Urban Institute analysis of Sanders Single Payer Plan: May 2016

[ehrnst]

99. What does this have to do with the Sanders plan lowballing the costs?

Last edited Tue Sep 19, 2017, 11:03 AM - Edit history (2)

Again - Vermont Green Mountain Care tanked in part because to continue it, Vermont had to hike taxes 160%.

Now you can talk about how a "healthy workforce will be more productive, etc," but when faced with that kind of difference between what was promised, and what became reality for people, they are going to give up thinking you know what you're doing or that you are being honest with them.


Much like when Obama said, "you can keep your doctor," when no one could guarantee that. It was used to discredit him and by extension the ACA. If you tried to tell anyone that the ACA would do this, or not do that, you would often get the response, "Well he said you can keep your doctor, and that was a lie."

Since you have questions about what the analysis says about cost leveraging, I'll supply the link again:

https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/alfresco/publication-pdfs/2000785-The-Sanders-Single-Payer-Health-Care-Plan.pdf

You may also find it in the UI's response to the pushback on the analysis:

https://www.urban.org/research/publication/response-criticisms-our-analysis-sanders-health-care-reform-plan

You display a familiarity with terms describing financial mechanisms in health care delivery, so I'm sure that you will be able to find answers to your questions by reading the analysis or the response.

You can get all "fucking" furious at the insurance industry that you want. Your fury doesn't make the single payer plan that UI analyzed any more affordable or less disruptive to the health care system if implemented.

The implementation costs are separate than maintenance costs - I wanted geothermal HVAC, not just because of the environmental benefits, because the costs, once installed are very low. But I could not afford the price tag for digging the hole, which would have required renting an oil derrick drill, because of the configuration of my lot. If one has a lake on one's property, it's much less expensive because you don't need to drill or dig, but I know better than to expect mine would be just as cheap. As in Europe - the circumstances surrounding their establishment of universal coverage were very different, and much cheaper, Like someone who has a lake.

It's also much, much cheaper to keep costs down from a low starting point, than it is to bring costs down from a high starting point.