In a new op-ed for National Review, AAF Health Care Expert Stephen Parente and Theo Merkel discuss their Center for Health and the Economy research modeling the costs of presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ Medicare for All plan. Parente and Merkel estimate that the 2019 Harris plan would, if implemented by 2028, increase federal spending by $44 trillion over the next decade. The plan would also cover 11 million illegal aliens and eliminate the private coverage of around 180 million Americans.

An excerpt:

The Harris version of Medicare for All was not seriously vetted during the 2019 primary, and it is a vision of government-provided health program on a scale that does not exist anywhere in the world. As demonstrated by our projections, the costs would be extremely high, and the plan was, in our view, short of realistic regarding the details of how it might be paid for. To be fair, more details would probably have emerged had she continued with her campaign. While it may be in the political interest of the vice president now to move away from her previous proposal, it (and her earlier Senate co-sponsorship) undeniably provides insight into her policy preferences, which would likely shape the agenda pursued by a potential Harris administration.

Read the op-ed