The dam is breaking on Democrats embrace of single-payer

[workinclasszero]

The dam is breaking on Democrats’ embrace of single-payer
By Aaron Blake September 11 at 3:50 PM

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) became the fourth co-sponsor of Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) “Medicare for all” health-care bill Monday. In doing so, he joined Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.).

What do those four senators have in common? Well, they just happen to constitute four of the eight most likely 2020 Democratic presidential nominees, according to the handy list I put out Friday. And another senator in my top 8, Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), last month came out in favor of the idea of “Medicare for all” — though not this specific bill (yet).

A Pew poll in January showed 60 percent of Americans said the government had a responsibility to provide health-care coverage for all, up from 51 percent the year before. The poll showed just 33 percent overall favored single-payer specifically — versus a “mix of government and private programs” — but among Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters, 52 percent wanted single-payer. And among self-described liberals, it was 64 percent.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/09/11/the-dam-is-now-breaking-on-democrats-embrace-of-single-payer/?utm_term=.9aca0d6fcc7f

[Not Ruth]

1. Single payer will be the talking point of the 2020 campaign

[workinclasszero]

2. It should have happened decades ago

same as MJ legalization.

Better late than never I guess. Hope I live long enough to benefit from it.

[Not Ruth]

3. My focus (climate change, tuition, single payer, etc) is on future generations

My life is fine, fight for the future.

[DemocraticWing]

4. If the Democrats can't get behind single payer...

Then the party is just shooting itself in the foot. The time has come, 60% of Americans want it, and young people are organizing for it all over the country. It's a slam dunk for the Democrats, and it seems like at least a few of them are waking up.

Knowing how politics work, socialists like Bernie have kept the fire alive for Medicare for All for 20 years so I'm guessing now the Democrats will get smart, pass it off as their own idea, and reap the political benefits. It's been how politics have worked since about the 1890s in this country. And the thing is, as long as we achieve the goal, the Left will be happy about it.

[workinclasszero]

14. Totally agree!

"The time has come, 60% of Americans want it, and young people are organizing for it all over the country. It's a slam dunk for the Democrats"

[Hoyt]

5. Single-payer is a good target, but we have work to do because "just 33% favor SP specifically."

[TCJ70]

7. I think it's a branding thing...

...expanding a program like Medicare and making sure everyone understands that it's not "free" will be important. People still pay into it, you just pay less (and we need to make sure that happens in general...it won't be that way for everyone).

[Hoyt]

8. That's a good point. I hope someone figures out how to get that message across to those

who think government health programs aren't desirable. Heck, some folks who have Medicare don't even realize it's a government program.

I also wish someone would come up with a creditable comparison of expected cost in Medicare-for-all (or whatever we choose to call it) vs. what people pay now.

[Iggo]

13. Yep.

I have people in my office who agree that Climate Change is real but Global Warming is a liberal hoax.

[Expecting Rain]

9. We need real plans. The lack of think-tanks on our side...

with first-class economists and computer scientists who can model the numbers and help frame a plan (or plans) that makes sense to the American public will hamper (doom?) the efforts.

We can't sell this sort of radical change on hot-air or just saying "other countries do it." That is a losing strategy for the passage of legislation.

So far it's, "where's the beef?"

We have a choice between fruitless sloganeering (with no real plan) or we face the progressive path of drafting a well-vetted plan that we can sell to the American public.

Time to get to work.

[Orsino]

10. Maybe.

The billionaires profited for decades from private health insurance, running the industry almost into the ground...and now they threaten to steal care from millions? Yeah, we're going to be talking more and more about the possibility of doing what every other indistrialized nation figured out long ago.

Watch and see how many many of our leaders are listening.

[eissa]

11. About time the party returned to its roots

Healthcare as a basic right was part of FDR's platform. The party moved so far to the center during the late 80s/early 90s, we've forgotten many of the leftist positions we stood for, and are on the verge of losing the middle class as a result. Let's hope many more of our leaders follow this path and get the party back where it's supposed to be.

[Expecting Rain]

12. Roosevlet wasn't a "leftist" and Truman was the guy who put universal healthcare on...

the Democratic agenda.

Bashing the success of Bill Clinton to regain control of the White House in what looked like a potentially unending era of deluded-Reaganism is a self-defeating position.

HRC made a valiant effort to deliver on core Democratic values during Bill Clinton's Administration. The grander plans failed, but millions of children were covered under the CHIP program. And that battle set up a win with the ACA. A win that will set up future victories.

Please don't demoralize Democrats by spreading false narratives.

[HarmonyRockets]

15. This is what pushing the party to the left looks like