Medicare for All can solve managed care problems

Jan Caughlin’s letter (“Managed care organizations choose profits over providing care,” April 18) decried the emphasis that managed care organizations put on profit instead of providing care. She’s right — and we need a health care system that prioritizes health over profit. We need to pass Improved Medicare for All.

The profit-driven nature of our current system is starkly shown with regard to prescription drugs. Americans pay more for them than anyone in the developed world because, in part, Medicare is forbidden by law to negotiate drug prices. Essential drugs like insulin are often priced beyond many patients’ abilities to pay. In contrast, the annual compensation of chief executive officers of major pharmaceutical companies can be in the multimillions ($21.4 for Pascal Soriot of Astra Zeneca).

Similarly, federal investigators recently reported that tens of thousands of people enrolled in private Medicare Advantage programs have been denied necessary care that should have been covered under the program. Since Medicare pays private insurers a fixed amount per Medicare Advantage patient, insurers have a financial incentive to deny access to services and payments.

In contrast, Improved Medicare for

All starts with the premise that health care is a basic human right. All Americans from birth to death would be continually covered for all medically necessary services regardless of their employment status, income or preexisting conditions. This program also eliminates premiums, co-payments and deductibles. Drug prices would be negotiated; administrative costs, including CEO salaries, would be slashed; and people would still be able to choose their doctors and hospitals. Physicians for a National Health Program states that 95% of all households would all save money.

That’s the health care system we need and deserve.