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Medicare For All is Actually Good For Unions, and Here’s Why.
Single payer healthcare benefits union workers in a number of ways.
As Bernie Sanders emerges from the still fairly crowded field of democratic candidates vying for the presidential nomination, the critiques of Medicare for All in relation to unions has come up once again in the discourse surrounding the election. Some union leaders have expressed the view that Medicare for all would do away completely with the healthcare benefits they fought so hard for. While being concerned about the healthcare benefits of workers is entirely understandable, the reality is that Medicare for All would actually have an incredibly positive impact in a number of ways for unions moving forward.
In understanding why Medicare for All would be a benefit for unions, we must first understand what Medicare for All actually entails for the healthcare industry. Bernie’s Medicare for All plan over the course of four years would legislate health insurance companies out of existence, and replace it with a tax payer funded single payer insurance system that would expand on Medicare to cover all healthcare, dental, and vision services making them free at the point of service for every American. A system like this, while indeed paid for by taxes, would actually save the vast majority of Americans a…
