Statement by Healthcare Leadership Council President Mary R. Grealy on the Introduction of Medicare-For-All Legislation

Decisions affecting America’s healthcare system should be driven by practicality and what is best for patients and consumers, not political ideology.  The Medicare-For-All legislation introduced today in the United States Senate is an extreme ideological response to a nonexistent demand.  Americans are not seeking a radical overhaul of our healthcare system, nor would they be better off should it occur.

The most striking aspect of the Medicare For All legislation is not what it gives to millions of working families and individuals, but what it takes away.  It forces everyone, no matter how much they value their current health coverage, into a one-size-fits-all system in which healthcare decisions are made by a federal bureaucracy. This would not be a benevolent action, but rather an extraordinarily heavy-handed one.

We are currently in a period of significant health system evolution.  We are transitioning from a fee-for-service system to one that emphasizes value, improved outcomes, elevated population health, and greater cost-efficiency.  To scrap this progress in order to create a massive new government-run structure with still-unknown financing provisions would be foolhardy at best.  We should continue improving what we have instead of pursing an ideological fantasy that would set back patient-centered health innovation instead of advancing it.