Medicare is not universal, or free. I work in the insurance industry and am familiar with the various plans. Let's take a look at a typical Medicare Part C plan, which is what most people entering the system will end up with. https://twitter.com/sutherland_joe/status/1316970937527525376

Here's the maximum out of pocket cost on an Aetna Medicare Part C plan in Los Angeles just for the basic care deductibles.

Notice the words "out of pocket" and "you pay"

That doesn't sound like universal healthcare.

Here's how much emergency care costs on this plan. Try not to have an emergency, its gonna cost you $110 each time.

Everyone talks about the importance of adequate mental health care. Well under medicare, it's not very affordable, and there isn't much preventative care offered for mental illness. And if you do have some sort of crisis that requires an ambulance, well, you're gonna pay for it.

Prescription drugs? Well if you only take 1-2 very common medications you might be alright. People with more complicated needs are going to run out of coverage at about $4020 and not have any help again until the max out of pocket reaches $6350

I don't know if you've noticed, but Medicare as it exists now is riddled with the very problems that we seek to solve. It's not universal, it's not free, and people still go bankrupt trying to pay their bills with it. It's not this magic word that just gives everyone health ins.

The vehicle for reforming health care was ACA. It was carefully crafted by legal scholars to exist within the framework of our current system but have the ability to be expanded and adapted to something more resembling universal healthcare. Medicare wasn't designed for this.

Here is the full document where the above information came from.

https://www.aetnamedicare.com/documents/individual/2020/summaryofbenefits/SB_2020_H0523_002_EN.pdf

@threadreaderapp unroll please