Democrat Matt Brown vows to provide ‘Medicare for All’ if elected governor
His pledge: "On our first day in office, we will create an expert commission of health care and economic advisers ... to create a plan to move
He also pledges to restore cuts championed by his primary opponent -- Gov.
Brown -- the former
Brown relied on his belief that savings from unnecessarily high administrative costs, sky high executive salaries -- and lack of bargaining power -- will help pay the tab.
Beyond that, he said: "The commission we will put together will explore ways to fund it."
Who would run it? "The state Medicare for All system will pay for health care and negotiate rates, just as Medicare does now on the federal level. That's one of the main ways Rhode Islanders will save -- by using the bargaining power of 1 million
The problem, as Brown sees it: "Everyday in our state, hardworking Rhode Islanders struggle to afford the care they need. Even those with insurance avoid doctor's visits, because it costs too much to go. If people lose a job, they lose their health care. Small businesses pay so much to insure their employees, it stops them from hiring, even when they need the extra help. For 40,000 Rhode Islanders, there is no affordable insurance plan, so they have none; they use emergency rooms and urgent care clinics, and the bills pile up."
"Health care costs for Rhode Islanders have nearly tripled since 1991. Seniors spend 75% more on average for prescription drugs now than they did in 2006; meanwhile, the average annual cost of just one prescription drug is nearly
"That's not who we are and not who we want to be," said Brown, who has been openly wooing the "Bernie Sanders" wing of the state Democratic Party that gave the
His pledges: restore unspecified Medicaid "cuts" in the state budget and somehow do at the state-level what
His working theory: "Monopolist drug makers and medical device companies can essentially charge whatever they want, in part because few insurers have the bargaining power to negotiate truly lower prices -- and those that do pocket the profits instead of passing savings on to small businesses and patients."
"A Medicare for All system would save money by eliminating administrative costs, middleman fees and other expenses in the current system, and by using the bargaining power of a combined insurance pool of the one million people in
On the Medicaid front, he said: "The Governor has proposed more than
It is not yet clear which cuts in the growth of Medicaid he seeks to reverse -- and how he proposes to pay for the resulting increases in spending, but he noted: "Rising medical costs -- particularly the cost of prescription drugs ... [make] Medicaid an increasingly expensive option for
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