U.S. Representative Rob Woodall: "Medicare for All" Bills Raise Costs and Lower Benefits

Statement

Today, the House Budget Committee held a hearing with the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to discuss its recent report on the risks of imposing a single-payer, one-size-fits-all health care system.

House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth (D-KY) requested a "qualitative analysis" from CBO of what single-payer health care systems would look like in theory; however, what he avoided asking of CBO was to score the cost of "Medicare For All."

Rather than score one of the many "Medicare For All" proposals put forward by the Democrats, the House Budget Committee instead made the decision to mask the true cost of such a proposal.

"Though "Medicare For All' supporters tried to mask the reality, the truth for American taxpayers is what the non-partisan CBO report confirms, hard-working Americans are going to pay more for a single-payer health care system, Medicare benefits will shrink for seniors who have paid for and now rely on the program, and the bill will outlaw the private insurance that over 150 million Americans have chosen today," said Congressman Woodall.

Click here or on the image below to watch Congressman Woodall's Q&A with the panel.

Background

According to the CBO report:

"Government spending on health care would increase substantially under a single-payer system because the government (federal or state) would pay a large share of all national health care costs directly."
"Because the public plan would provide a specified set of health care services to everyone eligible, participants would not have a choice of insurer or health benefits. Compared with the options available under the current system, the benefits provided by the public plan might not address the needs of some people."
"The transition from the current system to publicly owned hospitals and publicly employed physicians would entail significant changes for providers, and those changes could lead to lower quality of care for patients."
"Such a reduction in provider payment rates would probably reduce the amount of care supplied and could also reduce the quality of care. Studies have found that increases in provider payment rates lead to a greater supply of medical care, whereas decreases in payment rates lead to a lower supply."

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