In the end, the only politicians that demonstrated that they actually had principles were Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. The rest of them were all for single payer and then when that didn’t work out for them began to beat a retreat. This is why the old farts are winning: because the young bucks have no principles and are only seeking to position themselves. And they weren’t even good at it.
yeah, I think Biden and warren are gonna be the team after the convention … and single payers years away if ever … cause it’s going to take forever to figure out how to pay for it and a dem controlled senate to pass it into law …
Biden’s a little impulsive so you really can’t say he won’t pick anyone, but Warren doesn’t really make much sense for him. She’s not ideologically aligned with him and also won’t be a team player. She’s also not ambitious enough to sell herself out so that she can get closer to the Presidency. Biden will either pick someone of similar mind and instincts to him, or a flunkie who will pretend to be all-in on Biden’s agenda.
I’m not sure “lack of principles” is fair. But jumping on the M4A train without a plan shows an embarrassing lack of preparation and lack of simple sense, IMO. One candidate separated himself from the under-experienced (and therefore ill-prepared) clowns:
Can’t they just be lying?
Biden and Warren would make little sense. Warren is pretty powerful in the Senate and there’s a chance the Dems could be in the majority. Even in the minority, she’s still a fixture on cable news and Sunday shows. Plus, who wants to risk a special election in MA again?
Has Buttigieg’s position on single payer changed?
Keep medical prices set by a secret AMA committee. Forget any universal coverage like single-payer or M4A with private supplements. No mandatory vaccinations or limits on pharmaceutical marketing, either. Any changes would only make America healthier, stronger, and more prosperous - NOT in Pres. Putin’s interest. No, keep USA sick and addicted. See who benefits.
Eh, come back with this take in like two weeks after the Republican hack judges on the 5th circuit strike down Ocare because of the $0 individual mandate. Then we’ll see where the Democratic healthcare fault lines are trending.
I dont have cites but i believe it has. He was for M4A until he wasnt. But i welcome any correction.
I don’t think he’s changed his position much since his campaign started. It’s my impression that Warren fans are trying to hold him to some off the cuff statement during a press scrum well before announcing.
AFAIK, Buttigieg has always been pushing Medicare-for-all-who-want-it (M4AWWI), which is basically the public option. I don’t think I’d count pre-campaign comments as changing his position. I think we’ve all rethought our positions at some point, and that’s not the problem here.
HIs written policy has been the same, his rhetoric changed. He said very clearly in a tweet that he favored Medicare For All. And now he’s attacking it. I don’t actually think Buttigieg has a firm opinion one way or the other on health care beyond wanting to expand it. But I also think Liz Warren is the same in that regard. He support for M4A was strategic. She had plans for everything but for the longest time her health care plan was “I’m with Bernie”. She’d support a public option, ACA reform, or M4A, whatever Congress sent her. Really I imagine all the candidates would. I doubt even Biden would veto M4A if it landed on his desk.
Steering the U.S.A. to single-payer health-care will be very complicated and difficult, and won’t happen quickly. Sincere kudos to young left-wing idealists eager for change: I’d love to be proven wrong and see liberals take over and push their agenda. But in fact I think even smallish changes may lead to chaos, recession and perhaps a backlash against the D’s in future elections.
Yes. We’ll get whatever fifty — or maybe even sixty — Senators can tolerate. The specific plans of the several candidates (on many of these economic matters) are almost irrelevant.
Yeah, they are mainly for signalling and differentiation purposes, meant to be taken as seriously as Obama’s opposition to the individual mandate. With the caveat that Presidents can lead on this issue if their party controls Congress, so if they are actually committed to their plan and it’s a high priority they aren’t just blowing smoke. I think that only Biden and Sanders actually fall into that category. Biden really does see ACA as Obama’s ultimate achievement and wants to make the program work better. He’d sign M4A if it was on his desk, but I think in his first 100 days ACA reform will be something that he pushes along the lines he’s laid out. Sanders of course sees M4A as his centerpiece. No way that’s not his first priority upon taking office and while he’d settle for less, he’ll be twisting as many arms as he can to get what he wants. The other candidates, I don’t believe really care about health care more than other issues. Warren’s more about economic populism outside the health care sphere, and Buttigieg and most of the minor candidates I doubt even care what health care reform looks like. They are for it and the details are for Congress to work out.
Who benefits from suppressing US healthcare, leaving the nation sicker and weaker?
The U.S. has a large Investor Class, well diversified, scratching each others’ backs, benefiting from big profits at Pharma, Healthcare, Insurance, and gaining advantage from employer-controlled health insurance — the threat of losing insurance helps keep salaries and wages in line. I don’t think the Investor Class benefits directly from poor American health, but, generally lacking humanitarian values, they aren’t harmed by
it either.
There’s also simply that the public doesn’t want to pay for it.
The rich and powerful. Health care is a 3.5 trillion dollar a year industry. The only way to truly reform health care and make it more humane and affordable is to enrage those business interests who benefit from our overpriced, brutal system.
The insurance industry, hospital industry, AMA, pharma, medical device industry, etc all oppose single payer. Not only do they oppose single payer, I think they all oppose a public option too. The reason is that single payer or a public option offer lower reimbursement rates, which means private insurance can’t compete and medical providers get lower fees.
Realistically, this is probably the best case scenario for 2021 no matter who wins and assuming the democrats control the senate.
Token reforms to the ACA. Rather than maxing out your premiums at 10% of income, they’ll reduce it to 8%. And they’ll eliminate the 400% FPL limit for subsidies, and they’ll peg subsidies to the gold plan rather than the silver plan. If we’re lucky, maybe some reforms to balance billing.
Thats probably about it. The democrats won’t even pass a public option since it would enrage multi trillion dollar industries. People will still go bankrupt, people will still lose their insurance, people will still pay 30%+ of their gross income in deductibles, copays and premiums. People will still be victimized by in-network and out of network confusion.
The only realistic path towards health reform is ballot initiatives on the state level. We have to do for health reform what we did for marijuana legalization. Pass state level ballot initiatives mandating universal health care and radical reform. After 5-10 years and a half dozen states passing it via ballot, then a few blue states will pass it via legislation. Not long after that, federal legislation may be realistic.
The democrats are pussies who are terrified of the rich and terrified of republican voters. They don’t really respect or fear their own voters though, so even if 80% of democrats want health reform, we aren’t getting it anytime soon via legislation. Democratic politicians ridicule and ignore their own voters, but they are terrified of making rich people and republicans mad. And there is no legit path to health reform that avoids making rich people and republicans mad (the ACA was a compromise to expand coverage without pissing off the rich or republicans). So the voters have to do it themselves via ballot initiative the same way they did with marijuana.
I’ll supply another answer. Who benefits from a sicker, weaker America? Enemies of America. This property is commutative. As the investor class benefits, the investor class are enemies of America.