Editor of the Reformer,
A few weeks ago the Census Bureau released its annual report on health insurance coverage in the U.S., showing that the number of uninsured has grown. Nearly 2 million people lost coverage between 2017 and 2018, a sign that our broken system is getting even worse. Last year there were 27.5 million Americans, including 4 million children, who had no form of health insurance. The most pronounced coverage losses were among Medicaid enrollees, the result of the Trump administration’s attacks on our health care safety net.
If you have no health insurance, you probably have little access to health care. You are probably reluctant to seek care because of high costs. We Americans pay about twice as much as others for our health care. Lack of health care can result in bad outcomes, even death. President Trump continues his cruel and systematic sabotage of the Affordable Care Act with no alternative plan. Commercial insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies are banding together to maintain the status quo and preserve their outrageous profits.
Medicare for All is the best answer to the problem. Only single-payer Medicare for All — not a public option or “improving” the ACA — will solve our nation’s health care crisis.
G. Richard Dundas, MD
Bennington, Sept. 23