Urban Institute analysis of Sanders Single Payer Plan: May 2016

[ehrnst]

103. Which as the UI analysis said, the Sanders plan would do far more than an

incremental approach on a longer timeline that what his plan says will work.

Also from the Nation article:

We shouldn’t make promises that we aren’t going to be able to keep. “It’s not going to be easy to do,” Jacob Hacker says, “and anyone who tells you that the most expensive health-care system in the world is going to undergo a sudden shift to highly efficient and low-price medicine has not been studying American medicine.”

Also you keep moving the fence on this - first you say that single payer is the same as universal health care, and anyone who doesn't support SP doesn't think healthcare is a right, or doesn't get goverment, then you say that you don't think that, and then you argue that maybe the UI analysis defintion of "disruption" isn't really the kind that's bad, then you say that there won't be any disruption if it's implemented "carefully" on a timeline that is different than what Sanders proposes, then you say that then you say that it doesn't really have to be implemented to be really good for the US.....

What is that supposed to tell me about your understanding of this thing you are "jumping on board with?"

It just sounds like you really don't care what it really involves, but won't own that you are cheerleading for this, and will simply rebut what ever real obstacles and problems someone presents to "believing" in it.

It's not dogma to me, any more than "climate change is a liberal hoax!" is.

I'm going to look at it for what it is, and not be distracted by what it claims to "represent." When Obama reassured people that "you can keep your doctor," he was trying to get people on board with the ACA. But that wasn't true, and it was used as ammunition by the GOP to discredit him for lying about the ACA.

And when the CBO numbers come out, if the bill gets that far, and they show that Sanders' bill costs way more than he says it will, that won't move the needle anywhere but backwards on how credible it is, and by extension the Democrats that have hopped on, as to how skilled they are at offering real solutions.

These are real solutions that can get more people covered way sooner than 2020:

The Solutions over Politics plan would:

Create an annual $15 billion reinsurance fund. ObamaCare had a reinsurance program for three years from 2014 to 2016 to provide payments to insurers that enroll higher-cost, sicker individuals.

Continue ObamaCare's insurer payments, which reimburse them for giving discounts to low-income patients. Insurers have blamed the uncertainty over whether these payments will continue as a reason for their proposed double digit rate increases in 2018.

Have "robust marketing strategies" to ensure that more people enroll during open enrollment periods.

Allow a buy-in option for Medicare for people nearing retirement age.

Expand tax credits by age, geography and income to help people buy insurance. Currently, about 84 percent of ObamaCare participants get a subsidy.

Expand the availability of catastrophic health plans that include essential health benefits and coverage for primary care for younger enrollees. These plans, meant to protect people from worst-scenarios, tend to have low monthly premiums and high deductibles.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/341616-ten-house-democrats-propose-plan-to-fix-obamacare