The aff would use current Medicare to create a new single payer system.

The critics miss the point. First, Medicare for All would do nothing to change the provision of health-care; it is only concerned with the financing. The provision of care, the way people fill prescriptions or receive care from doctors and hospitals, would not change at all. Why would it? Already nearly half of healthcare is financed by the government without disrupting relationships between patients and caregivers. In existing Medicare, people choose a physician and see them as needed, physicians treat patients as they believe appropriate, and Medicare is billed at established rates. Medicare for All would change nothing because it would continue to operate under the same insurance model as existing Medicare. Everyone would choose doctors just as the elderly and disabled do under Medicare now. Doctors and hospitals would treat patients according to their medical needs and would be paid according to a price list set as under Medicare now. People would fill prescriptions and buy medical devices paid for by Medicare, as happens now.

The only change for people currently receiving Medicare is that Medicare for All would provide comprehensive benefits without costsharing, eliminating the need for any private Medigap coverage. And it would be tax-funded, eliminating the premiums now paid for Part B (physician services).

While leaving the doctor–patient relationship unchanged, Medicare for All would address the three great problems afflicting the current system: declining coverage, waning access, and rising costs. No one would go without insurance because everyone would be covered automatically without regard for any pre-existing medical conditions. Medicare for All would end the distinction between in network/out of network and give everyone a full choice of physician. It would end insurance denial of coverage and requirements for prior authorization, restoring physicians’ discretion to treat patients and prescribe drugs or devices according to their medical judgment. Costs would be controlled with savings from simplified billing processes, administration, and negotiated pricing. These are changes that would benefit all Americans.