Pantsuit Politics

What You Need to Know About Medicare for All:

1. Medicare: minus the "All" (02:19)
2. Medicare is popular because it touches so many Americans. (09:09) Currently, 44 million beneficiaries—some 15 percent of the U.S. population—are enrolled in the Medicare program. Enrollment is expected to rise to 79 million by 2030. Only one in 10 beneficiaries relies solely on the Medicare program for health care coverage.
3. Medicare for All is not really Medicare and it's not one thing. (14:10)
4. The cost of these plans is very, very high. (17:24)
5. The Taiwanese health care system is the closest equivalent which is why you hear so much about it. (21:38)

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Episode Resources:

• Medicare’s Private Option Is Gaining Popularity, and Critics (The New York Times)
• Side-by-Side Comparison of Medicare-for-all and Public Plan Proposals
• Medicare For All (Politico)
• Medicare-for-All Is Not Medicare, and Not Really for All. So What Does It Actually Mean? (ProPublica)
• Sanders Embraces New Study That Lowers ‘Medicare For All’s’ Cost, But Skepticism Abounds (Kaiser Health News) 
• 9 things Americans need to learn from the rest of the world’s health care systems (Vox)
• A Brief History: Universal Health Care Efforts in the US (PNHP)
• An Overview of Medicare (KFF)
• Here's How Warren Finds $20.5 Trillion To Pay For 'Medicare For All' (NPR)