Bernie Sanders argues that an America with M4A would be better positioned to deal with a pandemic. Is he right?
Yes and no. No, because the record clearly shows that countries with underfunded single-payer health care systems and timid governments have struggled dealing with the virus. Even the NHS, which would appear to be ideally suited to address a public health emergency, has had difficulty responding to the moment. But yes, in the long run, if large segments of the population think they can’t afford to be tested or get treatment, generating the data to control the virus becomes more of a problem.
The better question is whether America is willing to pay the price to make radical changes to its current health care model to deal with a relatively freak event, given that other countries with single-payer systems have also suffered thousands of deaths. I think the answer to that is fairly obvious.