AOC lowers expectations on Medicare for All, admitting Sanders 'can't wave a magic wand' to pass it

I think even Bernie knows this but understandably won’t show that now. It may take some time, but having an advocate for it sure helps.

Still good to fight for it, start the discussions, make the case. It may take years... decades... but if you don’t start laying the groundwork you never get there. Republicans know this... they always play the long game and push for more than they can get right now.

His plan: designed to start as Medicare For All Who Want It and transition yo MDA as people realize the public option preferable for their needs. Don’t toss people off their hard won union medical insurance.

is that its proponents often compare it to the health care arrangements in the Nordic countries - that their systems are the ideal, or close to it, and that we should adopt their kind of system. Ideally, maybe we should. But here's the catch: Those countries have never had for-profit, privately-owned primary health care. In Norway, for example, the oldest hospital still in existence was built in 1277 and was operated by the church; later on, other charities ran the hospitals. After WWII the government took over the entire health care system, with the actual provision of services being managed by local governments. https://www.lifeinnorway.net/healthcare/ In contrast, the United States has never had government-provided health care, with the exception of the VA. Even Medicare isn't really government health care because it is provided by privately-owned and in many cases for-profit providers, and we and our employers, not the government, paid for it (and you still pay premiums). So the transition to a government-managed single-payer system would require massive restructuring of almost everything, that would take years to implement. Candidates flogging M4A aren't being honest if they're trying to convince voters that it's going to happen like flipping a switch as soon as there's a new administration.

His premier flagship promise knocked down by his lead weapon.

It’s been five years of this, and this is what it comes to? What the rest of us knew all along?

Link to tweet

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It does not logically flow from that fact however that the sensible course defaults to halting work on building that constituency. We have moved much closer to achieving it over the last four years. The stronger we make the case, the sooner we will get there. We can't pass an amendment to repeal Citizens United through Congress now either. That doesn't mean we should stop advocating for that amendment.