An Open Letter to the Congress and People of the United States
May 21, 2019
As economists, we understand that a single-payer “Medicare for All” health insurance system for the U.S. can finance good-quality care for all U.S. residents as a basic right while still significantly reducing overall health care spending relative to the current exorbitant and wasteful system. Health care is not a service that follows standard market rules. It should therefore be provided as a public good.
Evidence from around the world demonstrates that publicly financed health care systems result in improved health outcomes, lower costs, and greater equity. As of 2017, the U.S. spent $3.3 trillion annually on health care. This equaled 17 percent of U.S. GDP, with average spending at about $10,000 per person. By contrast, Germany, France, Japan, Canada, the U.K., Australia, Spain and Italy spent between 9 – 11 percent of GDP on health care, averaging $3,400 to $5,700 per person. Yet average health outcomes in all of these countries are superior to those in the United States. In all of these countries, the public sector is predominant in financing heath care.
For these reasons the time is now to create a universal, single-payer, Medicare for All health care system in the United States.
Public financing for health is not a matter of raising new money for healthcare, but of reducing total healthcare outlays and distributing payments more equitably and efficiently. Implementing a unified single-payer system would reduce administrative costs and eliminate individuals’ and employers’ insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs. If combined with public control of drug prices and a dramatically simplified global budgeting system, a sensible Medicare financing system would reduce healthcare costs while guaranteeing access to comprehensive care and financial security to all.
As such, we support publicly and equitably financed health care through a Medicare for All system at the Federal level, as described in H.R. 1384 and S. 1129. We encourage Congress to move forward with implementing a public financed Medicare for All plan to achieve the equitable and affordable universal health care system that the American people need.
Signed,
- Randy Albelda, Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Boston
- Carolyn B. Aldana, Professor Emeritus, California State University, San Bernardino
- Mona Ali, Associate Professor of Economics, SUNY New Paltz
- Larry Allen, Professor of Economics, Lamar University
- Jack Amariglio, Emeritus Professor of Economics, Merrimack College
- Eileen Appelbaum, Co-Director and Senior Economist, Center for Economic and Policy Research
- Peter Arno, Senior Fellow & Director Health Policy Research, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- Michael Ash, Professor of Economics & Public Policy, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Glen Atkinson, Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of Nevada, Reno
- M V Lee Badgett, Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Ron Baiman, Assistant Professor of Economics, Benedictine University
- Dean Baker, Senior Economist, Center for Economic and Policy Research
- Erdogan Bakir, Associate Professor of Economics, Bucknell University
- Radhika Balakrishnan, Professor, Rutgers University
- Nina Banks, Associate Professor of Economics, Bucknell University
- David Barkin, Distinguished Professor, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana
- Charles Barone, Professor Emeritus, Dickinson College
- Deepankar Basu, Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Lourdes Beneria, Professor Emerita, Cornell University
- Peter H. Bent, Assistant Professor, American University of Paris
- Suzanne Bergeron, Professor, University of Michigan Dearborn
- Cyrus Bina, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics, University of Minnesota (Morris Campus), and Fellow, Economists for Peace and Security
- Josh Bivens, Research Director, Economic Policy Institute
- Robert A. Blecker, Professor of Economics, American University
- Peter Bohmer, Faculty in Economics and Political Economy, The Evergreen State College
- Howard Botwinick, Associate Professor of Economics, SUNY Cortland
- Roger Even Bove, Ph.D. in Economics, West Chester University (retired)
- James K. Boyce, Professor Emeritus, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Robert Brenner, Director, Center for Social Theory and Comparative History, UCLA
- Michael Brün, Instructor, Heartland Community College
- Antonio Callari, Professor, Franklin and Marshall College
- Al Campbell, Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of Utah
- Martha Campbell, Associate Professor of Economics, Emeritus, SUNY Potsdam
- Jim Campen, Professor of Economics, Emeritus, University of Massachusetts Boston
- José Caraballo, Professor, University of Puerto Rico
- Scott Carter, Professor of Economics, The University of Tulsa
- James F Casey, Associate Professor of Economics, Washington and Lee University
- John Dennis Chasse, Professor Emeritus, SUNY College at Brockport
- Ying Chen, Assistant Professor of Economics, The New School
- Robert Chernomas, Professor of Economics, University of Manitoba
- Kimberly Christensen, Economics Professor, Sarah Lawrence College
