'Medicare for All' goes way beyond other countries’ universal healthcare plans

The Medicare for All Act, the latest proposal to have the government become the only payer of healthcare services, is often billed by its supporters as a step toward realizing a similar system that other developed nations have in place.

“I want to end the international embarrassment of the United States of America being the only major country on earth that doesn’t guarantee healthcare to all people as a right and not a privilege,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said when he unveiled the most recent version of the legislation last week.

But while other developed nations do have universal healthcare coverage, they get there in a different way than the plan laid out in the Medicare for All Act, and differ significantly from country to country.

The bill backed by Sanders and by others running for the presidency — Democrat Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Cory Booker of New Jersey — would throw out private health insurance in favor of everyone being enrolled in a government plan. It would do away with all out-of-pocket costs for healthcare services and instead have the government pay for services in full. The plan also would cover more services than Medicare does now, including prescription drugs, dental care, vision care, abortion, and maternity care.

The proposal has no precedent among other nations.

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