In hopes of demystifying Medicare for All and how it might impact average households, public radio station WBUR created a formula to calculate how much such a program would cost families in Massachusetts.
The formula, detailed in an October 17, 2019 article, compared a household’s total health spendingto the taxes that might be required to fund a single-payer program. The station noted that it consulted economists and health policy experts, and that it used three possible tax rates due to discrepancies about how much Medicare for All might cost.
John McDonough, professor of the practice of public health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told WBUR that the station’s cost comparison can be a useful benchmark for people who want to compare possible health care expenses but that “the end result would likely be strikingly different in one direction or another” if a Medicare for All policy was ever put in place.
Read the WBUR article: What Medicare For All Might Mean For 4 Mass. Households