Unless the "public option" is free or inexpensive it's snake oil.. and dangerous snake oil at that.

[thesquanderer]

15. Biden's plan works exactly the way the ACA works, why is anyone confused/surprised?

That's Biden's whole sell. Don't throw out ACA, add a public option to it. How different from the ACA does anyone expect it to be? (Yes, he makes some other changes, too, but it's fundamentally the same, and that sameness is what's he's pushing, i.e. that it would not be overly disruptive or overly expensive to implement.)

Even though that will benefit all who are poor, no matter which party they favor, I doubt that those who are working now, or hope to get a job, will want to have less take home pay in order to subsidize the rest.

Just like the ACA. You don't pay enough even to cover your OWN coverage (much less anyone else's) until you make a certain income... below that point, the government subsidizes you.

What about retired folks who have done with less during their working lives in order to save money for their old ages. Will they have to spend down their savings to pay the extra taxes and premiums? .

Just like today, your premiums/subsidies/taxes are based on how much you make in a given year, not how much you've saved from prior years. You can have a million in the bank, but if your income this year is only $10k, your premiums/taxes are based on having earned $10k.

What's the use of saving money, if the government is going to take it away, anyway?

Even today, once your health deteriorates, it is common that having saved money only gets you into a *better* nursing home, but ultimately, it still bleeds you dry and then medicaid kicks in because they've made you broke. That's the system as it is today. Unless you stay healthy enough to maintain your own living space to the end, or have so much money that you can afford having private care come to you.

Now, if you're talking about plans OTHER than Biden's, there are other variations. Everyone's is a little different. But none of them are "free for everyone" because someone has to pay for it. How much comes from "taxing the rich," how much comes from individual tax increases (progressively, like the income tax), how much comes from premiums (also a sliding scale), these details may differ. But the concept is always, anyone who can afford to pay SOMETHING into the system is going to pay something into the system; and the system will take care of those who can't pay anything. Though there is wiggle room on that last part, as one of the criticisms of Biden's ACA-based plan is that it doesn't immediately cover absolutely everyone as some other plans do.