I find this article very insightful in explaining not only massive job loss with major healthcare reform but also the very reason why the US healthcare has become so expensive... by being like "(wildly inefficient) jobs program"! I want to offer some excerpts and my thoughts with them here.
Some examples of those jobs are the armies of administrators, coders, billers and claims negotiators and salespeople (and so much more) that only add cost but not quality. So, when we get a major reform such as Medicare for All, many of these and other jobs will disappear, and that's actually a big part of how US healthcare will become affordable! Makes a good sense?!
The article also offers a sensible suggestion for those who lose jobs. "A transition to Medicare for All should be accompanied by a plan to give those made redundant up to three years of salary and help in retraining" for another role within the new healthcare system. I think it's a great idea. Honestly, I know a heck of a lot of people who aren't particularly happy with their healthcare jobs, but they have to do it to make a living. I'm willing to bet many of them would be glad to transition to a job that's more meaningful and also makes healthcare more affordable.
Hence, even though any transition can be scary, I don't think we should worry about the job implications of healthcare reform. Also, the actual cost of healthcare reform for ordinary Americans (e.g., the "big tax hike" we often hear with any big public project) may not be so bad if we really think about the cost of continuing our current healthcare system that's bankrupting, killing and robbing the future of so many Americans. It's true that we must make some initial investment to create a proper structure that doesn't exist today, but the investment should return high dividends for ordinary citizens by much-reduced overall healthcare cost within a decade (assuming the structure gets appropriately implemented).
In short, the only group who stands to lose big will be insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies (including benefit managers), hospitals, device companies that created and exploited the complex, fragmented private healthcare system in order to maximize their profits. (...That's why we will most definitely see them and their armies of lobbyists try to stop it with lies and scare tactics...☹️ and patients and ordinary citizens must not be fooled by them!)
Moreover, perhaps the most fundamental benefit of healthcare reform would be, by removing most of these profit-motives from healthcare, that patients will FINALLY spend more time with doctors, nurses, and other clinicians. Of course, that would make lots of things so much better for patients and society!!!