Statement by Mary R. Grealy, President, Healthcare Leadership Council on Medicare-For-All Legislation Introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives

“Legislation introduced today in the U.S. House of Representatives would force tens of millions of Americans to give up their current healthcare coverage and enter the Medicare program.  This would radically transform American healthcare without either a compelling reason or a public demand to do so.  It’s an idea whose time has most definitely not come.

“We can and must improve the current healthcare system and there are ways to do so that would not require individuals and families to give up their current coverage.  We are in the process of moving from a fee-for-service system to one focused on value.  We need to accelerate the implementation of health data interoperability and giving patients greater access to their health information.  We must build consensus on actions to improve healthcare affordability while continuing to stimulate transformative innovation.  We should not short-circuit ongoing efforts to strengthen what we have in order to pursue a costly ideological experiment.

“We don’t know what will happen to a Medicare program, currently on track to reach insolvency in less than a decade, when over 100 million Americans are added to the rolls.  We don’t know what a Medicare-for-All system will cost or how it will be financed, and the legislation introduced today doesn’t provide answers to those questions.  We do know that many healthcare providers will face severe viability and sustainability issues if forced to rely solely upon Medicare reimbursement levels that are significantly lower than private insurer payment rates.

“The American people are not insisting upon adoption of a Medicare-for-All program, and such a profound and problematic change should not be forced upon them.”