Ross: Why Medicare For All might just be worth the risk

Yesterday, I talked about the risks of Elizabeth Warren’s Medicare For All plan, like the lower fees for doctors — which medical professionals won’t like — and the question of whether the government is even capable of rolling out a plan that replaces the entire insurance industry.

Ross: An important question about America’s health care system

I didn’t bother with the financing, because the numbers are so huge it’s impossible to know if they actually mean anything.

But could there be a reason to roll the dice on a plan like this, despite the risks?

We’ve all seen how private insurance gets more and more expensive. Maybe a threat to throw the whole system out would scare a few CEOs into fixing it on their own. That being so, it might be worth pushing for even if it didn’t end up passing.

And suppose those recession forecasts come true, and jobs start disappearing. Or suppose that pending Supreme Court case ends up outlawing Obamacare.

We already have something like 87 million people who are under-insured, and a report this year found out that about 20 percent of rural hospitals are at risk of closing. That mostly affects red states.

Our health care system shouldn’t punish us for getting sick

And since Medicare For All is basically a gift from rich blue states to poor red states, some red states might swallow hard and grab onto it as a lifeline, even if it is socialism.

Anything  can happen between now and next November. But for now, I suggest we all do whatever it takes  not to get sick, even if it means switching to the make-believe hamburgers with the vegetable blood.

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