Healthcare continues to be one of the defining political issues in the United States. Though many progressives argue for an overhaul of the current system based on ethical or humanitarian principles, this important book offers an economic rationale for providing healthcare for all.
The purpose of Medicare For All: An Economic Rationale is to demonstrate how current runaway healthcare prices can be addressed by implementing the cost-effectiveness of Medicare For All. Written by a former Corporate Director and healthcare consultant, this book illustrates why the current free market model for healthcare is ultimately failing the country by not containing rising healthcare costs, which has a severe economic impact on all Americans, including those covered by employer medical plans. Major factors in that failure such as the lack of transparency, human decision factors, and high administrative costs in the current system are explored. The book demonstrates that implementing Medicare For All, providing comprehensive benefits with no copays, private insurance premiums, deductibles, or other cost-sharing, will not only improve the lives of most Americans, but will be far more cost-effective than the present system.
This is an incisive, important contribution to a topic that continues to shape American political discourse and will be of interest to scholars and professionals engaged in this area as well as politicians and the public in general.
1. A Brief Background and Outline of the Book, 2. America’s Health Care Costs and Quality, 3. High Prices and the Free Market System, 4. Overhead and Administrative Cost, 5. The Burden of High Healthcare Costs, 6. Savings Under Medicare for All, 7. The ACA and Other Issues, 8. Summary, Appendix: The Canadian and German Healthcare Systems
Biography
Ken Lefkowitz is a former consultant and Senior Director for major corporations, including AstraZeneca and PECO Energy. Ken designed and managed healthcare plans for hundreds of thousands of employees and their dependents. He has negotiated with major health insurers and managed large corporate self-insured plans. A number of his writings about healthcare have been published in the Washington Post, Courier Post/USA Today Network, Philadelphia Inquirer, and the New York Times. Ken earned a BA degree from Brooklyn College, MS degree from City University of NY, and pursued graduate business studies at St. Johns University.
Every year thousands of books are published, but only a handful qualify as "mandatory" reading. Ken Lefkowitz’s "Medicare For All; An Economic Rationale" is on the short list. His book is a recipe for a quality, efficient healthcare system for America. Ken wrote and managed health plans for large corporations. When has anyone from corporate America making healthcare decisions say government could do a better job of providing healthcare?Every member of the Executive Branch, every Senator, every Member of Congress should read "Medicare For All; An Economic Rationale!" Ken’s plan is a "must read" for we the people. Maybe, just maybe, Medicare For All; An Economic Rationale could be the starting point for a national debate and eventually lead to Medicare For All!
Ralph Hendrickson
The reasons why we should transition from our very muddled health care system to a single payer model are very reasonably argued in this timely and important book by Ken Lefkowitz. The author provides an easy to grasp data analysis bolstered by a series of informative graphs which in effect educates the reader about the many complexities of health care economics and why change is urgent. I’ve not read a better argument to do so. And if this book were to be widely read I believe that much opposition to a single payer system would fall away. Ken has used Occam’s Razor to great effect-getting to the essence of this issue in a very readable style that no reader can claim not to understand after putting it down. I can’t recommend it more highly!
James R. Beaudoin M.D.
During my career as a Family Practice M.D. I was continuously reminded of the need for universal access to medical care from an ethical, patient care perspective. I found this well researched and clear analysis to be quite compelling, as it brought to light the sound arguments that support single payer coverage from an economic viewpoint. Clearly Medicare for All is an idea whose time has come and this book makes a significant contribution toward that goal by presenting difficult concepts in a most comprehensible way.
Gary Dolowich, M.D.
Medicare for All" is a remarkable little book. The author makes a compelling argument for how the current free-market, for-profit healthcare system is failing Americans. It lays out in easy to read language how "Medicare for All" would actually save significant amounts of money and produce better healthcare outcomes. This book should be required reading for anyone who has influence over how healthcare is paid for in this country. It convincingly eliminates the argument that we can't afford it. The author states we can and we must move to the "Medicare for All" model for funding healthcare in the US. I agree.
Eileen G Hill MD
