Post-Pandemic Solutions: A Public Option for Universal Healthcare

By ROSEMARIE DAY As the coronavirus pandemic overtook the tail end of the Democratic primary season, attention rapidly shifted from examining the nuances of the differences between the candidates’ healthcare platforms to simply demanding a response to the pandemic. Beyond addressing the immediate crisis, however, lie many questions about the weaknesses of our current healthcare system, and how we will address them in the long run.  These questions should be at the forefront of voters’ minds as we head into the election this fall.  One of the major weaknesses in our system is that we do not have universal healthcare. Importantly, virtually all of the Democratic candidates called for making healthcare a right in the U.S. This is a key first step toward universal healthcare.  Their approaches to achieving this varied, however. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren called for “Medicare for All,” but most of the other candidates, including Joe Biden, have pushed for some kind of public option. The public option has faced criticism that it will simply maintain the status quo. This criticism inspired me to write this blog, because a large-scale public option program could actually help to reshape the US healthcare system and result in improvements in access to care in this country, ultimately getting us to universal healthcare. What is a public option? A public option is a health insurance plan (or plans) sold by the government and available to a...
Source: The Health Care Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: COVID-19 Health Policy Rosemarie Day universal healthcare Source Type: blogs