Long-time doctor joins 'Medicare for All' protest in Medina

MEDINA — "I certainly take care of people who have insurance but are afraid of deductibles, co-pays, and the risks of certain tests," said 24-year Medina family doctor Kristin Kranz on Sunday as she took part in a protest in support of universal health care. It was the fifth Sunday in a row that protest groups have popped up around Medina Square and along state Route 18 near West Reagan Parkway and Stonegate Drive. Road to Justice and Freedom: Healthcare Across Ohio demonstrations have been put together across the state by Our Revolution Ohio in partnership with Single-Payer Action Network (SPAN) Ohio and End Poverty Now Coalition. Locally, groups have been organized by Sustainable Medina County and Medina County Together, which was formed after the 2016 election and aims to create bipartisan grassroots activist networks. More demonstrations are slated to take place from 1-3 p.m. the following two Sundays in Medina. "A 40-year-old woman I'm treating showed up too late and has stage four, metastatic, ultimately terminal breast cancer," Kranz said. "She was afraid to show up at the doctor. Every physician has stories like this, people who don't come in to get checked or don't follow through on treatment." "We can all relate to the day-to-day anxiety about the cost of things," she added. "A lot of people are thinking like, 'If I tell the doctor I'm having chest pain how much are the tests going to cost?' If you look at the Constitution, the Constitution says that one of the government's jobs is to take care of the general welfare. On top a good education, living wage, clean water, and healthy food, part of that general welfare is health care." New push in Columbus for universal coverage Signs held by Kranz and others near Medina Square Sunday advocated for Ohio House Bill 292, which would establish and operate an Ohio Health Care Plan to provide universal health care coverage to all state residents. The legislation states it would create "a comprehensive benefit package that includes benefits for prescription drugs. The Ohio health care plan shall work simultaneously to control health care costs, control health care spending, achieve measurable improvement in health care outcomes, increase all parties' satisfaction with the health care system, implement policies that strengthen and improve culturally and linguistically sensitive care, and develop an integrated health care database to support health care planning." HB 292, sponsored by state Reps. Michael Skindell (D-Lakewood) and Bernadine Kennedy Kent (D-Columbus), is just the latest of many attempts to institute universal health care or drastic system reforms in Columbus. SPAN Ohio has supported numerous pieces of legislation dating back to 2004 all the way through the latest effort in House Bill 292, which was put forth one year ago. A list of those bills provided by SPAN Ohio all now carry a label of "no action taken" or "as introduced." "We all have to contact our representatives about this," Sustainable Medina County's Pauline Chapman said Sunday. "I can't imagine people with children not wanting health care for them without having to go through so much trouble in the current system. There are so many things said about this issue that just aren't true. You can still choose your own doctor and we'd pay less than we're paying right now." Other signs shown in Medina were in support of Black Lives Matter, touching on disparities in the health care system that often leave people of color with worse medical outcomes and a harder time paying bills due to historic racial inequality in household wealth. "My sign says, 'White coats for Black Lives,' because racial health disparities kill," said Kranz. "There are so many things that are intersectional that are being talked about right now. We don't want to take away from the Black Lives Matter protests. We want to be part of it." True meaning of 'Medicare for All' While efforts at the federal level to create a single-payer system carry the label of "Medicare for All," they do not represent a simple expansion of the current Medicare program. Coverage presented in the newest iterations of the plan — U.S.Senate Bill 1129 and U.S. House Bill 1384 — would include primary and preventative care, mental health care, reproductive care, vision and dental, prescription drugs and long-term home care. First-dollar coverage would be provided without premiums, co-pays or deductibles while balance billing would be prohibited. Co-pays for some brand name prescriptions would still exist. Over a four-year transition plan, current Medicare would be expanded in year one to include coverage for hearing, dental and vision and lower out-of-pocket costs for Parts A and B. Eligibility age would be dropped to 55 in year one, 45 in year two, 35 in year three, and opened to all Americans in year four. "People are working one, two, three part-time jobs and they either get no health care or completely inadequate health care," said Kranz. "None of us can be truly free if our rights aren't satisfied. Many people don't have their rights satisfied for many reasons that are being talked about around the country right now. Health care is one of them. COVID-19 has unleashed that beast." Medicare for All plans would abolish private insurance, but patients would still be able to choose their doctors and hospitals as long as the medical provider is participating in the Medicare for All program. Providers would not be permitted to practice in and outside the new universal system simultaneously. In 2018, a study put out by George Mason University's Mercatus Center, which is funded by two of the Republican Party's biggest donors — Charles G. Koch and the now-deceased David H. Koch — found that a "Medicare for All" plan put forth by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, would cost $32.6 trillion over 10 years. However, the study also determined the cost of America's current health care system to be about $35 trillion over 10 years. Experts attribute the vast majority of that higher price to marketing, overhead costs, executive salaries and price hikes that often come with a new company acquiring production rights for a particular medicine. The price tag put on the current system takes into account U.S. government spending on programs like Medicare and Medicaid as well as individual and business payments on insurance premiums, co-pays, and deductibles. Other studies from nonpartisan sources have concluded that the current system costs as much as $47 trillion over 10 years. "We're all tethered together as a nation," Kranz said. "All of our successes, failures, woes and inadequacies are tied together. When you see the homeless vet, or an elderly person in a nursing home, or an incarcerated person getting COVID and spreading it out, we're all still intertwined. "It doesn't care if you're wealthy and live in a good community. When we lift up those who are struggling the most, we all do better." Contact reporter Jonathan Delozier at (330)721-4050 or jdelozier@medina-gazette.com.