What Medicare for All Actually Means for Ohio Families
The Problem Is Bigger Than You Think
The phrase "Medicare for All" gets thrown around in debates and dismissed in attack ads, but rarely is it explained. When people understand what the policy actually is, the politics get complicated for those who benefit from the current system. Here’s a break down grounded in what it means specifically for families in Ohio's 7th Congressional District. >Download Ohio Healthcare Crisis One-Pager
760,000 Ohioans have no health insurance.[1] Between 2022 and 2024, 30,000 Ohio children lost Medicaid coverage.[2]
But the uninsured are only part of the story. In 2024, 69% of Ohio adults reported a healthcare affordability burden. More than half skipped or delayed care because of cost.[3] Most of them had insurance. They just couldn't afford to use it. That's what "underinsured" means: a $5,000 deductible isn't a safety net.
< Dylan Ash, via his sister Stephanie on Linkedin
“In May 2016, my brother, Dylan Ash fell asleep in his apartment, slipped into a diabetic coma caused by a lack of insulin, and died. He was just 23 years old. Dylan struggled to afford insulin and diabetes supplies. He could not access the most effective therapies to manage his Type 1 diabetes because of the significant expense. Dylan would still be with us today if he had long-term support to access affordable insulin and the health care he needed. His death was preventable. His death was unnecessary. His death was not the last.
Dylan graduated from Baldwin Wallace University with a Bachelor of Arts in History in 2015 and was pursuing a Master of Arts in History at Cleveland State University at the time of his death. Dylan wanted to be a history teacher and educate our youth. He loved connecting to people and contributing his time and talent to our community. Growing up impoverished and as a first-generation college student, Dylan did not have a safety net to fall back on. Ohioans with diabetes need a safety net.” - Stephanie Ash, Dylan’s sister.
Dylan Ash, an Ohioan with diabetes who couldn't afford insulin, died in 2016 after slipping into a diabetic coma in his apartment.[4] He's not an anomaly. He's what a broken system produces.
What Medicare for All Actually Does
It replaces private insurance with a single government program covering every U.S. resident. No premiums. No deductibles. No surprise bills. Doctor visits, hospital stays, mental health, dental, vision, prescriptions: you’re just covered. You go to the doctor. You get care.
The savings come from cutting the waste. Thousands of insurance plans each run their own billing systems, claims departments, and profit margins. A 2020 Lancet study found that replacing all of that with one system would save over $450 billion a year — and prevent 68,000 deaths annually.[5]
The average family would save about $2,400 a year because we'd stop paying for the middleman.[5]
What It Means Here, in the 7th District
Six rural maternity wards in Ohio closed in two years.[6] Eleven more hospitals are threatened by Medicaid cuts.[7] In 2024, 88% of Ohio's rural hospitals operated on a 2% margin or less.[8]
Medicare for All gives those hospitals a single, reliable revenue stream instead of a patchwork of underpaid contracts and uncompensated care. It keeps them open.
On prescription drugs: Americans pay two to three times what people in Canada, France, and Australia pay for the same medications.[9] Ohio's 2.5 million Medicare enrollees would have saved $310 million a year just from the Inflation Reduction Act's limited pricing provisions.[10] Medicare for All extends that negotiating power to everyone.
Fair Questions. Real Answers.
"It raises taxes." Employer insurance already costs about 12% of payroll. The proposed payroll tax for Medicare for All is lower. Working families net more back than they pay in.[5]
"People lose their private insurance." They lose insurance that often doesn't work. Private insurers won’t disappear. In Canada, they still exist selling supplemental coverage. The difference is that no one goes bankrupt over a hospital bill. In the U.S., 530,000 families a year do.[11]
"It hurts doctors." Billing costs consume 14.5% of physician revenue in the U.S. vs. 2.5% in Canada's single-payer system.[12] Less paperwork means more money for doctors and more time for patients.
Why I'm For It
I spent 23 years running federal health programs at HHS, CMS, FDA, and NIH. Medicare already works: its administrative overhead is roughly 2%, compared to 15–25% for private insurers.[12] And, most patients who have Medicare love Medicare.
In 2024, 73% of Ohio survey respondents said our healthcare system needs to change. That wasn't a partisan number.[3]
People in this district are rationing insulin. Maternity wards are closing. Families are going bankrupt. Medicare for All is the solution that matches the scale of the problem.
Laura Rodriguez-Carbone is a candidate for U.S. Congress in Ohio's 7th Congressional District. She served 23 years across seven federal agencies before being purged from federal service in 2025 for refusing to compromise her integrity. She is running on a platform of serving people, not power. Contact: community@LauraforUs.com or visit https://LauraforUs.com
Citations
Citations: [1] U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 · [2] Georgetown/Health Policy Institute of Ohio, Sept. 2025 · [3] Altarum CHESS Ohio Survey, Oct. 2024 · [4] Policy Matters Ohio, Feb. 2025 · [5] Galvani et al., The Lancet, Feb. 2020 · [6] Ideastream/Ohio Statehouse News Bureau, March 2024 · [7] UNC Sheps Center, June 2025 · [8] Ohio Hospital Association/Ohio Statehouse News Bureau, July 2025 · [9] GAO/Biden White House IRA Fact Sheet, Aug. 2022 · [10] HHS/ASPE Ohio IRA Fact Sheet · [11] Himmelstein et al., AJPH, 2009 · [12] Himmelstein et al., Health Affairs, Sept. 2014