Single-Payer Advocates Worry 'Medicare For All' Hearing Could Be A 'Farce'

[Celerity]

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/medicare-for-all-hearing-farce_n_5cc1dfbee4b0ad77ff8164fe?1f8

WASHINGTON ― It’s supposed to be the first congressional hearing ever on “Medicare for All” ― a huge win for single-payer advocates and progressives in Congress. But next week, when the House Rules Committee holds that landmark hearing on the expansive health care legislation, Medicare for All advocates may actually be getting screwed.

There are four people testifying for Democrats: Sara Collins from the nonpartisan Commonwealth Fund; Dr. Doris Browne, the former president of the National Medical Association; Dr. Farzon Nahvi, an emergency physician and professor in New York City; and Dean Baker, the co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Of those four witnesses, perhaps only Nahvi is actually an advocate for Medicare for All, the single-payer health care system that would transition everyone to Medicare. And even then, sources tell HuffPost that Nahvi’s testimony is supposed to be limited to how patient experience would change. That means that when the Rules Committee convenes this hearing on Tuesday, there may not be any witness testifying who will make the case for Medicare for All over other health care plans.

“There is a heated debate right now about what is this best way forward,” Adam Gaffney, the president of Physicians for a National Health Program told HuffPost. “Medicare for All is one proposal. Medicare for All is the best proposal. Is someone going to make that case?” Gaffney was actually one of the witnesses that single-payer advocates put forward to testify. But the Rules Committee nixed his appearance, along with those of more than a dozen other suggested witnesses.

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[3Hotdogs]

1. How many of those witnesses are Kock funded?

[Celerity]

2. 2 for sure, Grace-Marie Turner (Galen Institute) and Charles Blahous (Mercatus Center)