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Health industry lobbyists keep claiming to wonder why we need Medicare for All when, they insist, we have such a wonderful system already. Well, here are 12 reasons:

— 9/11 first responders wouldn’t have to beg for health care.

— People in horrible accidents wouldn’t have to resort to online begging.

— People with diabetes wouldn’t have to risk amputation to save money on insulin.

— People with huge medical bills wouldn’t have to file for bankruptcy.

— Poor people wouldn’t have to search for a doctor who takes Medicaid.

— Doctors, hospitals, etc., wouldn’t have to spend millions of hours dealing with insurance companies.

— Americans wouldn’t have to spend millions of hours trying to choose the right Medicare Part D prescription drug plan.

— Employers wouldn’t have to spend many thousands of hours deciding what insurance their employees will have to use for the next year.

— People wouldn’t have to weigh the need to see a doctor against the need to pay the utility bill, rent, grocery bill, etc.

— People wouldn’t have to wonder for months how much they will end up paying for a visit to the doctor or hospital.

— No one would ever again care about “in network” & “out of network."

— No one would wonder how large a rate increase the health insurance companies were going to request each year.

I’m sure most readers will have no trouble coming up with others.

Lee Russ
Bennington