Improved Medicare For All: A talk with Oliver Fein, MD

A single payer system could save the country over $400 billion a year says Dr. Oliver Fein, but he would prefer we call it “Improved Medicare For All.” Fein says that a system based on private insurance programs, like the one we have now, will not lead to universal coverage and will not create affordable coverage, whereas a Medicare for All system can lead to universal comprehensive coverage without costing more money.

In concert with Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP-RI), gave a talk to a class of med students at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School in Providence.

Bernie Sanders has been a strong advocate for a Medicare for All approach to our health care, including the idea among his campaign issues. “The United States is the only major nation in the industrialized world that does not guarantee health care as a right to its people,” Sanders said. “Meanwhile, we spend far more per capita on health care with worse results than other countries. It is time that we bring about a fundamental transformation of the American health care system.”

What Fein does in the lecture below is explain how our present healthcare system fails us, how a Medicare for All system will improve health care outcomes, and outline a possible path from our present system to universal health care for everyone.

[Adam Miner provided additional reporting, video and photographs.]