Pennsylvania Can’t Afford Democrats’ Failed Single-Payer Fantasy

Originally published by The Mercury.

Pennsylvania Democrats are back with another crazy idea just in time for election season: a government-run, single-payer health-care scam that would raise your taxes, cut private insurance, and put bureaucrats in charge of everyday Pennsylvanians’ health-care decisions.

Pennsylvania House Rep. Greg Scott and Democratic Socialist State Sen. Nikil Saval have introduced companion bills House Bill 2763 and Senate Bill 1465, respectively. If passed, these bills would establish a “Medicare-for-All” system, funded with the biggest tax hike in Pennsylvania history. The bill already has support from more than 30 legislative Democrats across the state.

But we don’t need to implement these delusional proposals to see how this policy will play out. Three other states have already tried—and all three failed miserably.

Let’s start with Vermont, arguably the bluest state in the country and about as friendly a testing ground for socialized health care as America can offer. In 2011, then-Gov. Peter Shumlin ran and won on a platform that promised a Medicare-for-All system. However, when his team finally ran the numbers, they found the plan in its first year would cost $5 billion, roughly the same amount as the state’s entire budget, and require a 151 percent increase in state taxes. Shumlin abandoned the costly project, calling the cost of his own proposal “enormous” and “detrimental to Vermonters.”

Read more at The Mercury.