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In his 2020 State of the Union handle, President Donald Trump tried to tie a Democratic proposal for well being care reform to one among his signature points: immigration.
“Over 130 legislators in this chamber have endorsed legislation that would bankrupt our nation by providing free taxpayer-funded health care to millions of illegal aliens, forcing taxpayers to subsidize free care for anyone in the world who unlawfully crosses our borders,” Trump stated Feb. four.
That seems to be a reference to the “Medicare for All” payments put forth within the Senate and House by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) that will set up a common, government-funded well being care system. The measures are the flagship Medicare for All proposals and have formed a big portion of the 2020 marketing campaign discourse on well being care. We reached out to the White House to verify that Trump was referring to those plans, however didn’t hear again.
That stated, Trump has made similar remarks earlier than about Medicare for All. And he’s on course along with his co-sponsor estimate for these payments. The Sanders measure has 14 Senate co-sponsors and the Jayapal laws has 118 within the House.
His remarks had been dramatic, although, in highlighting the proposal’s alleged penalties for undocumented immigrants. And well being coverage specialists instructed us Trump missed the mark.
The Immigration Question
Trump is appropriate in his understanding that these proposals are meant to supply protection no matter immigration standing.
But the proof doesn’t help his argument that Medicare for All would “bankrupt” the nation by extending medical health insurance protection to everybody, and to immigrants within the nation illegally specifically.
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One level: While the single-payer system outlined within the pending legislative proposals would improve public spending — and by a big quantity — its backers say that whole well being care spending doubtless wouldn’t change that a lot. That’s as a result of, because the plan is envisioned, whereas authorities spending would go up, non-public well being expenditures would disappear.
“Medicare for All would dramatically shift how we pay for health care, but not necessarily how much we spend in total,” stated Larry Levitt, a vp on the Kaiser Family Foundation. “It’s hard to make the case that it would bankrupt the country.” (Kaiser Health News is an editorially impartial program of the inspiration.)
Furthermore, to counsel that offering undocumented immigrants with insurance coverage would bankrupt the nation is deceptive. Those immigrants make up a small variety of the inhabitants — about 11 million, in contrast with the overall nationwide inhabitants of roughly 327 million.
“A very, very small percentage of the total cost is associated with that 11 million people,” stated Linda Blumberg, an analyst on the Urban Institute, a Washington suppose tank. “We’re talking about a strawman.”
In reality, she famous, many present applications on the state, county and native ranges already present well being advantages to undocumented immigrants. Those applications haven’t led to chapter.
Part Of A Broader Theme
Trump’s declare on well being take care of undocumented immigrants was half of a bigger broadside on Democratic well being proposals. He additionally argued Democrats would “impose a socialist takeover of our health care system” and “raid the Medicare benefits our seniors depend on.”
Those statements are additionally deceptive.
For one factor, Levitt famous, Medicare for All wouldn’t socialize the medical care system, even when it will exchange non-public insurance coverage with all public applications. Under the present proposals, hospitals and docs would nonetheless stand as non-public entities.
“It would in no way mean a socialist takeover of the health care system,” Levitt stated. “When Americans think of health care, I suspect they think of the people who actually deliver that care.”
The concept of “raiding” Medicare can also be difficult, as we famous last October. While the single-payer plan would exchange typical Medicare with a brand new authorities program, that program (in line with the Sanders and Jayapal payments) would have extra beneficiant advantages than Medicare at the moment gives. If something, then, advantages wouldn’t be raided; they’d be bolstered.
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The consequence, analysts stated: a collection of arguments that distracts from the precise debate at hand.
“It is worthwhile having a serious debate over the inherent trade-offs of the reform being discussed,” Blumberg stated. “But this is identical type of throwaway line and inflammatory language to thwart severe dialog.
Our Ruling
The president stated Medicare for All would “bankrupt our nation by offering free taxpayer-funded well being care to hundreds of thousands of unlawful aliens, forcing taxpayers to subsidize free take care of anybody on the planet who unlawfully crosses our borders.”
While this system is supposed to cowl undocumented folks, it’s, at finest, a gross exaggeration to counsel this expense would “bankrupt” the United States, particularly since Medicare for All’s total price ticket appears to be like pretty much like what we at the moment spend on well being care. (It modifications who pays.)
We fee this declare Half True.
