Menu
The Goodman Institute Health Blog
  • Home
  • Authors
    • Devon Herrick, Ph.D.
    • John C. Goodman
  • Popular Topics
    • Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare
    • Consumer-Driven Health Care
      • Affordable Care Act
      • Cost of Healthcare
      • COVID-19 and Public Health
      • Doctors & Hospitals
      • Public Insurance
      • Policy & Legislation
    • Direct Primary Care
    • Health Economics & Costs
      • Drug Prices & Regulations
      • Health Insurance
      • Health Reform
    • Medical Tourism
    • Telemedicine
    • Medicare
      • Single-Payer/Medicare-for-All
  • Goodman Institute
  • Contact
The Goodman Institute Health Blog

Another Argument against Medicare for All

Posted on September 13, 2022 by John C. Goodman

 [+] GETTY


From my latest column at Forbes:

Consider the effect of having one insurer cover drugs, while the other two are covering medical care. If a diabetic skips his insulin and other medications, that is actually profitable for the drug insurer – since these are expenses it doesn’t have to cover. However, if such non-adherence to a drug regimen leads to emergency room visits and hospitalization, those are costs the other two insurers will have to bear.

The fact that the insurers have competing and opposing financial interests means that in traditional Medicare there is no possibility of alignment with the goal of cost-effective, well-managed care.

In contrast, roughly half of all Medicare enrollees are participating in the Medicare Advantage program – where they enroll in private plans that look very much like the plans employers offer.

In the Houston area, for example, Aetna, Cigna, Elevance (Anthem) and Oscar offer MA plans that make maintenance drugs for the chronically ill completely free or available at a very nominal fee.

A diabetic, for example, would tend to pay nothing for insulin and other drugs and would have access to an endocrinologist at no charge or for a $5 copay. That is because the plans believe that by lowering these costs to the patient, they are avoiding the higher costs of severe illness.

1 thought on “Another Argument against Medicare for All”

  1. Ron Greiner says:
    September 13, 2022 at 11:22 am

    Hey John, does that Oscar Plan pay if you have to take your wife to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota? I am certified to sell Medicare Advantage plans and I would tell them if going out of network is a non-covered expense then it’s crap. I don’t care what John Goodman says. But, I’m bound by Ethics and you aren’t. John, when you get insurance you plan for the worst and pray for the best.

    Loading...
    Reply

Join the conversation.Cancel reply

For many years, our health care blog was the only free enterprise health policy blog on the internet. Then, when the NCPA closed its doors, the health blog stopped as well.

During this five-year hiatus no one else has come forward to claim the space. So, my colleagues and I have decided to restart the blog in connection with the Goodman Institute. We invite you and others to use this forum to share your views.

John C. Goodman,

Visit www.goodmaninstitute.org

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 35 other subscribers

Popular Topics

©2025 The Goodman Institute Health Blog | Website by Lexicom
%d