One of the political advantages to single payer, quite aside from it being thr best policy, and quite aside from it having the political benefit of actually giving the majority of the electorate that is currently insured the tangible benefit of lowered premiums, is that it is the only plan that could be implemented immediately. Medicare provides an apparatus that is already up and running to collect premiums and pay claims. Not many working people would have to be enrolled for premium coillection, since almost all of us are already signed up for the payroll deduction charged by the already-existing Medicare. Only the amount deducted would have to be adjusted to add in the premium to add coverage for the before age 65 years to the coverage already in place for the after-65 years. Similarly, almost all providers of medical services are already dealing with Medicare, and so would not need to add any staff to deal with collecting from Medicare. In fact, they would be able to stop dealing with any other plan, saving them considerable admin costs.

I don’t see why Medicare for All wouldn’t be able to start collecting premiums and paying claims within a month of the final passage of the implementing legislation. The premium rates would have to be calculated, but the task of coming up with an interim rate could be assigned by presidential order to the existing Medicare bureaucracy, and could be accomplished before final passage of the law. Some providers would have to register with Medicare, but that too could start before final passage. Ditto for the few individuals not already having Medicare payments deducted from their paychecks.

Be well.