Study: Single-payer health care plan would save money

SAN JOSE — As Democratic candidates propose a spectrum of health care options on the debate stage, the Medicare for all plan floated by progressive candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders offers a utopian vision of health care in America: universal coverage with no premiums or co-pays. But what about the costs?

According to a new study, published last week by University of California scientists in the journal PLOS Medicine, these plans would actually save money on health care.

“Some candidates are advocating for Medicare for all, while others argue for preserving a role for private insurance,” said Christopher Cai, a medical student at University of California, San Francisco and the lead author of the study. “We found consensus that replacing private insurance with a robust public system will save money long-term.”

Single-payer health care, popularly known as Medicare for all, would replace private insurance companies with a public, governmentfunded “single-payer” insurer. Instead of deductibles and co-pays, the system would be funded through tax revenue, and all Americans would be covered.

The researchers compared nearly two dozen cost analyses of such health care systems that had been proposed on state and national levels over the past 31 years. These analyses modeled how different versions of singlepayer plans would impact overall health care spending.

Out of the 22 analyses they reviewed, 19 of them indicated single-payer plans would provide immediate savings within the first year. When the researchers forecasted the costs over a longer term, all of the single-player plans showed a decrease in health care expenses, even if they predicted an increase in the short-term.

“People who are saying that Medicare for all will cost more are not basing those statements on the evidence,” Cai said.

The U.S spends over twice as much on health care than other wealthy nations in the world — nearly $3.6 trillion in 2018, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Despite that enormous price tag, 30.7 million Americans are without insurance, as opposed to the universal health care provided by other countries that are spending half as much.

According to Cai and his colleagues, the most significant way single-payer plans reduce costs is by lowering the administrative expenses while also reducing drug costs.