On the same day, an analysis released in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that not having health insurance increases the risk of death in adults by 3 to 29 percent. Authors of the study estimate that the Better Care Reconciliation Act would create an additional 29,000 deaths each year among the uninsured. This would be on top of the 29,000 excess deaths each year among those who are left without health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
The first step that the United States can take toward a healthcare system that will save money, improve health outcomes and reduce excess preventable deaths is National Improved Medicare for All. Half measures such as adding a public insurance to the heavily bureaucratic and complex current system or offering the opportunity to purchase Medicare for those under 65 years of age will fail to solve our healthcare crisis, and will, in fact, delay the solution to our healthcare crisis as embodied in HR 676: The Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act.