The Medicare for All transition phase explained by Ady Barkan

[crazytown]

Why I’m Endorsing Elizabeth Warren

(snip) The plan begins on Day 1 of her presidency, with some important executive actions to lower prescription drug prices and constrain the political power of big health care companies. Then, in her first hundred days, she will ask the Congress to pass a massive expansion and enhancement of Medicare, including a generous Medicare for All option. Here’s what that law would do:

* Radically improve Medicare so it fully covers long-term, dental, vision, hearing, mental health, and substance abuse treatment.

* Lower the eligibility age for Medicare to 50, giving 57 million people the ability to enroll immediately.

* Create a Medicare for All option that offers totally free, comprehensive health care to 135 million Americans = every child under 18 and every person making at or below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (roughly $51,000 for a family of four). Everyone else would have the option to enroll at low cost, capped at 5 percent of income with costs automatically going to zero over time.

Giving people the ability to buy in to Medicare immediately ensures that the insurance companies won’t game the system. We know that they, seeing they are getting pushed out of the marketplace, will likely raise premiums for the sickest people and kick many off their existing insurance plans. The buy-in—which is in both the House and the Senate bills—allows us to make sure we protect everyone.

(snip) There are two facts about the Warren proposal that I especially like. First, it lowers the age of Medicare eligibility to 50 immediately, getting even more people onto Medicare in the first year than Sanders’s bill, which has an eligibility age of 55. Second, Warren also adds in full long-term care, which matches Representative Pramila Jayapal’s Medicare for All bill in the House. That is an enormous addition for our seniors and people with disabilities. I know firsthand just what this will mean for millions of people across our country to have this kind of care available to them.

https://www.thenation.com/article/ady-barkan-elizabeth-warren-endorsement/