The Case for Medicare for All

Largely privately funded with relatively little public regulation, the United States healthcare system is both expensive and inefficient, providing poor care to large parts of the population.

For decades, Americans have wrestled with how to fix their broken healthcare system. In this razor-sharp contribution to the healthcare debate, leading economist and former adviser to Bernie Sanders Gerald Friedman recommends that we build on what works: a Medicare system that already efficiently provides healthcare for millions of Americans.  Rejecting the discredited idea that healthcare should be treated like any other commodity, Friedman shows that healthcare is distinctive and can be best provided only through universal program of social insurance. Deftly exposing the absurdities of the opponents of reform, Friedman shows in detail how the solution to our health care crisis is staring us in the face: enroll everyone in Medicare to improve the health of all Americans.
 
This bold and brilliantly argued book is essential reading for anyone who wants to see Congress and the White House act to provide America with a 21st century healthcare system.

Gerald Friedman is Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts-Amhurst.

Figures and Tables


Acknowledgements


Preface:  We Need Better


Introduction:  The Failure of Free Market Healthcare


Chapter One:  Why Markets Cannot Work in Healthcare


Chapter Two:  Can We Afford Medicare for All?


Chapter Three:  From Here to There is Politics


Chapter Four:   Universal Healthcare is Better Economics


Because it Acknowledges Human Rights


Notes