Medicare for All Study Finds Plan Could Save Over 100,000 Lives and $1 Trillion Annually 

A new analysis by Yale University researchers concludes that implementing Senator Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All proposal would reduce preventable deaths and slash U.S. health care spending by nearly 20% each year.

According to the study, a national Medicare for All program could save approximately 114,000 lives annually by expanding guaranteed access to care and prescription drugs, particularly for uninsured and underinsured Americans who currently defer or forgo medical treatment due to cost barriers. Researchers also project more than $1 trillion in yearly savings by cutting administrative waste, curbing fraudulent billing, negotiating lower prescription drug prices, and reducing avoidable emergency room and hospital visits. 

The analysis breaks down projected savings across several categories, including hundreds of billions from paying drug prices comparable to other wealthy nations and from streamlining insurance bureaucracy, as well as additional savings linked to fairer provider reimbursement structures that reduce incentives for unnecessary or inflated billing. On the mortality side, the report attributes tens of thousands of lives saved to improved access for uninsured and underinsured patients, seniors gaining affordable medications, and older adults receiving higher‑quality nursing home care. 

Senator Sanders framed the findings as evidence that a single‑payer system would both “save lives and save money,” arguing that guaranteeing health care as a human right could cost substantially less than the current patchwork of private insurance and public programs. 

“This study confirms what we have known for years: Medicare for All saves lives and saves money. In fact, guaranteeing healthcare as a human right through a Medicare for All, single-payer system would cost $1 trillion less than our current dysfunctional system. It would save working families thousands of dollars a year. And it would prevent over 100,000 Americans from dying unnecessarily each and every year because they cannot make it to a doctor in time,” Sanders said. “At a time when 15 million Americans are being thrown off the healthcare they have and 20 million Americans have already seen their premiums double, on average, as a result of Trump’s so-called ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ we need Medicare for All now more than ever. The time is now to end the greed of the big insurance and drug companies and pass Medicare for All.”