- Douglas Cliggott, Lecturer, Economics, University of Massachusetts
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- Dr. James Cypher, Professor of Economics, Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas, Mexico, and Emeritus Professor, California State University
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- Anita Dancs, Associate Professor of Economics, Western New England University
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- James G. Devine, Professor of Economics, Loyola Marymount University
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- Peter Dorman, Professor of Political Economy, Evergreen State College
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- Amitava Krishna Dutt, Professor of Economics and Political Science, University of Notre Dame
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- Gerald Epstein, Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst
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- Neva Goodwin, Co-director, GDAE, Tufts University
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- Conrad M. Herold, Associate Professor of Economics, Hofstra University
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- Joan Hoffman, Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice CUNY
- Barbara Hopkins, Professor, Wright State University
- Candace Howes, Professor of Economics, Connecticut College
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- Julio Huato, Associate Professor of Economics, St. Francis College
- Joseph Michael Hunt, Instructor, Environmental and Health Policy, Harvard Uiversity
- Dorene Isenberg, Professor of Economics, University of Redlands
- Tae-Hee Jo, Associate Professor, SUNY Buffalo State
- Fadhel Kaboub, Associate Professor of Economics, Denison University, and President,Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity
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- Haider A Khan, John Evans Distinguished University Professor, University of Denver
- Mu-Jeong Kho, University College London, the University of London
- Marlene Kim, Professor, University of Massachusetts Boston
- Mary C. King, Professor of Economics Emerita, Portland State University
- Charalampos Konstantinidis, Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Boston
- Kazim Konyar, Professor of Economics, California State University, San Bernardino
- Douglas Koritz, Professor of Economics, St Francis College
- Brent Kramer, Adjunct Assistant Professor, City University of New York
- Patrick L Mason, Professor of Economics, Florida State University, and Director, African American Studies Program
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- Thomas Lambert, Lecturer, University of Louisville
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- An Li, Assistant Professor, Sarah Lawrence College
- Victor D. Lippit, Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of California, Riverside
- James Luke, Professor of Economics, Lansing Community College
- Daniel MacDonald, Assistant Professor, California State University San Bernardino
- Arthur MacEwan, Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Massachusetts Boston
- Allan MacNeill, Professor, Webster University
- Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi, Full Professor of Economics, Winston-Salem State University, and Former Chief Economist, City and County of San Francisco
- Yahya M. Madra, Associate Professor of Economics, Drew University
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- Gabriel Mathy, Assistant Professor, American University
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- Elaine McCrate, Economics Professor Emerita, University of Vermont
- Terrence McDonough, Professor Emeritus, National University Ireland Galway
- Martin Melkonian, Adjunct Associate Professor, Economics, Hofstra University
- Peter B. Meyer, Professor Emeritus of Urban Policy and Economics, University of Louisville
- Thomas Michl, Professor of Economics, Colgate University
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- Robert Pollin, Distinguished Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Co-Director, Political Economy Research Institute (PERI)
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- Michael Robinson, Professor of Economics, Mount Holyoke College
- John Roche, Associate Proferssor Emeritus, St John Fisher College
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- Leanne Roncolato, Assistant Professor of Economics, Franklin and Marshall College
- Frank Roosevelt, Emeritus Professor of Economics, Sarah Lawrence College
- Jaime Ros, Emeritus Professor, University of Notre Dame, and Professor of Economics, National Autonomous University of Mexico
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- Trevor R. Roycroft, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Ohio University
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- John Sarich, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
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- Heidi Shierholz, Senior Economist and Director of Policy, Economic Policy Institute
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- Nicholas Shunda, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Redlands
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