
Even Libertarians Admit Medicare for All Would Save Trillions - paulpauper
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/07/medicare-for-all-mercatus-center-report
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gbacon
Counterpoint[0] from a libertarian perspective, excerpt below.

 _As Matt Bruenig at Jacobin explains, if you compare the projected price tag
of Medicare for All against projected total healthcare spending in the United
States, you see a net decrease of around $2 trillion over the decade._

 _Of course, in promoting this conclusion, Sanders and his allies out the true
aims of their proposal: the outright nationalization of the US healthcare
system._

 _While Sanders and others usually try to avoid being honest with this aim,
others on the left[1] are more transparent. This is why the description of
“Medicare for All” is fundamentally dishonest. With Medicare, not only do you
have an increasing number of Americans opting for the privately managed
Medicare Advantage programs, but you always have the option of seeking
treatment outside of the Medicare program. This would not be true in the
future envisioned by Bernie Sanders and his supporters._

 _… So at the end of the day, while there is value in discussing some of the
potential fiscal costs of socialized medicine in America, it is important to
not overlook that we are not even talking about the same services. …_

[0]: [https://mises.org/wire/real-cost-medicare-all-lives-not-
doll...](https://mises.org/wire/real-cost-medicare-all-lives-not-dollars)

[1]:
[https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/09/medicar...](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/09/medicare-
for-all-tax-policy/539715/)

~~~
gbacon
In contrast, see a proposal[0] by Austrian economist Bob Murphy for reforming
a different entitlement program in such a way that would reduce costs for the
same service. Summary excerpt:

 _The Social Security program is in the hole by $11 trillion. The government
could ameliorate this gap by letting Americans opt out of the system, so long
as they make a payment to cover the present value (if positive) of their net
obligations. Because the pay-as-you-go system has an implicit rate of return
that is lower than private investments but higher than what the government
would pay in the bond market, there are “win-win” moves that allow workers to
build up a larger retirement fund while reducing the government’s financial
hole._

[0]:
[http://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2017/Murphysocialsec...](http://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2017/Murphysocialsecurity.html)

