The USA really needs to implement Medicare For All or a similar plan. The amount of bureacracy that would be simplified or just go away is staggering. The savings would be huge. Getting healthcare would be easier not just for patients but for doctors as well! Doctors' primary concern is providing the best treatment for their patients, but they usually have no idea how much such treatment would cost. Patients often don't know if they'll be totally covered or if they'll be financially ruined until they make a separate phone call to some customer support rep (who also probably doesn't really know). It's nuts. Under a Medicare For All system, coverage would be standardized for everyone, and doctors would have much better understandings of whether an MRI or X drug would be covered or not.

Likewise, employers won't have to carry this burden. Companies that hire employees across multiple states have to navigate a patchwork of state/region based health insurance policies. Whenever there is a wrinkle in health insurance paperwork, an HR person has to to hunt down the issue and coordinate between an employee and the health insurance.

My gosh. I switched employers within a month of having a major medical event, and it was just the worst. The hospital was claiming I didn't have insurance, but I did (through COBRA, which is a whole other shit show that should and would go away), so I had to have multiple phone calls with the HR dept of the employer that I had just left. It's pretty awkward!

How often do we get to say that the government option reduces bureacracy.

That's not to mention the increasing potential for innovation! I know personally I left a fulfilling but somewhat unstable freelance lifestyle to get a job that offers health insurance after I had kids. I would like to pursue something else independently, and I can tolerate the financial risks, but I simply cannot tolerate the high costs of health insurance for myself and the rest of my family (or worse, the risks that come with having no insurance at all). If my family had health insurance, I'd leave my day job and chase other more exciting, fulfilling prospects. If that was a successful venture, maybe I could afford to hire a few employees because I wouldn't have to cover their health insurance.

Medicare For All should be a slam dunk. The only thing standing in the way is the health insurance industry, which is rolling in money. Get rid of them.