Ocasio-Cortez: With single-payer, we’ll save so much money on funerals! …huh?

Spoiler alert: Everyone is going to die. I’m sorry to break that news to you, but it’s true. I’m also sorry to report that, despite what Democrats would have you believe, it’s not a lack of net neutrality or a tax cut that will ultimately do you in. The simple fact is that death is part of the human condition. It’s coming for you, and it will eventually get you – whether or not you have Medicare.

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You may stave it off for a little while but, one day, you’re going to feel the icy grip of the reaper. For most of us, this is not news. However, for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, it may come as something of a shock. It seems she’s under the impression that Medicare-for-all (otherwise known as single payer) will save us a huge amount of money that we’re currently spending on funerals. Yes, really:

“So, we’re paying for this system. We — Americans have the sticker shock of healthcare as it is, and what we’re also not talking about is, why aren’t we incorporating the cost of all the funeral expenses of those who died because they can’t afford access to healthcare? That is part of the cost of our system.”

Ocasio-Cortez: Socialized medicine is cheap because people will no longer have to pay for funerals pic.twitter.com/36rJRWFF0H

— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) August 9, 2018

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This has to be the single worst argument for national health care that I’ve ever heard. At best, single-payer might – possibly – delay some people’s need for a funeral. At worst, it would end up incentivizing euthanasia, which would move that timetable forward. In either case, no matter how well insured you may be, eventually you’re going to need a pine box. Perhaps more important than her daily inane rant is the fact that the Mercatus study Ocasio-Cortez is referencing in no way suggests that Medicare-for-all would be “cheaper.” In fact, it states the exact opposite. According to the study Bernie and Ocasio-Cortez would need an additional $32 Trillion over the course of ten years to make their plan work – and that’s if health care providers accept 40% of what they charge now. In other words; it’s a colossal, unworkable boondoggle that even the Washington Post was unable to sell.

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