“Medicare for All” is enjoying a political resurgence.
asserted
Medicare → enjoy → resurgence
A KFF poll released last week found that two-thirds of Americans support a national health plan — the highest level since the organization began asking about the idea in 2017.
asserted
organization → release → 2017
But enthusiasm falls when Americans confront some of the trade-offs.
asserted
Americans → fall → offs
Just 24% still support “Medicare for All” when told it could mean delays in medical tests and treatments, and 35% do so when told it could raise taxes.
uncertain
it → support → taxes
Putting Washington in charge of everyone’s healthcare would not make it free.
asserted
it → put → healthcare
It would leave government officials to decide how to stretch finite taxpayer dollars across virtually unlimited demand.
asserted
It → leave → demand
Waiting is one way government-controlled healthcare systems make the numbers add up.
asserted
numbers → control → ?
At the end of March, about 6 million people in England were waiting for treatment through the National Health Service.
asserted
people → wait → Service
In more than 94,000 cases, patients had already been waiting longer than a year.
asserted
patients → wait → year
Canadians waited a median of 28.6 weeks from referral by a general practitioner to treatment by a specialist in 2025.
asserted
Canadians → wait → 2025
The average Canadian family of four paid $21,115 in hidden taxes to sit on a waiting list.
asserted
family → pay → list
Canada offers another, darker warning about the incentives government-run healthcare can create.
asserted
healthcare → offer → incentives
Medical assistance in dying has become remarkably common north of the border.
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assistance → die → border
In 2024, 5.1% of people who died in Canada received MAID — roughly 1 in 20.
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who → die → 20
The program now extends to some people whose conditions are not terminal.
asserted
conditions → extend → people
The granddaughter of 83-year-old Brigitte Stegemann told Fox News in September that her grandmother had previously rejected assisted death.
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grandmother → tell → death
According to her family, Stegemann broke down two days before the procedure after learning that the scheduled “medicine” would kill her and said she had “made a mistake.”
uncertain
she → accord → mistake
Two days later, she received MAID and died.
asserted
she → receive → MAID
Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer estimated in 2020 that the expansion of MAID would reduce provincial healthcare costs by a net $62 million annually.
asserted
expansion → estimate → million
That’s the danger of charging the government with paying for care and setting the rules that govern access to it.
asserted
that → ’ → it
“Medicare for All” would put Washington in much the same position.
asserted
Medicare → put → position
As costs mounted, officials would inevitably face pressure to limit spending.
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officials → mount → spending
The long waits in Britain and Canada show one way that pressure can affect patients.
asserted
pressure → show → patients
Canada’s rapid embrace of assisted death offers a more disturbing warning.
asserted
embrace → assist → warning
Americans should consider those consequences before embracing “Medicare for All.”
asserted
Americans → consider → All
The promise of universal coverage sounds appealing.
asserted
promise → sound → coverage
The experience of other countries suggests otherwise.
uncertain
experience → suggest → countries
Her latest book is The World’s Medicine Chest: How America Achieved Pharmaceutical Supremacy — and How to Keep It (Encounter 2025).
asserted
America → achieve → Encounter
The Aporia
