Guest commentary: Medical students embrace Medicare for all

Guest commentary: Medical students embrace Medicare for all

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Medical students learn that as practicing doctors they'll be dealing with dozens of different insurance schemes, each with its own rules, paperwork and bureaucratic headaches.
As physicians-in-training, they encounter patients who have delayed surgery until they qualified for Medicare at age 65 — often with more difficult and sometimes fatal complications as a result. They meet grandmothers who have had to decide between paying for medications for their hypertension and paying the rent.
They see patients with employer-sponsored health insurance get sick, lose their job, lose their insurance and declare bankruptcy. In fact, medical expenses are the most common cause of bankruptcy.
Like everyone else, medical students are shocked when they see these inequities and inefficiencies. They believe your wealth should not determine your health and that poor health should not be able to destroy your wealth. And, of course, they're right.
I recently had a chance to discuss these issues with students at both of the major medical schools in town. Just last month the new St. Louis chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program brought in Dr. Garrett Adams, PNHP's national president, and Dr. Carol Paris, a single-payer advocate from Maryland, to speak with students at those schools.

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