What Medicare for All would mean for health firms

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A Medicare for All bill submitted to the US House of Representatives on Wednesday proposes a fundamentally transformed US healthcare system that would threaten the financial viability of the industry's most established players, per CNN.

While the bill is thin on funding details and destined to fail amid Republican opposition, it captures the heightened political scrutiny on the US health system that will likely trigger significant changes to the US healthcare landscape in the coming years. While multiple versions exist, the latest Medicare for All proposal would essentially do away with the US private insurance industry, and instead enroll all US consumers in insurance provided by a single payer: the US government.

For context, only about 36% of the US population is currently covered by government insurance, while the remainder is covered by private insurance (56%) or is uninsured (9%), per 2017 data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, the most recent year for which data is available.

Here's what it means: If ever signed into law, a universal Medicare program would spell trouble for two of US healthcare's primary players: private insurers and hospitals.

The bigger picture: US healthcare innovation and the digital health market would likely also take a hit due to stifled funding.

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