Health Care
Gordon's approach to health care comes down to one phrase:
Medicare for all.
We spend the most and get less
As a nation, the United States spends more on health care per capita than any other country on earth, and by a lot. Yet it lags on many measures, including life expectancy, surviving traumatic events such as heart attack and stroke, and a shocking last place in maternal mortality.
(Source: Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/quality-u-s-healthcare-system-compare-countries/)
Chronic conditions drive the cost
The country does a poor job treating and preventing chronic conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, and asthma. Over 150 million Americans, nearly half the country, have diabetes or pre-diabetes, yet insulin costs ten times what other countries pay, often forcing patients to choose between medicine and food. As a result, 160,000 diabetic amputations are performed in the United States every year (Source: American Diabetes Association, https://diabetes.org/advocacy/amputation-prevention-alliance), at a cost upwards of 100,000 dollars each (Source: Podimetrics, https://podimetrics.com/the-true-cost-of-diabetic-foot-complications/).
And that is just the most extreme cases. Diabetic ulcers, which are far more common, cost the United States health care system more than the five most costly forms of cancer combined, over 100 billion dollars a year.
These are direct medical expenses, and they add up to the United States spending 1 of every 4 health care dollars on diabetes. Add the costs of reduced mobility, lower quality of life, and shorter life expectancy, and diabetes is a huge and largely preventable drain on the system.
And that is only diabetes. Add hypertension, asthma, obesity, and high cholesterol, and a staggering 90 percent of health care expenditures go to chronic conditions. (Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/chronic-disease/data-research/facts-stats/index.html)
Why the system fails
One of the biggest reasons the country manages these conditions so poorly is the expense and complexity of treating them in the current system. Premiums, co-pays, and deductibles make treatment too expensive for many people until they develop severe complications. Then they go to the emergency room, where manageable conditions become life-threatening and very expensive.
Add the relatively healthy people who go without insurance, then face an unexpected trauma and a life-saving emergency-room visit, only to discover that the trauma extends to the bill. That is why the United States leads the world in medical bankruptcies, allowing a single stroke of misfortune to ruin lives every day.
The solution: Medicare for all
Gordon's solution is Medicare for all, or whatever you want to call a universal health care system. Treating conditions early creates massive savings, easily enough to cover everyone and then some. It improves quality of life for hundreds of millions of Americans, reduces the burden on the medical system, increases productivity, and stops destroying families with the financial weight of health care.
Every other industrialized country provides universal access to health care. They spend far less, cover everyone, and get better outcomes. It has been tried and proven many times over.
At the top end, the United States is excellent, with the finest doctors and specialists, the most advanced facilities, and regular medical breakthroughs. Gordon believes it is time to extend that excellence to caring for every American. The country can keep its excellence and provide better lives for everyone by passing Medicare for all.