Medicare-for-all sponsor admits 1 million jobs will be cut

  10 May 2019

In February America got its first introduction to Rep. Pramila Jayapal sweeping “Medicare-for-all” healthcare plan. Then the Democrat from Washington State acknowledged at the time her bill would largely outlaw private insurance along with the roughly 150 to 170 million individuals who now enjoy and receive employee group insurance at reasonable premium rates.

The bill at the time was co-sponsored by more than 100 House Democrats, and will mirror the single-payer disaster that both the U.K. and Canada currently have.

Earlier this week Jayapal was forced to admit that aside from putting private insurance companies out of business and forcing roughly 150 million individuals off their private insurance, over 1-million individuals who currently work within the healthcare insurance industry would also lose their jobs.

She made the remarks during a town hall meeting at American University while stressing her goal is to try and help those “displaced” by a shift to a government-managed health care system.

“There are a lot of people who work in the private insurance industry,” Jayapal said. “We have thought carefully about how we’d take care of those folks because we think those people are very important.”

In a video clip produced by the conservative group “America Rising”, the lawmaker from the 7th congressional district acknowledges that her bill would displace a massive number of private insurance jobs stating “there’s about a million people we think will be displaced if ‘Medicare-for-all’ happens” she then suggested her bill would also “take care” of those people whose jobs are made redundant.

Stating, “We have set aside one percent a year of the total cost of the bill for five years to take care of a transition for employees in the private insurance sector,” Jayapal said. “If they are able to retire, that might be one, pension guarantees, job training so they can move into a different system.”

The displacement of private insurance workers would be inevitable given the kind of sweeping overhaul being proposed by Jayapal. Moreover, the issue of replacing a single payer government run healthcare system with the current private insurance enjoyed by millions of Americans has proven to be a thorny issue on the campaign trail for the 51-year old lawmaker.

The bill as written clearly states that private policies would be eliminated. One clause that stands out confirms that it would be “unlawful” for a private health insurer “to sell health insurance coverage that duplicates the benefits provided under this Act.” The text prohibits employers from doing the same.

The estimated cost could be as high as $32 trillion dollars, which no doubt would mean raising taxes across-the-board, with the middle-class paying the highest share.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., weighted on the massive government entitlement saying, “Medicare-for-All would require all Americans to pay more in taxes, wait longer for care and receive potentially worse care, even worse it would put our existing Medicare recipients at risk.”

“America’s Health Insurance Plans”, an advocacy group for the private health insurance industry also weighed in stating that the vast majority of Americans are happy with their private insurance coverage as it is, adding “Americans want to improve what’s working for them and fix what’s broken. This bill will hurt patients, consumers, and taxpayers: Americans will pay more, to wait longer, for worse care,” spokeswoman Kristine Grow told Fox News in an email. “Let’s focus on real solutions that deliver real results, not a one-size-fits-all government system.”

To better understand what Americans might be facing with Rep. Pramila Jayapal sweeping “Medicare-for-all” healthcare plan. One needs only to look at the healthcare crisis in the U.K., which is on the brink of collapse.

Frustrated physicians in the U.K., have described England’s Healthcare System of having to practice “battlefield medicine,” while another apologized for its “3rd world conditions” caused by overcrowding.

In November, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, announced an additional $475 million, for the National Health Service, describing the additional funds as an “exceptional measure” to ease pressures on services during the winter months.