'Why I Am Voting No On The Democratic Party Platform': Medicare For All

[frazzled]

7. Knock yourself out

There are 3,978 other delegates.

In addition, the platform is just a piece of paper, an aspirational document with no force of law. That is evidenced in the article, which notes that universal healthcare was in the platform from 1948-1980, and in those 32 years it didn’t come to pass in Congress. At all.

It was substantially achieved with the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 (and its implementation in 2014), however. Though it has since been critically curtailed.

Together with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 amendment, it represents the U.S. healthcare system's most significant regulatory overhaul and expansion of coverage since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965.[1][2][3][4]

PPACA's major provisions came into force in 2014. By 2016, the uninsured share of the population had roughly halved, with estimates ranging from 20 to 24 million additional people covered.[5][6] The law also enacted a host of delivery system reforms intended to constrain healthcare costs and improve quality. After the law went into effect, increases in overall healthcare spending slowed, including premiums for employer-based insurance plans.

So what’s the point? Universal healthcare was apparently unsuccessful when it was in the platform, and largely successful when it wasn’t.