Medicare for All discussed at forum

April 20-- Apr. 20--Single-payer health care systems and current legislative initiatives to move the United States from a commercial model to that of universal healthcare were discussed at the Robert Hoag Rawlings Public Library on Saturday, as dozens of people gathered for a forum and panel discussion about Improved Medicare for All.

Panelists included former ER and family medicine doctors, health care executives, and advocates of single-payer systems, and the forum was moderated by T.R. Reid, the well-known author, lecturer, documentarian and Washington Post reporter who has traveled the world studying and reporting on health care.

"It turns out that in Southern Colorado -- Pueblo, Fremont County, all over -- there are a bunch of people that are really pissed off about our health care system. They've figured out that it doesn't work," Reid said.

"All over Colorado, health care is too expensive and hard to get, but in rural Colorado it's terrible. There aren't enough doctors, there are many counties with no hospital. I think there are 21 counties in Colorado with no psychiatrist and no mental health treatment. So health care is just harder in rural areas of Colorado so I think people feel the need more acutely."

Panelists at the forum touched on several topics related to a single-payer, universal health care system, including defining Improved Medicare for All, dispelling myths about what universal health care is and is not, describing why the U.S. is in need of a Medicare for all system, and detailing how the system might be paid for.

Don Pfost, a social activist and member of Colorado Health Care for All, kicked things off by defining Improved Medicare for All and discussing details about House Resolution 1384, the Medicare for All Act of 2019, which has been proposed in the House of Representatives.

Pfost detailed the comprehensive benefits that would be provided to all Americans through H.R. 1384, and said the move would improve the current Medicare system, provide every American with comprehensive benefits, give patients freedom of choice to pick their health care providers, eliminate premiums, co-pays and deductibles, and lower drug prices.

Following Pfost's presentation, Dr. Madeleine Jacobs, a long-time family practitioner in Fremont County who said she retired in 2017 primarily because of an inability to practice effectively within the confines of the U.S.' current corporate health care model, discussed why there is a need for universal healthcare.

Jacobs said that in the United States -- which she noted ranks 42nd in life expectancy despite citizens paying more for health care than anywhere else on Earth -- the current model for health care is not actually about care, but about profit.

She detailed that in the U.S., which is the world's foremost leader in medical research and technology, the current health care system covers less people, costs more, is vastly more complicated than in other countries, and provides for considerably worse health outcomes than in countries with universal systems.

"Americans are dying from treatable disease despite paying twice as much per capita for health care than people in countries which have made the moral decision to care for everyone," Jacobs said.

"The system is rotten, and getting worse."

Pam Parks, a longtime E.R. doctor at Parkview Medical Center, then dispelled what she said are myths surrounding single-payer systems, such as that they constitute socialism, that they're more expensive, and that converting to a single-payer system would be impossible for the United States.

"We just want people to understand better what Improved Medicare for All is," Parks said. "And to understand that it's certainly doable. It certainly would be better for all of us, in many ways. And to kind of tune into the fake news about things that aren't really true.

"We're just trying to let people know that this has been thought about for years and years, every other industrialized country has done it, so where the hell are we?"

The presentation portion of the forum concluded with a video and PowerPoint presentation by Bill Sprouse, a retired health care executive who managed over 200 health care facilities in his career.

Sprouse discussed different possibilities of how an Improved Medicare for All system might be paid for by the U.S., with his principle conclusion being that moving to a single payer system is not only affordable, but cheaper than the current commercial system.

"Medicare for all can provide health care for everyone, it can be paid for, and it's less expensive than what we have now," Sprouse said.

Following the panel, Reid acted as moderator for a question and answer session that allowed the 60-or-so people in attendance to submit their own questions.

Organizers said the ultimate goal of the forum was to give people the information they need to make their own decisions about single-payer health systems, as well as to mobilize those who believe in universal health care to take action and encourage their representatives to do the same.

"I want them to understand that we could cover everybody and spend less," Reid said.

"That's absolutely the case. It's absolutely true. And people say, 'Oh gee, you're going to cover more people. That's going to cost a hell of a lot, isn't it?'

"No. If we covered everybody in a Medicare kind of system, we'd spend much less."

zhillstrom@chieftain.com

Twitter: ZachHillstrom

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