A new report from the Mercatus Center has found that the implementation of a national, single-payer healthcare system would cost the U.S. government -- and, by implication, the U.S. taxpayer -- about $32 trillion over the course of the next ten years.
The Washington Free Beacon reports:
The paper, authored by Mercatus scholar Charles Blahous, assesses the fiscal impact of Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I., Vt.) Medicare for All Act. The proposal, which would see the rollout of Medicare coverage to all Americans regardless of age, was a hallmark of Sanders’s run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016.
Under ideal assumptions, Blahous writes, Medicare for All would mean that federal spending on health care would rise to 12.7 percent of GDP by 2031, roughly doubling its current rate. Doubling all current income and corporate tax revenues would be insufficient to finance this massive growth in federal spending, which would itself be more than double all currently projected federal discretionary appropriations.
Talking heads and think tanks will continue to debate the merits of a single-payer national healthcare system, but what if no one is asking the right question?
The real question isn't, "Is Medicare for All feasible?" The real question is, "Does the federal government even have the authority under the Constitution to impose this kind of plan?"
The answer to the latter question would be a resounding "No!" if not for 100 years of Supreme Court activism that has allowed the feds into every area of American life. The text of the Constitution says nothing about healthcare, but SCOTUS decisions have allowed Congress to spend on virtually anything it wants.
If we really want stop ideas like this, we need to shift our focus from Congress to the states. The states have the power to propose a Convention of States for the purpose of proposing constitutional amendments. These amendments can clarify the Founders' intention that the states -- and only the states -- can tackle issues like healthcare. Washington has no place in the doctor's office, and We the People need to step out in courage and use the tool the Founders gave us.
