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michael lighty
Health Cost Calculator Shows Most Californians Would Save Big With Medicare for All
"Working together, Californians can save our state billions, save each family thousands, and most importantly, guarantee healthcare for all so that everyone has equal access to lifesaving treatment."
Aug 01, 2022
Universal healthcare campaigners in California on Monday unveiled a tool they say shows how most working families would save at least hundreds--and likely thousands--of dollars each year if the state implements a Medicare for All-type system.
"Every second of inaction costs hundreds of dollars, and each year of inaction has an even greater cost--4,000 lives."
The advocacy group Healthy California Now, together with National Union of Healthcare Workers and University of California, San Francisco professor and health finance expert James G. Kahn, launched a calculator that compares what individuals or families currently spend with what their costs would be under the type of Medicare for All system that Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom campaigned on a promise to enact--but has done nothing to advance.
"It's a new day for healthcare reform in California, and working together, Californians can save our state billions, save each family thousands, and most importantly, guarantee healthcare for all so that everyone has equal access to lifesaving treatment," Healthy California Now president Michael Lighty said in a statement. "Every second of inaction costs hundreds of dollars, and each year of inaction has an even greater cost--4,000 lives."
According to the calculator, a family earning California's median annual household income of $78,600 and paying $500 in monthly health insurance premiums and $4,000 in yearly out-of-pocket costs, whose employer contributes $1,400 per month toward healthcare costs, would save nearly $16,500 every year under a Medicare for All system. An individual making $50,000 per year with a $300 monthly health insurance bill, a $500 employer pay-in, and $1,500 in self-funded healthcare expenditures would save $7,600 annually.
\u201cThe moment we\u2019ve all been waiting for is here! We are so excited to finally launch a project that our team has been working on - our Healthcare Savings Calculator! \n\nWe want you to be the first to try it, share it, and tell us what you\u2019d save!\nhttps://t.co/Kzl2lW2AuM\n1/4\u201d— Healthy California Now (@Healthy California Now) 1659364932
For an uninsured person or family earning under $50,000 with less than $2,500 in out-of-pocket healthcare spending, savings would range from hundreds to around $2,000 per year.
"Taxpayers already foot the bill for over 70% of our state's healthcare," Kahn said in a statement. "The savings we can achieve by cutting the waste in private health insurance will allow us to guarantee improved healthcare services for all Californians while also lowering costs."
"Our estimates of spending under a universal healthcare system account for the added taxes required to cover the single-payer budget, while premiums and out-of-pocket costs disappear," he added. "Overall spending for single-payer will be less than under the current system, and taxes will be higher only for very high-income earners and corporations. Thus, the vast majority of working families will save money."
Although he campaigned on a pledge to deliver single-payer healthcare, Newsom has disappointed activists by backing away from his promise and taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the private health insurance industry.
In January, A.B. 1400, a bill that would have implemented a single-payer healthcare system in California, was withdrawn from consideration in the state Assembly in an eleventh-hour move that shocked and outraged progressives who had fought for the measure.
While Newsom has expressed concerns over the cost of universal care, the governor's Healthy California for All Commission reported in April that such a system would save 4,000 lives annually and $500 billion over the next decade. Meanwhile, the commission found that healthcare costs are projected to rise 30% over the next 10 years under the current system.
Writing for Common Dreams, Lighty said in a Sunday opinion piece that the commission report "shows we simply can't afford not to adopt a universal healthcare system."
"The door to quality, universal, and affordable care is open," he wrote. "On the other side is a California where we save lives and save money by cutting out waste and bureaucracy and putting quality healthcare before private insurance company profits."
A 2020 study published in the medical journal Lancet found that Medicare for All on a national scale will save Americans $450 billion and prevent 68,000 unnecessary deaths each and every year. Last month, Common Dreams reported that a universal single-payer healthcare system such as Medicare for All could have prevented 338,000 U.S. Covid-19 deaths.
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Private Health Insurance Stocks 'In Free Fall' as Medicare for All Gains Momentum
"Insurance industry stocks dropping as the Medicare for All movement heats up—we've got some serious people power on our hands!" said National Nurses United
Apr 18, 2019
With comprehensive Medicare for All legislation now introduced in both chambers of Congress and bolstered by surging grassroots support, health insurance stocks are "crumbling" as investors grow increasingly fearful that single-payer could eventually become a reality.
"Together, the shares of hospitals and insurers lost $28 billion in market value on Tuesday," Bloomberg reported. "The slide in hospital and insurance stocks continued Wednesday, wiping out billions of dollars more in market value from some of the biggest health companies in the U.S."
As Bloomberg's Sahil Kapur put it on Twitter, "Health insurance stocks are in free fall as Democrats introduce 'Medicare for All' legislation in Congress and Bernie Sanders pushes it on Fox News."
\u201cNote that the drop in health insurance stocks is *not* dragging down the overall market. Our economy would not only survive without private health insurers, it would be much better off. #SinglePayer #MedicareForAll\u201d— Physicians for a National Health Program (@Physicians for a National Health Program) 1555522889
University of California, Berkeley professor and economist Robert Reich argued that tumbling insurance stocks are a "[s]ign that Medicare for All is real."
"Current free-fall in health insurance stocks (Anthem, UnitedHealth, Centene, Humana, etc.) marks beginning of end of for-profit health insurance's business model of seeking healthy people and avoiding sick people," Reich tweeted.
\u201cCurrent free-fall in health insurance stocks (Anthem, UnitedHealth, Centene, Humana etc) marks beginning of end of for-profit health insurance\u2019s business model of seeking healthy people and avoiding sick people. Sign that Medicare-for-All is real. \n\nhttps://t.co/tUMiFRob14\u201d— Robert Reich (@Robert Reich) 1555518867
National Nurses United, which is organizing and building support for Medicare for All nationwide, echoed Reich, saying the fall of insurance stocks is evidence that grassroots activism is having an impact.
