Saving Money on Health Care

RONALD LIND, M.D.
An anesthesiologist in St. Charles, Iowa, Lind is a member of Physicians for a National Health Program
and will be at the forum today. Lind will be speaking at a news
conference beforehand. He said today: "The single payer 'Medicare for
All' proposal put forward by Rep. John Conyers had over 90 co-sponsors
in the last session of Congress and is well on its way to having over
100 co-sponsors this session.

"One of the biggest myths is that we can't afford to fix health
care. In fact, the 'Medicare for All' solution would save more than
$300 billion because private, for-profit insurance companies lose 25 to
30 percent on overhead, profit and marketing. Compare that to
Medicare's overhead, which is only 3 percent. That saving gives you
enough money to cover the 46 million in the U.S. who are uninsured as
well as to expand some benefits like mental health and dental coverage
for the insured."

Upcoming regional forums are in North Carolina on March 31 and Los
Angeles on April 6. See a report on the last forum (from WPTZ, an NBC
affiliate) in Vermont.