qotd: Gerald Kominski discusses the politicians' proposals and the future of U.S. health care

The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research

The Center's Health Policy Seminar Series

September 27, 2016

"The Presidential Candidates: Their Health Plans"

By Dr. Gerald Kominski, Director, UCLA Center for Health Policy Research

 and Professor, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health

Excerpt at 0:52:24 of the video:

Question: Will the U.S. move to universal health care in the next ten years or so.

Gerald Kominski:  Wow! I've spent my entire career talking about the history of the effort to get universal health care in the United States. And, again, I'm looking at Mark Peterson whose written about this extensively as well and knows the history. Our history is that we have been trying to do this now for 120 years in the United States. We've made progress, but the progress is glacial. Having said that, we never stop fighting for that. First of all, that's why we're in Public Health. It's why this center - The Center for Health Policy Research - does what it does, and it's why thousands of people across the country, across the state… millions of people are working towards this goal. But the next ten years are very difficult… we are so divided politically right now, it is very, very difficult to imagine the scenarios that lead us to true universal access through, say, a single payer system in the next ten years. But I'm an optimist, and I believe that there are people in this room who will one day see a single payer system in this country. Now I may not be around, but some of you will be. And we're getting there. It just takes a long time.

Video, with PowerPoint:

http://healthpolicy.ucla.edu/newsroom/Pages/Seminars.aspx

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Comment by Don McCanne

In this seminar Gerald Kominski discusses the health care proposals of presidential candidates Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump plus those of Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

Health policy wonks and others certainly understand the complexity of the proposals of the two leading candidates and even that of Libertarian Gary Johnson, as described by Professor Kominski. But he was able to describe Jill Stein's proposal in full in one brief, elegant sentence. Here is his full description of her plan (at 0:41:12 of the video): 

"Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, is for a Medicare for All plan, basically a single payer plan with no copayments, no deductibles, basically free health care for all Americans."

That's it! 

Wow!

Physicians for a National Health Program is a nonpartisan educational organization. It neither supports nor opposes any candidate for public office.