Strong opposition to Medicare for All from insurance industry

An organization called Partnership for America’s Health Care Future, whose members include pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, and private hospitals, has been running an online advertising campaign aimed at undermining support of Medicare for All, the colloquial term for a single-payer health platform that is popular among some Democrats, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Collaboration among industries to oppose health care reform efforts isn’t new, but collective opposition to Medicare for All appears especially strong, according to a March 7, 2019 Center for Responsive Politics article.

John McDonough, professor of the practice of public health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who helped craft the Affordable Care Act (ACA), said that he heard from industry lobbyists every day as he worked on the bill. He noted that the final version of the ACA included many concessions to industry players, but noted that negotiations around Medicare for All could prove to be much more difficult, especially due to opposition from insurance companies.

“When you point a gun at somebody and say ‘we’re gonna kill you,’ don’t be surprised when they fight like it’s life or death,” McDonough said. “The ACA was not life or death for the insurance industry. Medicare for All is a death notice for a large chunk of the U.S. healthcare industry and they know it.”

Read the Center for Responsive Politics article: Big Pharma, insurers, hospitals team up to kill Medicare for All