KNOWLES: Why ‘Medicare-For-All’ Is A Bad Idea

In a recent town hall, California Senator and 2020 Democrat Party presidential candidate Kamala Harris discussed how she wants a “Medicare-for-all” policy to eliminate the current healthcare system in the United States. On Tuesday’s episode of “The Michael Knowles Show,” the host discusses why this is a bad idea. Transcript and video below.

Let’s eliminate the greatest healthcare regime in the history of the world, that basically single-handedly provides healthcare innovation to the entire world. That’s what the Democrats want. The place that everybody goes when they want medical care, let’s eliminate it. You know? What did that ever do for us — other than be the greatest achievement of healthcare science ever? This is the sign of the radical, and the sign of the reformer is they will bulldoze centuries of work on a whim. They don’t care, they have no respect for anything. They are utterly filled with pride and so they say, “Psh, whatever, I don’t love it, so just bulldoze it, who cares? We’ll probably be able to recreate the culmination of centuries of science in like, a day, right?”

And add on to it something that has never succeeded ever, which is government control of healthcare. Who cares? it’s only 1/6 of the economy and the healthcare of 300 million Americans. How ridiculous, how flippant. What an unserious person Kamala Harris is to say that sort of thing. Also, it’s a lie. Everybody has access to medical care in the United States. She can’t answer it because you’re right, people won’t be able to choose their doctor. They won’t be able to choose who provides their healthcare, so she asked to answer a different question. She says, “Yeah, but everyone is gonna have access to medical care.” Everyone in the United States has access to medical care. Illegal aliens in the United States can access medical care whenever they want! She is right that the system is terrible. She’s right, it’s like that Churchill quote about democracy, “Democracy is the worst form of government except for all of the others that have been tried.” The American healthcare system is the worst form of healthcare other than all the other systems that have been tried. That’s true. It’s so frustrating. I go to the doctor once every 50 years. So, I’ll go get a checkup or something and I’ll get random bills for this and it really costs $10,000 but you’re only paying three installments of $28 and somebody is paying this. All of the costs are hidden from both the providers and from the customer, so you’re not really making decisions based on any sort of market incentives. It’s full of corruption, full of abuse, full of inefficiency and fat. That’s all true.

And add on to it something that has never succeeded ever, which is government control of healthcare. Who cares? it’s only 1/6 of the economy and the healthcare of 300 million Americans. How ridiculous, how flippant. What an unserious person Kamala Harris is to say that sort of thing. Also, it’s a lie. Everybody has access to medical care in the United States. She can’t answer it because you’re right, people won’t be able to choose their doctor. They won’t be able to choose who provides their healthcare, so she asked to answer a different question. She says, “Yeah, but everyone is gonna have access to medical care.” Everyone in the United States has access to medical care. Illegal aliens in the United States can access medical care whenever they want! She is right that the system is terrible. She’s right, it’s like that Churchill quote about democracy, “Democracy is the worst form of government except for all of the others that have been tried.” The American healthcare system is the worst form of healthcare other than all the other systems that have been tried. That’s true. It’s so frustrating. I go to the doctor once every 50 years. So, I’ll go get a checkup or something and I’ll get random bills for this and it really costs $10,000 but you’re only paying three installments of $28 and somebody is paying this. All of the costs are hidden from both the providers and from the customer, so you’re not really making decisions based on any sort of market incentives. It’s full of corruption, full of abuse, full of inefficiency and fat. That’s all true.

It would lift some regulations that would include tort reforms so that you don’t have crazy malpractice laws where doctors are afraid to do anything, ordering a zillion tests. There are a lot of reforms that you could make gradually to make the system even better than it is. Or, you could take the Kamala Harris, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat Medicare for all approach, which is to bulldoze the greatest healthcare system ever, on which the entire world relies, and then just crush your fingers and hope that a system that has consistently failed will work here just cause. Those are your options, those are your two options, we’ll see which one they do.

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