Bernie Sanders’ ‘Medicare-for-all’ plan would hurt innovation: Seema Verma
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma discusses the problems surrounding Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) “Medicare-for-all” plan and why it would hurt medical innovation.
Sen. Bernie Sanders' newly announced "Medicare-for-all" plan would make America's health care system as inefficient as those in Canada and Europe, according to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma.
The Vermont Senator’s plan would put the government in charge of health care, in place of a system of private and public companies - a move which Verma says would raise taxes and wait times at hospitals and doctors' offices.
“This would mean adding 180 million people to the Medicare program,” she told FOX Business' Stuart Varney on Wednesday. “And with the government takeover we can see - from other countries - that we're going to have long wait times and rationing of health care.”
According to Verma, how the government-run Veterans Affairs hospital system is managed is an example of the consequences surrounding the “Medicare-for-all” plan.
“There's no competition in the VA system,” she explained. “Unfortunately, our veterans that deserve better are experiencing long wait times, provider shortages and poor customer service. And that's what we can expect with the government takeover of our health care system.”
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Sanders is one of several 2020 presidential candidates proposing “Medicare-for-all,” though his plan is considered more comprehensive than most. He intends to cover the cost of government-funded care by raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations.