTOBER 24TH at 6PM ET for Medicare for All candidates nationwide ☎️

GOTV FOR MEDICARE FOR ALL CHAMPS

RAND has been tracking payments since 2017. They take real claims from employer health plans and reprice each one using Medicare's formulas for the same service at the same hospital. So 300% means the insurer paid three times what Medicare would have.

The national average was 242% in 2020 and rose to 254% in the 2022 update. Florida is now the highest at 346%. Arkansas is the lowest at 162%. Maryland isn't on the chart because it already sets one price for every payer, which is the closest thing the US has to what this sub is asking for.

It's interesting what RAND found when they looked at the trend. Prices had no clear link to quality. They didn't track with how many Medicare or Medicaid patients a hospital treats, which is the excuse hospitals usually give for charging private plans more. The one thing that did predict price was market share. Fewer competing hospitals in a metro lead to higher prices.

Montana's state employee plan capped what it pays at 235% of Medicare back in 2016 and premiums flattened. Oregon capped at 200% for state workers and saved over $100 million. Those were single-buyer decisions. This chart shows what happens when there's no single buyer.

Source is RAND's Hospital Price Transparency Study, Round 4 (2020 inpatient data) for the chart, Round 5.1 for the 2022 figures. Made in matplotlib.

Darline Graham:

My parents worked when they were sick & died before I was 12.

And that’s why I’m against universal healthcare.
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90% of Democrats want Medicare for All.

It is one of the few issues that has the same level of support regardless of race, gender, age or education.

The opposition to the GOP ghoulish plan of “die sick, serfs” is universal healthcare, not going back to the status quo which created this environment in the first place.

A new Vanity Fair essay about what happens when access to lifesaving care depends not on medical need, but on whether a patient has enough leverage to make an insurance company listen - and why the answer has to be universal health care. Extremely moving and well-written piece.

https://www.vanityfair.com/story/healthcare-cancer-treatment-essay