500k American families file for bankruptcy every year due to medical bills. 45k Americans die every year because they can’t afford healthcare. This is unacceptable for the wealthiest country in the history of the world. Our medical system has many issues but the biggest is certainly the amount of money being wasted by paying the middle man a.k.a. the insurance companies.

What does an insurance company do? They tell you which doctor you’re allowed to see (in network vs out of network). They tell your doctor what treatment is allowed (authorization required). They tell you that you still have to pay thousands of dollars for a medical procedure that was absolutely necessary (surgeon was in network,  anesthesiologist was out of network - sorry!). All so you can have the privilege of paying hundreds of dollars per month in premiums to the insurance company. What service does the insurance company provide other than denial of medical care for their own profit? If we have money for endless wars and money to bail out  banks and large corporations, we have the money to provide healthcare for our citizens.

I also believe Medicare for All is a pro-capitalist policy. People are prevented from starting their own companies because they are worried about losing the healthcare coverage tied to their current job. If you lose your job, then you’ll wind up paying hundreds of dollars more a month for COBRA, be forced to switch to a substandard plan, or just go without coverage and pray nothing bad happens. 

Think of how much money corporations spend on healthcare for their employees - assuming they’re able to afford it. All of that money could go to higher wages, research & development, and expansion. Healthier people are also more productive people.  At every turn, exorbitant healthcare costs constrict the economic landscape. Every other developed country has some form of Universal Healthcare or public option. It’s time for the United States to implement our own version.