Sept2018/ Obama moves Medicare for All into Political Mainstream

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https://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-obama-medicare-for-all-20180911-story.html

Former President Obama was wrong. And he was right.

And what he said may have been a turning point for the U.S. healthcare system.

In a speech Friday that was noteworthy primarily for its unvarnished criticism of President Trump, Obama made a passing reference to issues that could be winners for Democratic candidates.

“Democrats aren’t just running on good old ideas like a higher minimum wage, they’re running on good new ideas like Medicare for all, giving workers seats on corporate boards, reversing the most egregious corporate tax cuts to make sure college students graduate debt-free,” he said.

OK, first, Medicare for all is not a “good new idea.” It’s been around for decades under many guises, including “single-payer health insurance” and “a public option.”

However, Obama was correct in saying this was a strong political issue for Democrats as Republicans persist in their efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and cruelly leave millions of Americans uninsured.
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[InAbLuEsTaTe]

1. Of course Obama was right... and so are Bernie & Elizabeth.

Bernie/Elizabeth or Elizabeth/Bernie 2020!!
Either way, they're stronger together!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[ritapria]

2. President Obama sounds like he was endorsing the Progressive Agenda

Good for him …………...

[still_one]

3. A public option was brought forth during the ACA debates. Problem was was they didn't have the

votes, and they had a very small window to pass something, or have nothing. It was about a three month window where we had the majority in both houses, and the blue dogs made it clear they would not go for a public option. Adding M4A for those 55 was even brought up for those 55 and older, but it received the same reception as the public option from the blue dogs

I firmly believe that if Hillary had won, and the Democrats running for Senate in those critical swing states, we would have a public option or single payer. Unfortunately, because of what happened in the GE of 2016, we have been set back at least 20 years, and it isn’t just with healthcare, civil rights, women’s rights, workers rights, environmental rights, etc

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4. Yep - we'd be on the cusp of single payer, by now.

Preparing to join the rest of the civilized world.