Medicare For All: A Citizen’s Guide

[johnkarls]

.

I propose that we read “Medicare For All: A Citizen’s Guide” by Dr. Abdul El-Sayad & Dr. Micah Johnson (Oxford University Press 2/1/2021 – 287 pages sans notes & index – Hardcover $9.26 + shipping or $8.57 Kindle from Amazon.com).

THE HARVARD CLUB OF NYC CONDUCTED A ZOOM WEBINAR BY DOCTORS EL-SAYAD AND JOHNSON ON THEIR BOOK YESTERDAY (JULY 27) – RECORDINGS OF SUCH WEBINARS ARE ALWAYS AVAILABLE FOR SEVERAL DAYS AFTERWARDS ON THE CLUB’S WEBSITE, SO PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU WOULD LIKE SEE/HEAR IT.

We have focused on “Medicare For All” on two occasions – please see --

“7/12/2017: Saving the Government $300 Billion/Year – Medicare For All” at viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1631&sid=38b973b7b ... 2842508e1b.

“12/18/2019: Reprise: Saving the Government $86 Billion/Year – Medicare For All” at
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1869&sid=38b973b7b ... 2842508e1b.

[A footnote for the curious -- The drop in ANNUAL savings from $300 billion to $86 billion was caused by the drop in the corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%. This meant that the income-tax cost to the U.S. government of employer-provided healthcare had dropped precipitously. So in the equation of all costs and benefits of converting to “Medicare for All,” one of the cost-savings had dropped precipitously.]

THE PRIMARY REASON FOR THIS PROPOSAL IS THAT OUR CURRENT FOCUS BOOK FOR OUR AUG 11 MTG (Michael Lewis’ “The Premonition: A Pandemic Story”) IS A FARCE --

(1) COMPRISING SOME CHARMING STORIES CONCERNING OBSCURE OR RELATIVELY-OBSCURE INDIVIDUALS; BUT

(2) BASED ON A FALSE CLAIM (for which the source was either anonymous or made up) THAT BEFORE THE PANDEMIC THE U.S. WAS “MORE PREPARED FOR A PANDEMIC THAN OTHER G7 NATIONS”; WHEN

(3) WE ALREADY KNEW FROM BOTH OUR 2017 AND 2019 STUDIES THAT OUR “HEALTHCARE SYSTEM PERFORMANCE” IS CONSISTENTLY OUTRANKED BY ALL OF THE OTHER 35 MEMBERS OF THE OECD AND EVEN SOME THIRD-WORLD COUNTRIES!!!

AND YESTERDAY’S (July 28) PRESENTATION BY DOCTORS EL-SAYAD AND JOHNSON OF THEIR BOOK INDICATED THAT IT WAS NOT ONLY UP TO DATE (Published 2/1/2021) BUT COVERED IN DETAIL HOW ATROCIOUS AMERICA’S HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IS – NOT ONLY IN GENERAL BUT ALSO IN TERMS OF ITS PREPAREDNESS TO COPE WITH THE PANDEMIC.


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Book Description per Amazon.com (usually quoting from a book’s fly cover)

A citizen's guide to America's most debated policy-in-waiting

There are few issues as consequential in the lives of Americans as health care--and few issues more politically vexing. Every single American will interact with the health care system at some point in their lives, and most people will find that interaction less than satisfactory. And yet for every dollar spent in our economy, 19 cents go to health care. What are we paying for, exactly?

Health care policy is notoriously complex, but what Americans want is quite simple: good health care that's easy to use and doesn't break the bank. Polls show that as many as 70 percent of Americans want the government to provide universal health coverage to all Americans.

What's less clear is how to get there.

Medicare for All is the leading proposal to achieve to universal health coverage in America. But what is it exactly? How would it work? More importantly, is it practical or practicable?

This book goes beyond partisan talking points to offer a serious examination of how Medicare for All would transform the way we give, receive, and pay for healthcare in America.


