False Premise, False Promise: The Disastrous Reality of Medicare for All

American health care is at a crossroads. Health spending reached $3.5 trillion in 2017. Yet more than 27 million people remain uninsured. And it’s unclear if all that spending is buying higher-quality care. Patients, doctors, insurers, and the government acknowledge that the status quo is unsustainable. America’s last attempt at health care reform—Obamacare—didn’t work. Nearly a decade after its passage, Democrats are calling for a government takeover of the nation’s health care system: Medicare for All. Supporters of Medicare for All assert the right to health care, promising universal, high-quality care to all Americans at no cost. With a sales pitch like that, it’s no wonder the idea has broad support. Democrats, particularly progressive ones, hope to capitalize on this enthusiasm. Here Sally C. Pipes makes a case against Medicare for All. Using evidence from government-run systems in Canada and the U.K. she explains how single-payer health care makes a litany of promises it can’t possibly keep. Between unpacking the plans under consideration in Congress—including the real costs behind the claims—and detailing the horrors of single-payer care in other countries, Pipes highlights how Americans actually fare better than their peers in Canada and the U.K. on health outcomes. Included are heart-wrenching stories of the human costs of free, universal, government-run health care systems. Pipes concludes with her vision for delivering the affordable, accessible, quality care the American people are looking for.

About the Author :
Sally C. Pipes is president, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy at the Pacific Research Institute, a San Franciscobased think tank founded in 1979. Prior to becoming president of PRI in 1991, she was assistant director of the Fraser Institute, based in Vancouver, Canada.

Review :
“There is no better authority on Medicare for All than Sally Pipes, who lived under Canada’s government-run health care system and knows firsthand its failings. She brings facts and clear-eyed reality to the debate to show why centralized control over health care is so wrong for America while explaining a better path forward.”   —Grace-Marie Turner, president, Galen Institute “As a former CEO of a successful company, I know how important competition is to ensuring a thriving and innovative industry. If government takes over our health care system—as Sally Pipes knows all too well—Americans can expect long waits, poor care, and higher taxes. This book presents not only the facts but also the human suffering of Canadians and others living under government-controlled health care. A must-read for those who want to stop single-payer health care from coming to America.”   —Andy Puzder, former CEO of CKE Restaurants   “In her brilliant False Premise, False Promise, Sally Pipes dissects “Medicare for All,” laying bare the defects of all the single-payer proposals hatched by the Left—including the horror of urgently needed but fatally delayed treatment as suffered by her mother in the Canadian system—and makes the compelling case for market-based health care as America’s vitally required prescription.”   —Governor Pete Wilson   “People say health care is complicated—not really. It’s government that has made it so. And no one can sort through the morass of health care policy and present the issues with such stark clarity as Sally Pipes. In False Premise, False Promise, she exposes the financial and the human costs of a government-run health care system. Death and taxes may be certain, but not Medicare for All, thanks to this new book.”   —Dr. Arthur B. Laffer, founder and chairman of Laffer Associates   “A highly readable, thoroughgoing and devastating indictment of Medicare for All. Pipes makes the convincing case that such a single payer scheme in America would have horrific consequences for the health of just about everyone. It would also kill innovation.”    —Steve Forbes