“Medicare for All” has been debated by politicians throughout last year’s presidential elections and has recently been brought back to the ongoing discussion about how to improve the health care system in the United States. But what is “Medicare for All”, how would it affect the average American, and does it really stand to improve the country’s health care situation?

What is Medicare for All?

Medicare for All is a universal (or single-payer) health insurance based off models that exist in Northern Europe. In the context of the United States, “Medicare for All” was originally developed by Senator Bernie Sanders and recently endorsed by Senator Kamala Harris. This idea essentially builds on the successes of Medicare and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to help more Americans access affordable health care.

A single-payer health insurance is a system in which a single public agency manages all the aspects health care financing, while health care delivery remains mostly a private industry affair. Under this type of system, all residents of the U.S. would be covered for all medically-necessary services, including doctor visits, hospital stays, preventive care, long-term care, mental health, reproductive health care, dental, vision, and prescription drugs.

How would Medicare for All be funded?

Under a single-payer health insurance, insurance premiums would disappear; health care overheads and administrative costs would be reduced. This program would likely be funded by resources attained by replacing today’s inefficient multiple insurance payers, which are largely profit-funded, with a single, streamlined public payer, which would be truly not-for-profit. The program would likely also be funded by new taxes on high-earning families, employers, and the medical industry.

Who would be covered by Medicare for All?

The enactment of Medicare for All would ensure that all individuals within the United States have access to health care. Currently, it is estimated that millions of Americans do not have health insurance under the ACA, and that millions more are underinsured – which means they have policies with such high copayments and deductibles that health care is effectively unaffordable. Under the Medicare for All system, all of these individuals would be covered.

The single-payer health insurance would also not be connected to employment, which would allow it to cover unemployed or under-employed Americans, stay-at-home parents, new business owners, and other people who currently do not have access to affordable health insurance. Under this plan, all Americans would receive necessary medical treatment regardless of their age, earnings, or socioeconomic status.

How Medicare for All would impact the average American?

Under Medicare for All, all Americans would get the health care you need from their preferred healthcare providers without having to worry about whether those providers are in a specific network. It is also likely that Medicare for All would have no copays or deductibles. Because of this and other factors, it is estimated that the average middle-class family would save money on health care each year.

This single-payer health insurance would also potentially reduce the country’s healthcare spending; the integrated single-payer system would allow the government to negotiate better prices with the pharmaceutical and medical industries. Because of the single-payer centralized payment system, we would also be better able to track health care provider usage, which could help communities and individuals. Finally, the single-payer system would also save money to American businesses which would no longer need to subsidize health care costs for employees.

In sum, Medicare for All would restructure the way health insurance works in the United States so that no one would depend on private, for-profit insurance anymore. A single-payer system will reduce health care costs for families, employers, and the country itself, and would be funded by a small increase in taxes in different sectors. It will also improve the health of the nation by ensuring that all Americans have access to affordable, high-quality health care.