The sales pitch for Medicare for all is appealing—universal coverage, free access to doctors and hospitals, and no insurance premiums, copayments or deductibles. But then come the tradeoffs: Everyone would be required to give up private health insurance, and taxes could double to finance $32 trillion in added government spending over the next decade. Washington bureaucrats would decide what services are covered and how much doctors and hospitals would be paid. Rationing and waiting lines are inevitable. The American people don’t want such a major upheaval. The right solution is to give people more choices of more affordable health coverage and have states, rather than the federal government, target resources to those who need help.
