Thread: Health Care Passes

This is the real solution for America....

Single-payer health care is not a new idea, not even here in the United States, the only wealthy Western nation without universal coverage. In 1944, President Franklin Roosevelt proposed a Second Bill of Rights that included “the right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health.” Roosevelt, of course, spoke at a heady moment, when Democrats were signing up as co-sponsors for sweeping national health-care legislation. After Roosevelt’s death, Harry Truman embraced the cause and agitated for it more aggressively than any president since, only to be blocked by a Red Scare that presaged McCarthyism, as well as a vicious campaign funded by the American Medical Association.


President Lyndon Johnson used his 1964 landslide election to enact Medicare and Medicaid, but the Democratic presidents who came after him have pulled their punches on health care—mostly promoting schemes to better organize the intersection of private and public care that mirrored those once advanced by a dying breed of moderate Republicans.


And here Democrats have paid a political price, not for compromising on any eventual legislation, but for failing from the outset to put forward a clear and simple vision of health care as a fundamental right. In 1993, Bill and Hillary Clinton produced a byzantine and dispiriting plan that blended new regulations, subsidies, mandates, and free-market competition in a stew they called “managed care.” “We have no pride of authorship” over any aspect of the bill, they both conceded during the rollout. Lacking a moral center, the proposal died quickly under a withering attack from the right and the insurance industry. Barack Obama, of course, was considerably more successful in this regard. But he began the negotiations by preemptively taking single-payer off the table, despite having repeatedly stated that such systems make the most sense. With Obama’s punt, there went any room to negotiate even for a public option.


Now Democrats find themselves yet again defending a law that even its eponymous sponsor publicly acknowledges needs significant fixes. Make no mistake, the latest Republican attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare—this time with the Graham-Cassidy bill—is in many ways stupider and crueler than its predecessors. There is no Congressional Budget Office score yet for this hasty, last-ditch effort, but replacing most of the Affordable Care Act with inadequate block grants to states, along with other cuts, will easily leave upwards of 32 million people uninsured. Seemingly as a middle finger, the bill disproportionately targets the blue states that expanded their Medicaid rolls. To this moral obscenity, Democrats have been unified in saying no. But what are they saying yes to?


Enter Senator Bernie Sanders. Building from a presidential campaign that rocked the Democratic Party establishment by putting unabashedly progressive proposals front and center, Sanders has used his newfound stature to assemble an unlikely coalition of Democrats to back a “Medicare for All” bill.
The basic premise isn’t novel: Medicare for All has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressman John Conyers for over a decade, as well as promoted by groups like Physicians for a National Health Care Program and the National Nurses United. Four years ago, when Sanders proposed a similar measure, he found exactly zero co-sponsors. Today he has 16, including prospective 2020 presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and Cory Booker. So what changed?


Galvanized by the economic and social movements that found expression in Sanders’s campaign, Democrats are undeniably more willing to embrace big ideas, even and especially in the age of Trump. As Hillary Clinton observes in her memoir What Happened, “the conclusion I reach from this is that Democrats should redouble our efforts to develop bold, creative ideas that offer broad-based benefits for the whole country.” On health care in particular, according to a recent Pew survey, a majority of Americans now believe that the federal government should be responsible for making sure everyone has coverage, and a majority of Democrats think that single-payer is the best way to achieve that goal. All of this forms the context for the sudden popularity of Medicare for All, but there is also a quieter genius to Sanders’s particular bill that helped bring about this moment.


The Medicare for All Act of 2017 is unambiguous about its goal: It would eliminate all private insurance and replace it with a vastly expanded government program. Doctors, hospitals, and drug companies would make less, but everyone would have access to comprehensive health services—including dental, vision, substance-abuse treament, and reproductive care—without any out-of-pocket costs. That is its principle, and it is unwavering about it.


The bill’s pragmatism lies in how it gets there. Medicare expansion would spool out over several years, first by enrolling children under 18 and dropping the eligibility age to 55, a step that even non-backers like Senator Tim Kaine support. By its fourth year, incremental expansions would finally create a true Medicare for All program. During that transition, many people who are uncovered would be able to buy into the system through provisions championed by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who supports the bill, and Senator Debbie Stabenow, who doesn’t—yet.


