Im all for single payer if you can write a bill that makes sense, but this bill is an embarrassment

[peggysue2]

98. Ding Ding. Ding!

"Aspirational Symbolism."

Yup, that's exactly what this is in the moment. The problem is that symbolism will not take care of the sick or the uninsured.

We can strategize about how we eventually get to single-payer but in the now this bill is going nowhere fast. Sanders knows this himself. Without a Democratic majority (and we would really need a super-majority in both houses) there's not a shot in hell that a bill even remotely as broad as this one would stand a chance. It takes more than hefting the banner and shaking pom-poms to get the job done. Restructuring nearly 20% of the US economy will never be easy or fast. We're deluding ourselves to think otherwise.

I think the vast majority of Dems, particularly liberals support the idea of a single payer system, something like 65% But there's an entire country out there. According to the Pew poll in June of this year only 33% of the American public supports single-payer, another 25% think there should be a public/private structure. Those numbers can change, of course, and have changed. But they're not going to radically change overnight. If a program like this hasn't nailed down every detail (including specifics, not suggestions on how we pay for it) the Democrats will be slaughtered. And rightly so. Because healthcare is deeply, deeply personal. You'll recall how President Obama was torn to pieces with the "you can keep your doctor" promise, followed by an awful roll-out. With healthcare, you can't afford mistakes or wobbly details or make promises you cannot keep, regardless of how well-meaning the program might be.

Our most realistic way to address healthcare is winning in 2018 & 2020. Until then, we need to protect (and where we can improve) what exists in the here and now, the ACA. Too many lives are at risk with the GOP's full intent to dismantle the program that is to shift massive energy/attention to a program that isn't. Yes, we can walk and chew gum at the same time. But walking comes first unless we want to end up on our knees.