Medicare for All is not Medicare for All

**Adrian Ma** (0:01)
N-P-R.
Medicare for. All is a politically divisive topic. Progressive Democrats think it's a great idea.

**Abdul El-Sayed** (0:13)
It's an improved version of Medicare.

**Ricky Mulvey** (0:15)
Republican lawmakers, including the president, think it's terrible.

**Craig Garthwaite** (0:18)
It will be the worst thing that's ever happened to you and your family.

**Ricky Mulvey** (0:22)
It's either the worst thing or the best thing ever, Adrian.

**Adrian Ma** (0:26)
This is The Indicator from Planet Money. I'm Adrian Ma.

**Ricky Mulvey** (0:28)
I'm Ricky Mulvey.

**Adrian Ma** (0:29)
And you may remember Medicare for. All from some years ago. Well, it is hot in the streets again, a key issue in the Democratic primaries and a top priority for the progressive wing of the party.

**Ricky Mulvey** (0:41)
But what is Medicare for.

**Adrian Ma** (0:43)
All?

**Ricky Mulvey** (0:43)
Is it what people think it is and what would it do to our economy? Today on the show, one of the loudest voices on Medicare for.

**Adrian Ma** (0:50)
All.

**Abdul El-Sayed** (0:50)
I'm Abdul El-Sayed, Democratic candidate for US. Senate in Michigan.

**Adrian Ma** (0:54)
We'll see you and Abdul El-Sayed after the break.

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**Ricky Mulvey** (2:11)
So what is Medicare, the current version? Fundamentally, Medicare is health insurance that the federal government helps pay for. It's available to Americans and some lawful residents age 65 and older. You may get it earlier if you have a disability, but it's not free.

**Adrian Ma** (2:27)
Medicare Part A is generally the free bit, but it only covers part of your inpatient hospital treatment. You still have copays.

**Ricky Mulvey** (2:36)
So on top of that, Medicare enrollees will have to pay for doctor's insurance, dental and hearing, preventative care, annual checkups, and of course, all of the copays and deductibles that entails.

**Adrian Ma** (2:47)
And that's why there's even an entire industry built around extra Medicare insurance.

**Craig Garthwaite** (2:52)
I don't think that the people who say they want Medicare for. All actually want traditional Medicare for everybody. Because traditional Medicare without any supplemental insurance or anything like that, actually doesn't provide great financial protection for people.

**Ricky Mulvey** (3:08)
Craig Garthwaite is a professor of strategy at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. He wrote a paper called The Economics of Medicare for.

**Adrian Ma** (3:16)
All. Craig laid out this example. Imagine a patient who has cancer, a really expensive illness to treat.
That Medicare-insured patient is still on the hook to pay for a portion of expensive drugs.

**Craig Garthwaite** (3:28)
So when you go to get a physician's service, of which chemotherapy drug is, you pay 20% of the cost of that drug with no end, right? And so that can add up when you're talking about drugs that are $70,000, $100,000, $200,000 a year.

**Ricky Mulvey** (3:44)
So when you hear Medicare for. All, you're hearing a proposal to upend the entire health care system in America.
A proposal that would provide government-paid health care from cradle to grave. That isn't Medicare at all.

**Craig Garthwaite** (3:58)
So I think really what people mean when they say Medicare for. All is they want national insurance of the quality of health care they get today for free.

**Adrian Ma** (4:06)
Still, the promise of a nationalized health system with no more health insurance premiums, that's a key part of Abdul El-Sayed's campaign.
He just won Michigan's Democratic Senate primary. And he's also an epidemiologist who co-authored a book called Medicare for. All, A Citizen's Guide.

**Ricky Mulvey** (4:21)
We caught up with Abdul for a few minutes on the phone toward the end of a long day of campaigning. He sees Medicare for. All not just as Medicare, but Medicare with more options.