Just a year ago Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont wrote and proposed legislation known as “The Medicare for All Act of 2019”. These few hundred pages have the solution to everything wrong with America’s current healthcare system.
Contrary to popular belief, the money people pay for health insurance does not fuel innovation, rather it adds to Big Pharma’s already wide profit margin, The Atlantic found. After accounting for the costs of all research—about $80 billion a year—drug companies had $40 billion more from the top 20 drugs alone, all of which went straight to profits, not research.
More excess profit comes from the next 100 or 200 brand-name drugs. Statnews also discovered that companies did not actually invent most of the drugs they sell. A total of 62 products — 44 from Pfizer and 18 from J&J — were listed in them. The discovery and early development work were conducted in house for just 10 of Pfizer’s 44 products. Only two of J&J’s 18 leading products were discovered in house.
The best example of the impact prioritizing profits over people is insulin. The American Center for Progress states that in America, more than 1 million individuals suffer from Type 1 diabetes, and 1 in 4 have said that they engaged in insulin rationing—a tactic of using less insulin in order to make the doses last longer—as a direct result of the skyrocketing price of the drug.
A vial of insulin, which is the only life-sustaining option for Type 1 diabetics, retails at around $300. A 2018 study commissioned by the Congressional Diabetes Caucus found that the price of insulin has doubled since 2012; in the 10 years prior, the price of insulin nearly tripled. Despite the dangers of insulin rationing, which can lead to a fatal condition diabetic ketoacidosis, many Americans have no other choice.
After being presented with this information, we can clearly observe how employer based healthcare is unfair and classist. Why is it that people in a different tax bracket should have better access to healthcare and treatments?
Now, after taking Covid-19 into account, the situation only worsens. In 2018, 27.9 million elderly people were uninsured, the Kaiser Family Foundation writes. The Washington Post attests that the numbers have only gotten worse in 2020.
Due to the pandemic, people have lost their employer-sponsored health plans at record rates as unemployment skyrockets. It took weeks to ramp up testing in a clunky and complex health-care system. Some people are still getting billed for coronavirus-related testing despite laws, requiring it to be fully covered. The threat of losing employer-sponsored coverage has now become a reality for an estimated 27 million (more) Americans. They’re among the more than 38 million people who have filed unemployment claims across the country, according to the Washington Post.
Now it is more necessary than before to enact Senator Sanders’s legislation. Pandemics and recessions are unpredictable, so perhaps COVID-19 will not be the only crisis the world experiences. No networks, premiums, deductibles, copays, or surprise bills will have to be paid, therefore the cost itself of health insurance will not change significantly.
So what exactly are we waiting for? Together, we must advocate for Universal Healthcare so that lives are not lost.