Canvassing his fellow senators, including those who have taken a wait-and-see approach, was key to Sanders’s ability to build a surprisingly broad base of support, as was the backing of dozens of outside groups, from MoveOn.org to the Working Families Party to the United Mine Workers. That Sanders was one of the most vocal defenders of Obamacare—even as he consistently criticized it as insufficient—helped build credibility, too.

Of course, Medicare for All is still a long way from becoming reality. Republican control of Congress and the White House is the most obvious impediment, and that’s before we see the insurance industry, the hospital industry, and Big Pharma devoting every ounce of their awesome power and influence to destroy it. And yes, there are still holdouts in the Democratic Party who carp about the costs, or insist that we have to focus on protecting Obamacare first before going for single-payer—as if you can’t do both at the same time.


But thanks to a deft mix of politics and policy from Senator Sanders, that faction shrank dramatically in the past year. And that, in addition to its promise to not only improve the health but save the lives of millions of Americans, may be one of Medicare for All’s most enduring legacies—the beginning of the end of the Democratic Party’s unthinking and self-sabotaging belief in the idea that principle and pragmatism can’t coexist.

https://www.thenation.com/article/th...-for-all-bill/

Originally Posted by bsnub

the nation

Speaking for the whole country now are you.

^ What exactly in the article are you disputing? Do you think block grants for states that expire in 2026 would be better than medicare for all? If so can you explain to me why?

Let me guess you did not even read the article.

Originally Posted by bsnub

Let me guess you did not even read the article.

My reply was in regards to your last post on page 115, doo doo head.

Medicare for all? No problems here. Find a candidate that isn't a complete dork supported by Bernie Bros and itll be a winner.

Originally Posted by Slick

My reply was in regards to your last post on page 115, doo doo head.

LOL. I thought you were talking about the source of the article I posted above.

Originally Posted by Slick

Medicare for all? No problems here.

That is why the bill is a master stroke and Republicans are aware of that especially as they try to push that shit bill forward. Most Americans want medicare for all.

Originally Posted by Slick

Bernie Bros

Fake news.

Originally Posted by bsnub

Fake news.

Feel the Bern

Originally Posted by bsnub

Most Americans want medicare for all.

Too bad that was never a real option, and when it is, its wrapped up in a full-retard open boarders socialist platform.

Rednecks would scream "socialist!" even as their health care provider carefully explains that their cancer is not covered by their insurance.

Fucking idiots.

Originally Posted by Slick

nd when it is, its wrapped up in a full-retard open boarders socialist platform.

Derp. The entire migrant thing is a red herring. Since 2008 people (yes they are people) have been in decline. Fake news.

LULZ

"Migrants"

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Rednecks would scream "socialist!" even as their health care provider carefully explains that their cancer is not covered by their insurance.

Derp.

Most people can get onboard with single payer man. It's the policies it's wrapped up in that make it a non-starter.

Originally Posted by Slick

Most people can get onboard with single payer man. It's the policies it's wrapped up in that make it a non-starter.

Polices such as??

Originally Posted by Norton

Polices such as??

There are no "policies" attached to that bill. It is nonsense.

i think that this time there is a very real possibility that they might get to 50 votes and pence puts them over the top.

republicans are desperate to provide tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, and if they don't gut healthcare they won't be able to offset the decreased revenue from the tax cuts.

they've got until the end of the month to get it passed with 50.

Originally Posted by Norton

Polices such as??

Talking about Bernies socialist policies. To get his Single Payer, people would have to vote for massive wealth distribution, punishing tax hikes, curtailing the first amendment, attacking "the wealthy" etc...

Nah, pass.

Originally Posted by Slick

Talking about Bernies socialist policies. To get his Single Payer, people would have to vote for massive wealth distribution, punishing tax hikes, curtailing the first amendment, attacking "the wealthy" etc...

Nah, pass.

All of the wealth distribution can come from people who can afford it.

The really rich can take a caning, they're fucking loaded, who cares if they are down to their last billions?

Or are you one of these idiots who still believes the Fox mantras of "Wealth creators" and "trickle down"?

And what the fuck does it have to do with the first amendment?

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

All of the wealth distribution can come from people who can afford it.

Canada's top tax rate is 29%. They have single payer. US top is 35%. Looks too me like rich could pay less if single payer.

Originally Posted by Norton

Canada's top tax rate is 29%. They have single payer. US top is 35%. Looks too me like rich could pay less if single payer.

It doubt too many at the top pay anywhere near that.

Orange fucking cunto doesn't for a start, he said so.

Making people afraid of affordable health care because of "Socialism!" really is a triumph of propaganda.

