Washington Post-Democrats back off once-fervent embrace of Medicare-for-all

[Gothmog]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Yonnie3 (a host of the General Discussion forum).

Link to tweet

But in recent months, amid polling that shows concern among voters about ending private insurance, several of the Democratic hopefuls have shifted their positions or their tone, moderating full-throated endorsement of Medicare-for-all and adopting ideas for allowing private insurance in some form.

“What I think has happened in the Democratic primary is people recognize that some of the concerns about single-payer are not coming from special interests but the public,” said Neera Tanden, a former top aide to Hillary Clinton and now president of the Center for American Progress. (A government-run health system is sometimes called a single-payer system.)....

Now some Democrats warn of the perils for their party in taking a position that, to important groups of voters, could seem just as disruptive as the GOP’s push to kill the ACA.

“There is nothing more personal to people than their health care,” said Kathleen Sebelius, who consulted on Harris’s plan and served as health and human services secretary in the Obama administration. “Anything that calls for the vast majority of Americans to lose what they have — that’s a very dangerous place to start a conversation.”....

Other surveys have found less support. About 8 in 10 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents in a Pew poll in July said the federal government has a responsibility to ensure health coverage, but less than half said it should be through a single government plan.

And in a July poll of Iowa voters by CBS News/YouGov, two-thirds of Democrats said they preferred a government health program that competed with private insurance, compared with 34 percent who favored one that replaced private insurance entirely.

[bearsfootball516]

1. Love the idea of MFA, but worry about actually getting it through Congress.

Plus, it's not super popular. Expanding Obamacare is almost universally popular.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Well, yeah-- now that the full implications of MFA are dawning on the public...

it doesn't seem like such a great idea after all.

The goal is universal healthcare, which everyone agrees with. Medicare for all is just one way to get there.

And, some of us realize the fight just to get a light version of Obamcare passed. And that it might yet not survive.

Imagine the bloodshed to get MFA to replace everyone's healthcare. Not just private insurance, but the VA, SCHIP, Medicare and other programs. Aside from the resistance, just the administration of such a huge bureaucracy is daunting.

[Gothmog]

3. Medicare for all polls badly

Link to tweet

THE MAIN TAKEAWAYS are that socialism, broadly speaking, is unpopular, but Republicans have work to do if they want to tarnish some key Democratic proposals. Once voters hear about the agenda as framed by Republicans, 61% say it is socialist. Calling Democrats’ policies “socialist” causes a 10-point drop in their popularity.

-- FOR EXAMPLE: Take ‘MEDICARE FOR ALL.’ When asked about supporting Medicare for All, and hearing it described as “guaranteed health care coverage regardless of … income, and every American’s health insurance would come from a single government-run plan,” 41% favor it, 55% oppose and 4% are unsure. When Republicans start describing it as causing “doctor shortages, longer wait times for urgent care and delays in access to the latest drugs for cancer and other serious diseases,” the numbers move to 34% favor and 60% oppose.

-- THE ‘GREEN NEW DEAL’ is actually above water when described as a plan that “would work to address climate change and income inequality, and transition the United States from an economy built on fossil fuels to one driven by clean energy.” 48% favor, 46% oppose and 7% are unsure.

IT SINKS when Republicans start describing it as potentially costing “93 trillion dollars” and hiking energy bills by $3,000. It goes then to 32% support and 61% oppose. Polling memo … Poll deck

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Unfortunately, too much depends upon who's framing the discussion...

"We are going to expand your options" vs "We are going to take what you have away and replace it with something awesome"

[Gothmog]

5. From the Washington Post-The GOP is giddy about running against a socialist

trump and the GOP will have an easy time framing the issue as an attack on socialism

Link to tweet

Republicans are downright giddy about all this. What’s a scarier term to the American public than “socialist”? And with one of the leaders in the Democratic Party embracing it, their pitch to voters that Democrats want to radically change the country to something unrecognizable just got a lot easier.

“You add up things like packing the Supreme Court, getting rid of the electoral college, the Green New Deal and Medicare for none and you have a prescription of turning America into something it never has been and never should be,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said recently. “So we intend to be on the offense in running our races."

“We’re going into the war with some socialists,” Trump told a fundraiser in April.

This could be the defining debate of the 2020 election. Trump is so happy with that. Sanders is fine with that. The rest of the candidates aren’t so sure. But given the way this debate is shaping up, they may have no choice but to pick a side.

[Gothmog]

6. Democrats Back Off Medicare-for-All

I am glad that Democrats are backing off of Medicare-for All https://politicalwire.com/2019/08/20/democrats-back-off-medicare-for-all/

“The idea of Medicare-for-all — a unified government health program that would take over the basic function of private insurance — became a liberal litmus test at the outset of the presidential campaign, distinguishing Democratic contenders who cast themselves as bold visionaries from more moderate pragmatists.”

“But in recent months, amid polling that shows concern among voters about ending private insurance, several of the Democratic hopefuls have shifted their positions or their tone, moderating full-throated endorsement of Medicare-for-all and adopting ideas for allowing private insurance in some form.”

“This unmistakable, if sometimes subtle, shift in tone stems in part from Democrats’ fear of giving away a newfound advantage over Republicans on health care.”

[elocs]

7. No candidate who supports MFA will honestly and realistically explain how it would become law.

Somehow if they are elected they will wave their magic wand and Medicare for All will be here.
Any chance that there might be a lot of Democrats who want to keep their own private insurance?
So is it MFA or nothing, no plan B?
So why not be honest with people and tell them that MFA may not happen for years, if ever.

The U.S. is not western Europe, nor is it Canada or Australia. Just because something works in those countries does not mean it will magically work here, especially with millions of Americans in opposition to it. Any example of a nation of over 300 people where a MFA type national healthcare is working now?
So let's not hold out false hope to all of those who are in need of good and affordable healthcare right now and let them believe MFA will happen anytime soon.

[OnDoutside]

8. If they are, all the better. MFA is aspirational. A fixed ACA with a public option is far more

realistic and attainable. Potentially, take that public option from a Medicare Template, and provide it free to those whose income is too low to otherwise afford it. Plus, finally fix prescription costs.

I posted this thread 3 weeks ago

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287221976

Kamala Harris needs to get her sh!t together on Healthcare, otherwise it will badly damage her.
I think she made a fundamental error in jumping in to mark Bernie, day one, by going for Medicare for All, and then has spent from then until now trying to backtrack. Sort it out, properly.

Right now, I think the 3 candidates who will be there at the end are Biden, Warren and, if she sorts herself out, Harris.

I'm glad there is movement.

[Takket]

9. public option will eventually lead to MFA and let's everyone choose to pay more to their for

profit plan if they really want to. That's what to back.

[Yonnie3]

10. Locking after a review by Forum Hosts

Per the announcement on Feb 20, 2019 by site administrators, all discussion of the Democratic Primaries and candidates belongs in the Democratic Primaries Forum. Please re-post there if you like