How Does Bernie Pay for His Major Plans?

According to a February 15, 2020 study by epidemiologists at Yale University, the Medicare for All bill that Bernie wrote would save over $450 billion in health care costs and prevent 68,000 unnecessary deaths – each and every year.What our current system costs over the next decade:Over the next ten years, national health expenditures are projected to total approximately $52 trillion if we keep our current dysfunctional system. How much we will save:According to the Yale study and others, Medicare for All will save approximately $5 trillion over that same time period.$52 trillion – $5 trillion = $47 trillion total How we pay for it:Current federal, state and local government spending over the next ten years is projected to total about $30 trillion.The revenue options Bernie has proposed total $17.5 Trillion$30 trillion + $17.5 trillion = $47.5 Trillion total

Source: How Does Bernie Pay for His Major Plans?

Primary Care: Estimating Democratic Candidates’ Health Plans | Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

As part of our US Budget Watch 2020 project, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has analyzed the health care plans of four presidential candidates: Senator Bernie Sanders, Vice President Joe Biden, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Senator Elizabeth Warren.On February 24, 2020, Senator Sanders released an updated set of options to offset his Medicare for All plan. This updated analysis incorporates those proposals.

Source: Primary Care: Estimating Democratic Candidates’ Health Plans | Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

Will America’s Mortality Crisis Spread to the Rest of the World?

Might American deaths of despair spread to other developed countries? On the one hand, perhaps not. Parsing the data shows just how uniquely bleak the situation is in the United States. When it comes to deaths of despair, the United States is hopefully less a bellwether than a warning, an example for the rest of the world of what to avoid. On the other hand, there are genuine reasons for concern. Already, deaths from drug overdose, alcohol, and suicide are on the rise in Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Although those countries have better health-care systems, stronger safety nets, and better control of opioids than the United States, their less educated citizens also face the relentless threats of globalization, outsourcing, and automation that erode working-class ways of life throughout the West and have helped fuel the crisis of deaths of despair in the United States.

Source: Will America’s Mortality Crisis Spread to the Rest of the World?

Health Without Wealth: The Worrying Paradox of Modern Medical Miracles

In the past, gains in longevity went hand in hand with broader improvements in health-care systems, governance, and infrastructure. That meant the byproducts of better health—a growing young work force, less deadly cities, and a shift in countries’ health-care needs to the problems of older people—were sources of wider prosperity and inclusion. Today, improvements in health are driven more by targeted medical interventions and international aid than by general development. Without that development, the changes that now accompany declines in infectious diseases are potential sources of instability: rising youth unemployment, overcrowded and underbuilt cities, surging rates of premature chronic diseases, and more migration.

Source: Health Without Wealth: The Worrying Paradox of Modern Medical Miracles