There are important changes being made to health insurance. But they are not affecting Medicaid and Medicare in the ways being portrayed by many special interests groups and the media.
Here are the facts about Medicaid & “Medicare for all”:
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The Affordable Care Act has not resulted in a large increase in the number of people with private insurance. Instead, it has resulted in a dramatic increase in Medicaid enrollment. About 15 million (or 75%) of the ACA’s 20 million newly insured people were added to Medicaid. (Source: Dept. of Health and Human Services)
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Here’s what would change for people on Medicaid under the proposed healthcare reforms:
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Fewer people would enroll in the program because there would be more affordable, higher-quality private health insurance options available.
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Low-income people who leave Medicaid could get financial help to buy a private plan.
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The program would be strengthened, modernized and focused on those who need it most: the elderly and disabled. (Source: Congressional Budget Office)
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Single payer or “Medicare for all” would not guarantee health care for everyone. Instead, it would result in less availability of services due to the government’s lower reimbursement rates to healthcare providers, a problem already persistent in Medicare and Medicaid today. And “Medicare for all” would not lower unaffordable healthcare costs, but simply shift the costs—about $32 trillion—onto taxpayers. (Sources: The Manhattan Institute, Time, The Heartland Institute)