WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers clashed Wednesday over the merits of a single-payer health care system, with Republicans describing it as an expensive, high-risk socialist scheme and Democrats portraying it as a lifesaving improvement on the status quo.
Congressional Budget Office experts, who testified on the topic before the House Budget Committee, declined to estimate the cost of universal health care, saying it would vary wildly based on how the system was designed.
In 2017, health care spending reached $3.5 trillion -- $10,739 for every man, woman and child in this country.
Despite leading the world in health care spending, many Americans lack any coverage at all.
Last year in the United States, roughly 30 million people under the age of 65 lacked health insurance during any given month, the experts said.
House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth, D-Ky., said the current system isn't working.
"Too many American families still must make the impossible choice between going to the doctor or putting food on the table, filling their gas tank or refilling a prescription. We cannot accept this tragic reality as the status quo," he said.
In a study released earlier this month, the budget office said that switching to a single-payer system would be a "complex task," potentially generating "substantial uncertainty" for patients, health care providers and the country as a whole.
Testifying on Wednesday, budget office Deputy Director Mark Hadley emphasized the immensity of the challenge.
"Moving to a single-payer system would be a major undertaking. It would involve significant changes for all participants -- individuals, providers, insurers, employers and manufacturers of drugs and medical devices," he said. "Because health care spending currently accounts for one-sixth of the nation's economic activity, those changes could significantly affect the overall U.S. economy. And the transition towards a single-payer system could be complicated, challenging and potentially disruptive."
While the budget office declined to estimate the cost of single-payer health care, Republicans pointed to a 2018 study by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. It predicted that passage of one such proposal, the Medicare for All Act favored by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, would increase federal health care spending from $1.709 trillion to $4.562 trillion in its first year.
Over a decade (between 2022 and 2031), the plan would increase federal budget obligations by $32.6 trillion, the conservative think tank said.
Studies by other organizations, including the Urban Institute and the American Action Forum, were also predicting sharp increases in spending, said U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark. Womack is the ranking member of the House Budget Committee.
In order to raise the extra money for a single-payer health care system, the government would have to raise taxes, run up the deficit or pass the costs to consumers by charging high premiums or instituting substantial copays, he said.
Medicare for All-type health care plans "will chase a lot of doctors out of health care," in part by driving down payment rates for health care providers, the lawmaker from Rogers said.
Hospitals would also suffer, with their payment rates slashed, he predicted.
"Single-payer, government-run health care" will have "consequences that ripple through the most personal aspects of American life, from fewer doctors and longer wait times to less access and no choices," he said.
Democrats argued that the current system is shortening lives and bankrupting many seriously ill people.
"Health care is a human right. Everyone in America deserves good, affordable health care. And we all know that that is not the case today," said U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass.
Republicans warned that a single-payer system would drive up demand for medical services while driving down payments to medical providers. They also predicted that a government-run health care system would be less efficient than the existing system.
"This is what Medicare for All gets you: Americans would have to pay more to wait longer for lower-quality care," said U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo.
Afterward, Yarmuth said Democrats are committed to fixing the existing health care system.
"I think virtually everybody in our caucus wants to do something to expand Medicare," he said.
Metro on 05/23/2019