This story will be republished at no cost (details).
In his 2020 State of the Union handle, President Donald Trump tried to tie a Democratic proposal for well being care reform to one among his signature points: immigration.
“Over 130 legislators in this chamber have endorsed legislation that would bankrupt our nation by providing free taxpayer-funded health care to millions of illegal aliens, forcing taxpayers to subsidize free care for anyone in the world who unlawfully crosses our borders,” Trump stated Feb. four.
That seems to be a reference to the “Medicare for All” payments put forth within the Senate and House by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) that will set up a common, government-funded well being care system. The measures are the flagship Medicare for All proposals and have formed a big portion of the 2020 marketing campaign discourse on well being care. We reached out to the White House to verify that Trump was referring to those plans, however didn’t hear again.
That stated, Trump has made similar remarks earlier than about Medicare for All. And he’s on course along with his co-sponsor estimate for these payments. The Sanders measure has 14 Senate co-sponsors and the Jayapal laws has 118 within the House.
His remarks had been dramatic, although, in highlighting the proposal’s alleged penalties for undocumented immigrants. And well being coverage specialists instructed us Trump missed the mark.
The Immigration Question
Trump is appropriate in his understanding that these proposals are meant to supply protection no matter immigration standing.
But the proof doesn’t help his argument that Medicare for All would “bankrupt” the nation by extending medical health insurance protection to everybody, and to immigrants within the nation illegally specifically.
One level: While the single-payer system outlined within the pending legislative proposals would improve public spending — and by a big quantity — its backers say that whole well being care spending doubtless wouldn’t change that a lot. That’s as a result of, because the plan is envisioned, whereas authorities spending would go up, non-public well being expenditures would disappear.
“Medicare for All would dramatically shift how we pay for health care, but not necessarily how much we spend in total,” stated Larry Levitt, a vp on the Kaiser Family Foundation. “It’s hard to make the case that it would bankrupt the country.” (Kaiser Health News is an editorially impartial program of the inspiration.)
Furthermore, to counsel that offering undocumented immigrants with insurance coverage would bankrupt the nation is deceptive. Those immigrants make up a small variety of the inhabitants — about 11 million, in contrast with the overall nationwide inhabitants of roughly 327 million.
“A very, very small percentage of the total cost is associated with that 11 million people,” stated Linda Blumberg, an analyst on the Urban Institute, a Washington suppose tank. “We’re talking about a strawman.”
In reality, she famous, many present applications on the state, county and native ranges already present well being advantages to undocumented immigrants. Those applications haven’t led to chapter.
Part Of A Broader Theme
Trump’s declare on well being take care of undocumented immigrants was half of a bigger broadside on Democratic well being proposals. He additionally argued Democrats would “impose a socialist takeover of our health care system” and “raid the Medicare benefits our seniors depend on.”
Those statements are additionally deceptive.
For one factor, Levitt famous, Medicare for All wouldn’t socialize the medical care system, even when it will exchange non-public insurance coverage with all public applications. Under the present proposals, hospitals and docs would nonetheless stand as non-public entities.
“It would in no way mean a socialist takeover of the health care system,” Levitt stated. “When Americans think of health care, I suspect they think of the people who actually deliver that care.”
The concept of “raiding” Medicare can also be difficult, as we famous last October. While the single-payer plan would exchange typical Medicare with a brand new authorities program, that program (in line with the Sanders and Jayapal payments) would have extra beneficiant advantages than Medicare at the moment gives. If something, then, advantages wouldn’t be raided; they’d be bolstered.
The consequence, analysts stated: a collection of arguments that distracts from the precise debate at hand.
“It is worthwhile having a serious debate over the inherent trade-offs of the reform being discussed,” Blumberg stated. “But this is identical type of throwaway line and inflammatory language to thwart severe dialog.
Our Ruling
The president stated Medicare for All would “bankrupt our nation by offering free taxpayer-funded well being care to hundreds of thousands of unlawful aliens, forcing taxpayers to subsidize free take care of anybody on the planet who unlawfully crosses our borders.”
While this system is supposed to cowl undocumented folks, it’s, at finest, a gross exaggeration to counsel this expense would “bankrupt” the United States, particularly since Medicare for All’s total price ticket appears to be like pretty much like what we at the moment spend on well being care. (It modifications who pays.)
We fee this declare Half True.
