Both the pro and the con guest commentaries regarding Medicare for All contained valid arguments (“Medicare for All could have saved lives during covid”; “(Covid is refuting the case for Medicare for All,” The Herald, May 16). The bottom line is that no person in this country should be denied essential medical services or medications because of insurance or financial issues.
Medicare for All will not solve all the problems. Like Canada, just providing “coverage” to everyone will not guarantee that care will be available when needed. And the best medical care will no longer exist without competition. Medicare coverage won’t guarantee that people will be authorized to receive all services or all medications they need. Just ask people who currently have Medicare.
The problem is not only the type of insurance or lack of it. Even people with the most expensive and comprehensive medical insurance provided by their employers might still be denied access to using that coverage. That is the result of “managed care” by insurance companies. Non-medical staff sitting in an insurance office can refuse to let a person use benefits that medical staff interacting with the patient feel are essential. Medical providers sometimes spend more time trying to obtain authorization from insurance companies than with the patients.
The solution is to thoroughly assess the insurance industry. Hold them accountable for the damage that is done by denials of legitimate medical services. Congress needs to set the standards for every type of insurance — whether it is a commercial company or Medicare or Medicaid — to protect patients.
Please send your recommendations to the people we’ve elected in Washington, D.C.
Lynn Price
Everett
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