When we met as a class on Monday and talked about universal health care it really made me think about the idea of medicare for all, and whether or not this would be a viable plan to bring down medical costs. I have very limited experience in this field but as a long standing community pharmacy employee I have noticed which insurances tend to cover medications well, and which insurances don't. Medicare plans, almost universally, tend to have much higher copays than commercial plans. I have seen plenty of patients on medicare who have been unable to afford their medications and have thus turned them down. While this is only a small aspect of health care costs (completely disregarding medical costs) it does not inspire a lot of confidence in the ability of a nationwide medicare system to make healthcare affordable. I understand that a new, overhauled plan would likely address many of the deficiencies in current plans, but it seems like more would have to be done than just that in order to actually make a tangible benefit to most people (or Medicare would have to cover WAY more than it currently does).  I feel like universal healthcare is an incredibly important idea, and one that should be implemented in the US, but that the discussion about it often overlooks the difficulties in employing it and the extent to which such an overhaul would derail our current system. A nuanced approach seems appropriate, but I admit that I don't feel educated/informed enough on this issue to offer much in the way of a solution.