Report: Medicare for All Would Cost $60 Trillion Over First Decade
By Christopher Talgo
A new report estimates a single-payer health care system in the United States would cost between $54.6 and $60.7 trillion over the first 10 years.
Implementation of Medicare for All (M4A) would require enormous tax increases, report author Charles E. Blahous of the Mercatus Center concludes. Blahous states “the initial federal obligations would be in the ballpark of $10,000 annually per person. Even if M4A fully liberated Americans from all their current health care expenses, … a family of four might still strongly object to having to send an additional $40,000 to Washington each year on top of their current tax burdens . . .”
Sally Pipes, president and CEO of the Pacific Research Institute, says M4A will cause health care demand to increase, which will trigger higher costs over the long term.
“No government program ever costs what it is estimated to cost,” Pipes said.
“When people think something is free, they demand a lot more of it and supply cannot meet demand and the price goes up,” Pipes said. “And that is when wait times and rationing kick in because government cannot afford the cost.”
