Medicare-for-all advocates, including two top Democratic presidential candidates, have a powerful adversary: large regional health systems that employ tens of thousands of local workers.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont have proposed Medicare-for-all systems that could eliminate private health insurance and instead have the government take over paying for health care.
Top executives at many health systems in the region said a shift to a so-called single-payer system that pays at the current rate of Medicare would lead to hospital closures, longer appointment wait times and a drastic cut in research and development funds.
Read more: Warren, Sanders and Medicare for All. What's real? What's not?
