Medicare for all would cost more than what we are paying now. We need to stop avoiding this fact.

[still_one]

119. You points are good, and there is no doubt it would require an increase in taxes. There was a lot

displeasure here on DU when the ACA came out, but what they failed to acknowledge, the blue dogs were never going to vote for it. There was a proposal for Medicare for those 55 and older, and a lot of Democrats in Congress would not go for that.

Another issue at the time was we were going through the largest financial collapse since the great depression, and increasing taxes, which would have been required to support single payer would have been the worst thing to do at the time. The whole point of the recovery was to provide liquidity, lower the interest rates, not increase taxes, and pass legislation that would stimulate the economy. Unfortunately, many of the jobs programs that could have helped us recover faster, were blocked mostly by the republicans in Congress.

That we were able to get the ACA is nothing short of amazing. In fact that applies to what the Obama administration was able to accomplish.

Vermont tried to implement Single Payer, but had to back track because they found it was to expensive, and the tax burden would not have been acceptable at the time.