Medicare for all—that about covers it. A civilized country needs universal healthcare, and the only effective way to provide it is through a government-managed program. The United States already has several government-managed programs, but by far the most effective and most efficient is Medicare. Medicare may not be perfect, but it works, and it works at relatively low cost. Almost every American aged 65 and over is covered by Medicare. If Medicare can deliver basically sound healthcare for the this group—the highest-risk part of the population—it should be able to deliver basically sound healthcare for the rest of us. The idea that government-paid healthcare for people over 65 is normal and ordinary, but government-paid healthcare for people under age 65 is some kind of un-American, communist conspiracy is flat-out ridiculous. Medicare already pays more than 20% of all personal healthcare expenses in the country. It is well on its way to being a universal program. It should be made a universal program.

Medicare is an insurance program in four parts. Part A covers hospital bills, Part B covers doctors’ bills. Part C, also known as Medicare Advantage, is an optional private insurance plan that Medicare recipients can choose to receive instead of Parts A and B. Part D, the newest part, is a private insurance plan for prescription drugs.

Medicare needs a lot of work. Private Medicare Advantage plans should be made simpler and more comprehensive. The federal government should take back the right to negotiate Part D drug prices that Congress gave up in 2003. This change alone would save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars per year. Many other tweaks, refinements, and improvements should be made. But the bedrock principle that every American should have inexpensive access to all necessary healthcare should not be a matter for debate. Other civilized countries recognized that healthcare is a basic human right decades ago. Presidents Truman, Nixon, and Clinton all believed in the necessity of universal healthcare and tried to pass legislation to make it a reality. President Obama used his first-term mandate to push the Affordable Care Act (ACA), popularly known as Obamacare, through Congress in 2010.