Business and Medicare for All

By SETH SANDRONSKY

Healthcare promises to be a central issue of the 2020 presidential campaign. There are enterprises unhappy with the healthcare status quo. Against that backdrop, Dylan Dusseault is executive director of the Business Initiative for Health Policy (BIHP), in Washington, D.C. We conducted the interview below via email.

Seth Sandronsky: US healthcare is by far the most expensive and least comprehensive among industrialized nations. How does this condition connect with your business group’s support of Medicare for All healthcare now?

Dylan Dusseault: In a competitive market place, a successful business is built on efficient systems that deliver quality product with the lowest operating costs. In contrast, the American healthcare system is getting continually more bloated and expensive, and delivering a lower quality of care.

That is how you know the free-market is not the fix. Demand is inelastic: We need the same amount of healthcare no matter how much it costs, so there are no market mechanisms to control prices. There is no way for employers or workers to stop premiums, deductibles, and other out of pocket costs from skyrocketing.

Since people cannot control the price, they ration their consumption. They cannot afford to go to doctors, take their prescriptions, or get preventative tests, and as a result, our health outcomes suffer.

We are letting a broken and bloated system hold the rest of the economy hostage. Medicare for All would not only drastically reduce our healthcare spending, but universal healthcare access would improve health outcomes across the board.

SS: Are mainstream business groups allies or foes of affordable and comprehensive healthcare?

DD: Organizations like the US Chamber or the National Federation of Business are more interested in continuing donations from the healthcare industry than they are in helping their members. They will dump their considerable resources and lobbying dollars into pushing back against any and all substantial healthcare reform. BIHP was created to advocate for what business owners actually need: A Medicare for All healthcare system.

SS: Richard Master, CEO of MCS Industries and founder of the BIHP, praised Medicare for All for its financial predictability versus that of private insurers in a recent Fortune commentary. How is BIHP addressing this issue in framing the great healthcare debate?

DD: Business owners never know what their premium cost is going to be year to year. Richard himself will tell you that in any given year MCS’ healthcare costs can go up 10 or 20% without warning. Over the past 10 years, on average, employer-sponsored premiums have gone up 55% and deductibles have gone up 212%. If you are a business owner, this makes it difficult to plan for growth or expansion. You just have no idea what your costs are going to be a year from now.

Relatedly, how are people supposed to become entrepreneurs or pursue exciting new job opportunities when it might mean losing their access to healthcare, or their family’s access to healthcare? We are stifling our ability to innovate and grow the economy.

Not only will Medicare for All reduce the overall healthcare spending for businesses, but it also means they will know what they are going to be paying year to year. We have to get rid of that shock to their bottom line.

SS: What has surprised you the most in the BIHP campaign for Medicare for All healthcare?

DD: Even business owners who are typically very conservative want out of the healthcare business, and they know that Medicare for All is the obvious solution. For them it is not partisan at all, it is just the only affordable way to guarantee a healthy workforce and economy.

SS: How can readers get more information about BIHP?

DD: The BIHP website is businessinitiative.org. My twitter is @DylanDusseault and the BIHP twitter is @Bizhealthpol.

SS: Thank you for your time.

DD: Thank you Seth! It has been a pleasure.

Seth Sandronsky lives and works in Sacramento. He is a journalist and member of the Pacific Media Workers Guild. sethsandronsky@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, July 1-15, 2019

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