The #3 reason Medicare-for-All as conceived by Senator Sanders is a bad idea is because of the inevitable rationing it will produce. In other well-known single-payer systems, this rationing takes several forms, including restrictions on the availability of treatments or, more commonly, rationing by waiting.
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The #2 reason this plan is a bad idea is the enormous amount of waste it would create due to moral hazard. Moral hazard is the technical term used by health economists, but it refers to something every reader intuitively understand even if the term itself is unfamiliar. If you give something to someone for free, they will use more of it and they also will be less likely shop vigorously for a lower price. In short, such consumers will typically use more and pay more (i.e., be willing to accept a higher price) for “free” services.
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With one exception, every tax known to man shrinks the economy to some extent resulting in a loss of welfare for consumers and producers [1]. That is, “whatever you tax, you get less of,” whether that be labor, consumption of various products, capital or anything else policymakers have figured out how to tax. The exact amount the economy shrinks (which in turn determines the size of the associated welfare losses to consumers and producers) depends upon exactly what is taxed.
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