"Insurance industry stocks dropping as the Medicare for All movement heats up--we've got some serious people power on our hands!" the group tweeted Wednesday.
As Common Dreams reported Tuesday, the insurance stock sell-off intensified after UnitedHealth Group CEO David Wichmann lashed out at Medicare for All during a call with investors, saying single-payer would "destabilize the nation's health system."
Medicare for All proponents begged to differ, arguing that the for-profit system--under which 30 million Americans are uninsured and tens of millions more are underinsured--is the actual source of instability and dysfunction.
"As usual, an insurance company CEO has got it backward--Medicare for All stabilizes healthcare for people... and disrupts the failed business model of the insurance industry," Michael Lighty, founding fellow of the Sanders Institute, told Common Dreams.
During a Fox News town hall Monday evening, Sanders--who unveiled Medicare for All legislation in the Senate--challenged the common insurance industry talking point that Medicare for All would "destabilize" healthcare for millions of Americans who are covered by employer-provided insurance plans.
"Millions of people, every single year, lose their health insurance. You know why? They get fired. Or They quit. And they go to another employer," said Sanders, a 2020 presidential contender.
"Every year, millions of workers wake up in the morning and their employer has changed the insurance that they have. So this is not new," the Vermont senator added. "Now what we're talking about actually is stability. That when you have a Medicare for All [program] it is there now and it will be there in the future."
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'The Greed of UnitedHealth Is Killing Americans': Progressives Hit Back as Insurance CEO Bashes Medicare for All
"We will 'destabilize' UnitedHealth's ability to enrich themselves at the expense of our healthcare."
Apr 16, 2019
The CEO of America's largest private insurance company faced a flood of pushback from progressives Tuesday after he launched a misleading attack on Medicare for All.
UnitedHealth Group CEO David Wichmann said during a call with investors that Medicare for All would "destabilize the nation's health system"--a common talking point that has been deployed by the right-wing media, Republicans, and establishment Democrats.
"We will end the insurance company denials of care, eliminate premiums, deductibles and co-pays, no longer allow our taxes to subsidize their profits."
--Michael Lighty
"And the inherent cost burden would surely have a severe impact on the economy and jobs--all without fundamentally increasing access to care," Wichmann said.
Under the Medicare for All plans introduced in both the House and Senate, every American would be guaranteed comprehensive health coverage. Two studies released over the past year--including one from a Koch-funded think tank--showed single-payer would result in trillions of dollars in savings compared to the current for-profit system.
"As usual, an insurance company CEO has got it backward--Medicare for All stabilizes healthcare for people, as Senator [Bernie] Sanders said last night on Fox News, and disrupts the failed business model of the insurance industry," Michael Lighty, founding fellow of the Sanders Institute, told Common Dreams.
"So yes, we will end the insurance company denials of care, eliminate premiums, deductibles, and co-pays, no longer allow our taxes to subsidize their profits," Lighty said. "We will 'destabilize' UnitedHealth's ability to enrich themselves at the expense of our healthcare."
\u201cThe CEO of UnitedHealth made $83 million in 2017.\n\nIs he worried about @AOC and @SenSanders destabilizing our health care system, or his bank account?\u201d— Public Citizen (@Public Citizen) 1555439756
\u201cIf by \u201cdestabilize,\u201d he means \u201cdisrupt for-profit insulin schemes bc the discovering scientist freely gave away the patent bc he didn\u2019t want us to price-gouge life saving medicines,\u201d then yes.\n\n(PS:#MedicareForAll is @RepJayapal\u2019s bill, not mine - and am I proud to cosponsor it!)\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1555443142
Warren Gunnels, Sanders' staff director, added that he is not concerned about the feelings of health insurance executives.
"Whether the UnitedHealth CEO likes it or not, we will no longer tolerate a system allowing him to make $83.2 million while Americans go bankrupt when they get sick," Gunnels tweeted. "The greed of UnitedHealth is killing Americans. Together, we will end it."
Wichmann's comments came as the stocks of UnitedHealth Group and other insurance giants tumbled to 52-week lows.
"Health insurers including Anthem Inc., Humana Inc., and Cigna Corp. were down sharply Tuesday morning, as were hospitals HCA Healthcare Inc. and Community Health Systems Inc.," Bloomberg reported. "Health insurance stocks have been rattled in the first few months of 2019 as Democratic presidential contenders have emerged to back variations of Medicare for All. The sell-off has sent the S&P 500 Managed Care Index to its lowest level in nearly a year."
Politico's Dan Diamond pointed out on Twitter that UnitedHealth Group has lost $30 per share since Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced his Medicare for All bill in the Senate last week.
\u201cWhether causation/correlation, since Bernie Sanders unveiled his new Medicare for All bill on Wednesday morning, UnitedHealth has lost $30 per share.\u201d— Dan Diamond (@Dan Diamond) 1555432817
As Common Dreams reported last Friday, a whistleblower from UnitedHealthcare--a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group--provided a glimpse into the company's behind-the-scenes effort to undermine Medicare for All as it continues to gain support in Congress.
"We are advocating heavily and very involved in the conversation," UnitedHealthcare CEO Steven Nelson said in remarks leaked to the Washington Post. "Part of it is trying to be thoughtful about how we enter in the conversation, because there's a risk of seeming like it's self-serving."
The anonymous whistleblower told the Post's Jeff Stein he leaked Nelson's comments because he "felt Americans needed to know exactly who it is that's fighting against the idea that healthcare is a right, not a privilege."
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