LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is promising what may sound like the deal of the century: Medicare for everyone with no premiums, no copays, no deductibles and no out-of-pocket costs. The only catch? Someone still has to pay for it. That “someone” would ultimately be the taxpayers.
During an interview on Intellectually Petty Radio in May that’s getting renewed interest, El-Sayed said every American should receive guaranteed health care “cradle to grave,” regardless of employment, age or income.
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The interviewer, Joseph Boyd, said he was a nurse for 35 years and can’t afford health care. “How do you fix that?” he asked. El-Sayed explained the costly health care system to the host and then went on to say, “I think you need to guarantee health care for everyone, cradle to grave, without premium, copay, deductible. That’s how. That’s Medicare for All.”
No such thing as “free” health care.
Medicare for All is an ambitious promise, but one critics say ignores a stubborn fact: health care isn’t “free” simply because patients don’t receive a bill. The costs don’t disappear – they shift to taxpayers through higher federal spending, taxes or borrowing. Even today’s Medicare program isn’t free. Beneficiaries generally pay premiums, deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs, while taxpayers already subsidize much of the program.
Republican National Committee (RNC) spokesman Hunter Lovell told Breitbart News recently, “Abdul El-Sayed is asking Michigan families to buy into a fantasy that doesn’t exist anywhere in the world. Medicare for All isn’t free, and pretending otherwise is either breathtakingly naive or a deliberate attempt to mislead Michiganders about the true cost of his radical, far-left agenda. Michigan voters deserve a senator who will fight to deliver lower health care costs, not sell socialist fairy tales that would leave taxpayers holding the bag.”
Healthcare plan extends to abortion and gender-affirming services.
El-Sayed’s campaign website also states that government-funded coverage should include reproductive services and gender-affirming care. Under a section titled “Healthcare Freedom for Women and LGBTQ+ Americans,” he says, “Everyone has the right to make personal decisions about their healthcare. Healthcare decisions should be made by a patient (and their parents if they are a minor) and their doctor–no one else. That includes reproductive and gender-affirming care. I’ll fight to codify the rights once protected by Roe v. Wade into federal law. Further, I oppose any effort to criminalize certain medications and the use of lawfare or funding cuts to stop healthcare providers from providing full-spectrum healthcare that meets all the needs of their diverse communities.”
The cost question remains unanswered.
What El-Sayed’s website doesn’t say is how his plan will be paid for. Supporters argue a single-payer system would eliminate insurance company overhead and expand access to care. Opponents counter that eliminating virtually all patient cost-sharing would dramatically increase government spending while leaving taxpayers responsible for the tab – including Michigan taxpayers.
Despite decades of proposals, no state has successfully implemented a Medicare for All system, with cost estimates and tax increases proving major obstacles.
The price tag behind “free” health care.
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Independent analyses have consistently found that a nationwide Medicare for All system would require trillions of dollars in additional federal spending. The Congressional Budget Office has concluded that the exact cost would depend on how Congress structured the program, while the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has said that taxing only the wealthy would not be enough to pay for it. Instead, they say financing such a system would require broad-based tax increases, significant spending cuts elsewhere, additional federal borrowing, or some combination of the three.
While campaign slogans are easy, paying for them is usually the hard part. As for “free” health care? Like every other government program, the bill eventually lands in someone’s mailbox – even if it arrives as a tax bill instead of a medical one.