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Author Bios

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Dr. Abdul El-Sayad --

MD, Columbia U, 2014 – Rhodes Scholar, MA & PhD in Public Health from Orel College, Oxford – BS, U/Mich, 2007

Professor of Epidemiology – Columbia School of Public Health - 2014

Author of over 100 scholarly articles, abstracts, and book chapters on public health policy, social epidemiology, and health disparities. His essays on public health policy have also been published in The New York Times, CNN, The Hill, and The Huffington Post.

Detroit MI Health Commissioner, 2015-2017 – rebuilt Detroit’s Health Department after Detroit’s bankruptcy

Ran for Michigan Governor in the 2018 Democrat Primary against incumbent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on the issue of a state-level single-payer healthcare program with the endorsement of Bernie Sanders. Refused all corporate campaign donations but raised more than $5 million from individuals. Came in second with 30.2% vs. Gov. Whitmer with 52.0%.

2018 to present – launched & leads a PAC to support liberal down-ballot candidates and take positions on ballot initiatives.

Lives in Ann Arbor with his wife, Sarah Jukaku, who is a psychiatrist.

*****
Dr. Micah Johnson

MD, Harvard Medical School, 2020 – Rhodes Scholar, Politics Philosophy & Economics, Oxford, 2015 – BS, Yale, 2013 (where he served for 2 years as a researcher for Yale Medical School’s Lombroso Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology)

2020 to present – Resident Physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston

Researcher, writer and policy advisor who has served as healthcare-reform adviser to presidential campaigns.


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Book Review Excerpts

"Nurses have long understood that the major obstacle to passing Medicare for All isn't the policy, but the will to take on those who benefit from our immoral, profit-driven health care system. In this book, Abdul El-Sayed and Micah Johnson brilliantly demonstrate how Medicare for All works, and how a combination of messaging and grassroots advocacy can overcome our opposition. A must read."
-Bonnie Castillo, RN, Executive Director, National Nurses United

"In this timely book, El-Sayed and Mr. Johnson shine a light on the people left behind by our current health care system. Regardless of your politics, their thought-provoking writing will push you to think more deeply and critically about the future of health care in America."
-Vivek H. Murthy, MD, MBA 19th Surgeon General of the United States

"An essential primer on why we need Medicare for all, the essentials of reform, and pitfalls to avoid in crafting legislation."
-Steffie Woolhandler, MD, MPH, Distinguished Professor of Public Health, City University of New York and Co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program

"The coronavirus pandemic has revealed just how unsustainable our fragmentary, privatized, and fundamentally individualistic health care system truly is. This engaging and accessible guide couldn't have come at a better time."
-Lindsay F. Wiley, JD, MPH, Professor of Law and Director of the Health Law and Policy Program, American University Washington College of Law

"This is by far the finest extended analysis I have seen to date of the next wave of public policy options for health care reform. It is breathtakingly comprehensive, thoroughly supported with research citations, lucidly written, and logical. It amounts to a major contribution to the US healthcare reform debate."
-Donald M. Berwick, MD, Former Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

"The growing debate over Medicare for All has mostly occurred at the level of soundbites and slogans, not specifics. In this essential 'Citizen's Guide,' we get the specifics: the provisions, promise, potential pitfalls of-and, yes, political prospects for-this bold vision for affordable quality care for all. Whether you support Medicare for All or just want to truly understand it, you must read this book."
-Jacob S. Hacker, Stanley B. Resor Professor of Political Science, Yale University and author of The Great Risk Shift: The New Economic Insecurity and the Decline of the American Dream

"This book is a labor of love for the American people and the healthcare system they deserve. El-Sayed and Johnson demystify Medicare for All and defang the political talking points to offer a clear distillation of the potential of this policy, while guiding the reader through the challenges and opportunities of this moment for achieving it."
-Ro Khanna, Member of Congress

"In this important and timely book, El Sayed and Johnson document everything you need to know about Medicare for All. This Citizen's Guide both demystifies and humanizes our broken health care system and explains why we must fight to transform it now."
-Ady Barkan, Organizer, Center for Popular Democracy and Co-Founder, Be A Hero PAC