Getting Health Care Spending Under Control
Today, we have the most expensive, bureaucratic, wasteful and inefficient health care system in the world. Not only do we heavily outspend all other countries on health care, our medical spending continues to grow much faster than the rate of inflation. At a real danger to our economy, the United States now spends nearly 20 percent of its GDP on health care. If we maintain the current dysfunctional system that we now have it has been estimated that we will spend, as a nation, some $60 trillion over the next decade on health care. That is simply unsustainable.
Medicare-for-All would fundamentally change that by creating a far simpler, more efficient and more cost-effective system. Instead of wasting hundreds of billions of dollars trying to administer an enormously complicated system of hundreds of separate insurance plans, there would be one insurance plan for the American people with one single payer.
Negotiating with Pharmaceutical Companies to Lower Prices
One of the reasons that the United States spends far more on health care per capita than any other nation is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. This legislation would substantially reduce the cost of prescription drugs for both the government and individuals by doing what every other major country on earth already does: negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to lower drug prices. This legislation will give the federal government the ability to stand up to drug companies and negotiate fair prices for the American people.
Comprehensive Coverage
This legislation will provide comprehensive health care coverage
that includes:
- Hospital services, including inpatient and outpatient hospital care, 24-hour-a-day emergency services and inpatient prescription drugs.
- Ambulatory patient services.
- Primary and preventive services, including chronic disease management.
- Prescription drugs, medical devices, and biological products.
- Mental health and substance use treatment services.
- Laboratory and diagnostic services.
- Comprehensive reproductive, maternity, and newborn care, including abortion.
- Pediatrics, including early and periodic screening, diagnosis, and treatment.
- Dental health, audiology, and vision services.
- Home- and community-based long-term services and supports.
Institutional long-term care for seniors and people with disabilities will continue as it is currently covered under Medicaid.
