Study: 'Medicare for All' the most costly of all healthcare proposals

Oct. 16 (UPI) -- A Washington, D.C., think tank said in a study Wednesday a "Medicare for All"-type healthcare program that has been proposed by some Democrats, would cost taxpayers nearly $35 billion over the first decade, but would also save them money by eliminating premiums and deductibles.

The 81-page study, conducted by the Urban Institute and the Commonwealth Fund, said the programs pitched by 2020 presidential candidates and Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren would spike national healthcare spending, for example, by $720 billion next year. They would also inflate overall federal spending by $34 trillion over 10 years.

By comparison, a model mixing public and private insurance, like the one favored by candidate Joe Biden, would improve on the Affordable Care Act but leave 6.6 million undocumented migrants without coverage, the study said. National health spending would decrease the first year by $22 billion under that plan, and overall government spending would rise by $1.5 trillion over 10 years.

The Urban Institute said a second single-payer plan would cover all Americans and decrease national health spending by $210 billion in the first year -- and boost overall federal spending by $18 trillion over the first decade.

"The analysis demonstrates that there is more than one effective approach to achieving universal healthcare coverage in the United States and highlights the trade-offs of different reform strategies," the institute wrote in its report.