^true: Republican strategists making countries such as Sweden appear to be Soviet-like demonstrated the weaknesses of certain states' educational programs...

Another well written piece by Lee Papa.

Republicans Admit the Whole Trumpcare Scam by Bribing Lisa Murkowski With More Obamacare

Republicans are desperate to pass a bill they can claim repeals and replaces the Affordable Care Act. They have to do it because they said they'd do it, even though what they said all along is they would pass something better and any analysis by anyone not a GOP meat puppet shows that everything they've attempted to pass is far, far worse, so they're not really doing what they promised except at the crudest level.

But fuck that. Republicans just want to go around the country and crow that they did it, goddamnit, even if that means they have to stand on a stack of corpses to be heard. There's your image of the 2017 GOP: Mitch McConnell in the September 30 twilight, tortoise howling in victory atop the bodies of his dead and dying constituents, who would still vote for him.

Now, in an attempt to fist-fuck the Graham-Cassidy-other-assholes bill through the Senate, Republicans have decided to just say, "Fuck it" and flat out bribe Alaska's Lisa Murkowski. And what is the bribe? Alaska gets to keep Obamacare.

No, really. Here's a summary of the proposal: "Alaska (along with Hawaii) will continue to receive Obamacare’s premium tax credits while they are repealed for all other states. It appears this exemption will not affect Alaska receiving its state allotment under the new block grant in addition to the premium tax credits." On top of that, Alaska's Medicaid funding not only doesn't get cut; it gets more. The amendment to the bill "provides for an increased federal Medicaid matching rate (FMAP) for both Alaska and Hawaii."

In other words, Republicans are admitting that the only way they can get Senator Murkowski to vote for the bill is to make sure that Alaska doesn't have to deal with much of the bill, especially when it comes to funding. In otherer words, major portions of the bill are a fucking scam and the GOP is admitting that.
Hell, back in June, Murkoswki said as much. "Let’s just say that they do something that’s so Alaska-specific just to, quote, ‘get me.' Then you have a nationwide system that doesn’t work. That then comes crashing down and Alaska’s not able to kind of keep it together on its own." Now we get to see if Murkowski, who really fucking hates McConnell, has the courage of her own damn words.

There are so many lies bound up with this blatant buy-off. Like the lie of how they want states to be able to figure things out on their own. Well, can Ohio, Vermont, Nevada, and other Republican-led states, as well as the Democratic-led states, now say, "Hey, we want that same fuckin' deal as Alaska, man"? Or how about the lie of how much they trust the states. Louisiana's other shitty senator, John Kennedy, wanted to ban states from setting up single-payer systems. Why? Because something, something, freedom, no doubt: "I don't think states should have the authority to take money from the American taxpayer and set up a single-payer system." And, in a stunning bit of parody, Kennedy said, "I think the only way we are going to solve the health care problem in America is through the private sector." Motherfucker, the private sector is the health care problem in America.

This whole effort is such a savage farce that you half expect it to end in an orgy in a pool of money where the Republicans fuck each other with rolled up wads of cash to the masturbatory delight of the Koch brothers while the Mercer family fondles each other in joy.

Originally Posted by bsnub

Republicans are desperate to pass a bill they can claim repeals and replaces the Affordable Care Act.

It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things
Sometimes a desperate man does dumb things

GOP's mind set is: 'anything to get rid of the Obama stain'. Jimmy Kimmel's right, the Dem's should have called it 'Ivankacare'.....sad

They're desperate to repeal Obamacare because they made a promise to their base to repeal Obamacare, so they'll repeal Obamacare (if they can) even if it directly harms their base, who in turn will cheer if/when they repeal Obamacare.

It's more than a little ridiculous.

Republicans' last-chance Obamacare repeal has a giant money problem, Business Insider - Business Insider Singapore

Originally Posted by Slick

punishing tax hikes

Riight. The Senate just approved a $81 billion dollar increase in the defense budget. Who is gonna pay for that? On a side note Fox news went bat shit when Bernie announced his education for all plan. Funny but not a word about this massive payout to the pentagon. BTW Bernies plan would have cost about $70 billion. I wonder what would have helped the country more? Building more tanks and bombs or free education?

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

so they'll repeal Obamacare (if they can) even if it directly harms their base, who in turn will cheer if/when they repeal Obamacare.

Yep and most of the idiots will vote for them again even while dying without health insurance.