MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan used his major-network platform on Sunday to make the case for Medicare for All as a crucial public well being measure, pointing to a brand new examine exhibiting {that a} single-payer system designed to ensure complete protection to everybody may have prevented greater than 338,000 coronavirus deaths in the USA.
“It is time to cease treating common healthcare or single-payer or Medicare for All as some form of fringe, left-wing problem, some political hobbyhorse for Bernie Sanders or ‘The Squad,'” Hasan mentioned throughout the three-minute phase. “No, it is a public well being problem. It is a coverage being pushed by among the prime scientific researchers in America. And albeit, it is a no-brainer.”
Watch the complete phase:
Final week, as Widespread Goals reported, analysis revealed within the Proceedings of the Nationwide Academy of Sciences estimated that no less than 338,594 lives may have been saved from Covid-19 within the U.S. if the nation had a single-payer healthcare system. The coronavirus remains to be killing lots of of individuals every day throughout the nation as tens of thousands and thousands stay uninsured, typically forgoing care out of worry of racking up debt.
The examine’s authors additionally discovered {that a} Medicare for All system may have reduce $105.6 billion in nationwide healthcare prices by lowering coronavirus-related hospital expenditures. The U.S. presently spends round twice as a lot on healthcare per individual as different rich nations.
“If the USA needs to be prepared for the subsequent pandemic, we’d like to verify everybody in America has healthcare.”
“There are a variety of causes as to why our nation has dealt with the pandemic a lot worse than most different western international locations,” Hasan famous, citing “poor presidential management throughout the Trump period, the efforts of anti-vaxxer Republican governors, and media misinformation from the likes of Fox and Fb.”
“However we additionally want to speak in regards to the elephant within the room: common healthcare—or, our lack of common healthcare,” he continued. “In comparison with different giant high-income international locations, the U.S. had the best demise charge per capita from the virus. And it is also the one one amongst such international locations with out common healthcare.”
Dr. Alison Galvani, director of the Middle for Infectious Illness Modeling and Evaluation at Yale College of Public Well being and the lead writer of the brand new examine, applauded Hasan for offering a succinct rationalization of “not solely the disaster of our fragmented healthcare system but additionally the answer to enhance pandemic preparedness, save lives and scale back prices.”
“A must-watch,” she added.
Hasan’s phase aired simply over a month after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) unveiled the newest model of his Medicare for All Act, laws that will transition the U.S. to a single-payer system over a four-year interval and supply each individual within the U.S. with complete well being protection without spending a dime on the level of service.
Throughout his 2020 marketing campaign, President Joe Biden repeatedly attacked Medicare for All and refused to decide to signing a single-payer invoice if one reached his desk.
Noting that the Biden administration is predicted within the coming weeks to launch its technique to defend in opposition to the subsequent pandemic, Hasan mentioned that “the adoption of common healthcare needs to be elementary to any plan for pandemic preparedness.”
“If the USA needs to be prepared for the subsequent pandemic, we’d like to verify everybody in America has healthcare,” mentioned Hasan. “No ifs, no buts, no exceptions.”
https://www.commondreams.org/information/2022/06/20/its-public-health-issue-msnbc-host-makes-case-medicare-all
