Medicare-for-All Is Not Medicare, and Not Really for All. So What Does It Actually Mean? [View all]

GAITHERSBURG, Md. — Ritchard Jenkins reached into the black computer bag he keeps near his workstation at Graceful Touch Barber and Beauty Salon and rifled through medical papers, pulling out an envelope buried deep at the bottom.

It was an unopened medical bill for $971.78, now 17 months overdue, that he had put out of sight and out of mind. Another unpaid bill from May for $447.13 rested in a nearby drawer. Both are the result of an arthritic knee that needs to be replaced and keeps the 55-year-old master barber in near-constant pain.

He makes numerous phone calls to doctors and insurance companies to discuss his coverage. And just when he thought he couldn’t take any more, he fell down the steps, breaking his right wrist, tearing his rotator cuff and kickstarting a new round of hospital stays, tests — and insurance claims.

“Health care is ridiculous. These politicians really need to step their game up,” Jenkins said recently, using his left hand to hold clippers and a comb because his right remains swollen and partially immobile.

Read more: https://www.propublica.org/article/medicare-for-all-is-not-medicare-and-not-really-for-all-so-what-does-it-actually-mean