Bernie is wrong in his assessment of why we don't have single payer

[karynnj]

3. Here is a simpler less insidious reason why the US does not have single payer

The reason is history.

We are the only country where the government encouraged businesses to offer health insurance as a benefit by giving tax advantages. Unions made getting that a goal. At its height, a large enough percent of people had employer provided health care that it was mostly the poor and old who did not have insurance that way. The solution Medicare and Medicaid.

There are many people who fear losing what they have. What is needed is a transition. I think a possible one would be ACA with the problems fixed and a public option. Then if companies were allowed to subsidize workers on the exchange. Just as lower income people get a subsidy to pay for their chosen plan, there could be a way to add in a company subsidy. The companies could be allowed the same way of accounting for that expense as they would if they offered insurance directly.