Inadequate health care

The March 8 editorial calling on additional states to expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act, “It’s time for the GOP to end this antiObamacare crusade,” ignored several elephants in the room, which neither expanded Medicaid nor Obamacare will solve.

Elephant No. 1: Even with Obamacare, we still are the only advanced nation whose health insurance system has failed to give everyone affordable health care.

Elephant No. 2: The waste in dollars in running our current multiple-payer health insurance system is huge — that’s a big reason Americans pay way more for their health care than residents of any other advanced nation. We spend $600 billion a year on unnecessary administrative costs — money that would be better spent on actual health care.

Elephant No. 3: Tens of millions of Americans, including many who cannot afford the onerous annual maximum $9,100 out-of-pocket costs for Obamacare individual plans, simply do without care.

Elephant No. 4: Each year, about 68,000 Americans die because they cannot afford timely medical care.

There is a clear path to lead America away from a failed health insurance system to one in which everyone gets affordable care: single-payer Medicare-for-all, a vastly improved version of current Medicare that would cover 100 percent of the costs of all medically necessary care for everyone while saving hundreds of billions each year. Almost 70 percent of Americans support it. It’s time for Washington politicians to stop ignoring the elephants in the room and do the same. Jay D. Brock, Fredericksburg, Va.