Vox - Hillary Clinton wants to let people "buy in" to Medicare

[TomCADem]

Both Bill Clinton (1998) and Bernie Sanders (2009) supported Medicare Buy-In. Indeed, in 2009, Bernie Sanders and Democrats were two votes short, so it is doable:

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/01/06/medicare/

http://www.politico.com/story/2009/12/lieberman-says-no-to-medicare-buy-in-030553

So, this is not so much a new idea, but an embrace of an idea that has had broad acceptance in the Democratic party, including both Bill Clinton and Bernie Sanders:

http://www.vox.com/2016/5/11/11652900/hillary-clinton-medicare-buy-in

Campaigning in Virginia this week, Hillary Clinton revived an idea that was once a staple of liberal thinking about how to improve the Affordable Care Act — letting older Americans "buy in" to Medicare rather than to a private insurance company.

* * *

In the context of an existing Affordable Care Act, both the public option and the Medicare buy-in operate in essentially the same way.

People who don't get health insurance through their job and earn too much to qualify for Medicaid could buy insurance from the government rather than from a private company. In the public option scenario, the government insurer would have a new name and would be open to people of all ages. In the Medicare buy-in scenario the government insurer would be called "Medicare" and access to it would be limited by age. Clinton spoke specifically of "people 55 or 50 and up," which is broader than the 55 and up that was considered by the Senate back in 2009.

Either way, however, the appeal would be the same.

[Demsrule86]

1. I certainly support that

Lieberman killed that shot...and we had the House, the Senate and the presidency in 09...I don't think it is doable now. Wish it was.

[TomCADem]

3. I Think As An Incremental Change to ACA, Its Doable

The problem was that the ACA itself was a huge heavy lift. However, now the Medicare Buy-In or Public Option are just the reintroduction of an element of the ACA that was left out. You do not need to start from scratch in terms of the healthcare exchanges or all the infrastructure for letting people sign up and buy in. Put another way, unlike in 1998 or 2009, there is no need to start from scratch. The key, of course, is gaining control of Congress.

[Silver_Witch]

2. This is why Bernie must stay in the race!

Do you think Hillary for one moment would have promoted this without progressives through Bernie pushing her to recognize we exist! Fuck no!

I dont believe she does anything that is not thoroughly polled and calculated to win voters. Much like her evolution to support marriage for ALL! HER christian speech about marriage being scared and only for one man one woman is who she really is but hey politics and polling showed that most people gay or straight support marriage for all so she EVOLVED!

So stay in Bernie until you win or force Hillary to be progressive!! Thank you sir!

[TomCADem]

4. Wasn't This Idea Raised by Bill Clinton Back in 1998?

Did Bernie Sanders travel back in time and force Bill Clinton to be progressive?

[Silver_Witch]

6. Raised by Bill not produced followed through or won!

Besides we are taking about Hillary not Bill right?

If you would like to talk about President Clinton feel free. Do you know why he was unable to get this passed. Why he only promoted it but not get it done? I suspect I know why, but please tell us all what caused him to fail!

[Dawgs]

5. No. She said she would look into it. n/t

[farleftlib]

7. And we all know what that means

It's never gonna happen.