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Nuclear Unicorn

(19,497 posts)
Thu Jan 14, 2016, 05:09 PM Jan 2016

Good-bye, Single Payer Healthcare. We never knew you.

Many said the ACA was supposed to be a stepping stone to SP. I never believed that because it has subsidies for insurance corporations baked-in to the recipe. You can't prop-up something by law and with taxpayer money and then credibly claim to later end that thing. Add to that the failures in executions that have dogged the law since its enactment means the government lacks the public's trust with even bigger projects.

Now we have the internecine warfare of the Democratic primaries. Everything being said to trash SP is now fodder for every conservative political ad, commentary and editorial.

"It'll take away your health insurance away."

"It'll lead to massive tax hikes on the middle class."

And every time we will attempt to counter those claims we will be told it was a Democratic presidential candidate that said it.

I'll readily admit my political involvement is less than a decade long but I never would have imagined I would see such an absolute gutting of long-term policy goals in the name of short-term, self-serving -- and self-destructive -- political expediency.

11 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Good-bye, Single Payer Healthcare. We never knew you. (Original Post) Nuclear Unicorn Jan 2016 OP
Alas this gutting is pure DLC nadinbrzezinski Jan 2016 #1
I don't believe this premise. Bernie is showing that this doesn't have to be so. highprincipleswork Jan 2016 #2
A Public Option would have been a stepping stone to single payer. Qutzupalotl Jan 2016 #3
Scorched Earth politics Z_California Jan 2016 #4
The Conservative Wing of the Democratic Party never intended to go to step two rhett o rick Jan 2016 #5
Single payer is coming zipplewrath Jan 2016 #6
The TPP ensures any such corporation can relocate easily enough to "friendlier" climes. Nuclear Unicorn Jan 2016 #9
When democrats are spouting thst shit you know the democratic party Autumn Jan 2016 #7
All of this. hifiguy Jan 2016 #8
Pretty soon they'll decide to fully privatize Medicare leftstreet Jan 2016 #10
^ Wilms Jan 2016 #11
 

nadinbrzezinski

(154,021 posts)
1. Alas this gutting is pure DLC
Thu Jan 14, 2016, 05:12 PM
Jan 2016

Third way et al. I won't post what I think of that. It is well known. But conservatives on this site hate it when that is pointed out

 

highprincipleswork

(3,111 posts)
2. I don't believe this premise. Bernie is showing that this doesn't have to be so.
Thu Jan 14, 2016, 05:14 PM
Jan 2016

I'm not saying Single Payer is a slam dunk. But it is also true that when folks repeat untruths or half-truths over and over again till they are accepted, it is very effective to repeat truths over and over again.

In fact, that which is true more easily resonates, and for me that is why Bernie's message resonates. It is authentic. It is as close to "truth" as we hear from politicians, and we are hungry for it and more.

We don't have to kiss single payer good-bye because some people, through political expediency or otherwise, try to make it scary.

We can use facts. We can use truths that resonate with the human heart.

And that is why single payer already is as popular as it is. It responds to our nature.

Qutzupalotl

(14,230 posts)
3. A Public Option would have been a stepping stone to single payer.
Thu Jan 14, 2016, 05:19 PM
Jan 2016

It would have forced private insurers to lower premiums and would have put downward pressure on healthcare costs. Theoretically (with a cooperative congress), it could still be added to ACA, but that's very unlikely in the near future.

Essentially, Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman killed the ACA by removing the public option, allowing costs to spiral out of control.

 

rhett o rick

(55,981 posts)
5. The Conservative Wing of the Democratic Party never intended to go to step two
Thu Jan 14, 2016, 05:42 PM
Jan 2016

after the ACA. When I asked why they weren't pursuing step two, I was told it may take decades for step two. In other words they didn't like about the ACA being step one, they just didn't tell us they wouldn't pursue step two. And now the Conservative Wing is fighting tooth and nail to avoid step two. Funny that.

How ironic that Citizens United now is helping H. Clinton's campaign.

zipplewrath

(16,646 posts)
6. Single payer is coming
Thu Jan 14, 2016, 05:50 PM
Jan 2016

And the GOP will bring it to us. With the current rate of inflation in health CARE costs, ultimately it will become unaffordable for companies to provide it as part of employment. At that point the case will be made, by major multinationals, that in order to compete on the global stage, we have to move to a nationalized system much like many of our trading partners. The GOP will do it, pushing the costs onto the middle class, and not extracting anything from the companies for the cost savings they'll experience when they no longer have to carry this cost. Wages will not rise, they'll just keep the windfall, and taxes on the middle class will increase, probably through various consumption based taxes like tobacco, alcohol, and gasoline. And wait until you see what mandates THEY dream up.

 

hifiguy

(33,688 posts)
8. All of this.
Thu Jan 14, 2016, 06:06 PM
Jan 2016

Seeing Dean sell out is the final nail in that coffin. Is there anything these people will not sell out for a paycheck? Apparently not.

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