At this point in the shutdown, Democrats need to loudly call for Medicare for All.

[OrlandoDem2]

I’d be happy with a public option that directly competes with the leaches called insurance companies that are getting rich off of our illness in the name of “capitalism”. It is time to go all in on a Medicare for All system now that we have the attention of most Americans.

[FarPoint]

1. I just want to save Medicare....

I see this goal as something we need to wait for like when we take back control of Congress...

[flashman13]

28. Of course we save Medicare/Medicaid. We also start beating the drum for universal care now!

Not only do we want universal health care, but there must be a system of accessible nearby hospitals for all. Insurance without hospitals less that 3 or 4 hours away really isn't all that useful in an emergency.

[pat_k]

33. THIS THIS THIS

We never should have shut up about it. And not Medicare for All.

Give us our fucking subsidy bandaid and open the government. But then watch out, because people are WAKING UP. They KNOW we MUST have Single-payor universal health care. And that is what we're going to fight to get them, however long it takes.

YOU DO NOT BUILD THE POLITICAL WILL FOR SOMETHING BY SHUTTING UP ABOUT IT!!!

You keep advocating, loud and proud! And keep advocating. As you do, you change the boundaries of the possible. You make it MORE likely that you can get further down the road toward the ultimate goal FASTER.

We have been pulled in to Fascist Hell by the notion that you can only attempt to get that which you are sure is winnable. By surrendering in advance. By declaring can't win, won't fight.

Did the anti-abortionists STFU when everyone told them Roe v. Wade would never be overturned??

The day Hillary's effort failed, we should have rolled up our sleeves and started arguing against any fucking compromise that shovels money into the pockets of insurance companies who spent all those millions to make sure we didn't reduce their profits by a penny. The cry "No more for-profit health care. Our health is not a COMMODITY!! " should have started the next day.

[yellow dahlia]

54. Hear! Hear!

[Mysterian]

2. Amen!

Preach it, OrlandoDem2!

[jaymac]

3. A big yes!

Boy, that would excite a bunch of folks.........so yes please.........call for medicare for all. and as Mamdani said, TURN UP THE VOLUME!!!!!

[TheFarseer]

4. Maybe as a negotiating tactic

But I don’t think now is the time to overplay our hand. If we win back control of Congress and don’t at least push hard for a public option, then I will be upset.

[hatrack]

19. If not now, when? We have GOT to start talking about it.

Or do we just watch as the system we currently have falls to pieces, like a diseased, dying whale that's somehow still swimming (at least for now), with Trump's sharks biting of piece after piece after piece?

[TheFarseer]

20. I said when

And it’s perfectly fine to bring it up and put a spotlight on this idea but not demand it as a condition for reopening the government because it would be closed til the end of time. I’m in favor of Medicare for all but when we control 0 out of 3 branches of government is NOT when this has a chance.

[pfitz59]

5. Raise the stakes

Force the GOP to admit they want us all to suffer and die

[markie]

11. doubt they will ever admit

?si=Xcg_8kWeqj0eitJd

[Ars Longa]

6. I believe the moment has now arrived, to make a loud argument for Medicare for All.

Take a Stand on it!
Let the Repub-MAGA loons dig-in, protecting the For-Profit Insurance lobby.
Make them OWN it!

Get For-Profit Insurance companies out of our Lives! Everybody HATES them!!
Even MAGA hates them!

[Emile]

7. I agree. Now convince the centrists thats what we want.

[OldBaldy1701E]

9. You mean like the ones who are also owners/investors of insurance companies?

Yeah, they will be all over that.

[rampartd]

8. great.

he is shutting down medicare as well, so the only way to reestablish it is all the way. NO united health or ioe namath needed.

most medical care results from industrial toxins, so let corporate america pay for their own negligence in taxes.

[Xavier Breath]

17. Broadway Joe can always find a home in reverse mortgages.

[William Seger]

23. Reverse 50-year mortgages?

You'll be paying for the interest for the first 20 or 25 years — no equity.

[Rver]

10. I asked Mike Flood (NE-repug)

about Medicare for all and he nearly blew a gasket
He said that "we can't afford it..."
I wish that I could not show up for work and still get paid... just sayin'
Happy Sunday to all

[Skittles]

51. it's always amazing what repukes can afford, and what they cannot

very telling

[EarthFirst]

12. 100%

The fact that a one year subsidy is even being considered is beyond disappointing.

It’s permanent or Medicare for all.

Anything else is just the proverbial kick the can…

[MichMan]

13. The mistake was putting an expiration date on it to begin with

Everyone that voted for it knew it was going to expire this year.

[marybourg]

16. That wasn't a mistake. That was the only way.

It could have been passed.

[OneGrassRoot]

14. Agree! I've even seen hardcore MAGA call for the same...

though of course they don't recognize that it's the type of program they'd normally cry is socialism. lol

IT IS DEFINITELY TIME.

[Wounded Bear]

15. Indeed. Time for some kind of public option...

Long past time, really.

[Autumn]

18. They should, but they won't. eom

[Hugin]

21. I am forced to vehemently agree.

Now look at what the Republicans have made me do.

[Samael13]

22. I have to agree

With people getting sticker shocks on their private insurance its time to bring the message of Medicare for all to the people and show them how it'll help them.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

24. K&R!

[leftstreet]

25. DURec

[Ponietz]

26. Bad news this morning -- very few doctors in northern NM

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/

A program to train — and maybe retain — family medicine doctors at more than a dozen small clinics across Northern New Mexico is calling it quits after just 17 months.

The Médicos de El Centro Family Medicine Residency Program, which began in July 2024, will officially shut down Dec. 31, meaning current residents won’t get the full training they need for a family medicine specialty.

The program should have been a “golden opportunity” for Northern New Mexico, said Darren DeYapp, CEO of El Centro Family Health, which operates more than a dozen small-town clinics in the region.

El Centro’s clinics have been hosting the medical residents, boosting their own staffing levels while the residents completed their training through partnerships with Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center and Presbyterian Española Hospital. Meanwhile, DeYapp and his team would work to recruit the residents to join El Centro’s staff, enticing them to continue practicing in rural New Mexico after their training.

[AllaN01Bear]

27. i want to save a lot of the good programs.

[delisen]

29. Not unless you say Real Medicare for All

Half of Medicare is already privatized under the Republican scam called Medicare Advantage which has essentially been bankrupting Medicare.

[leftstreet]

31. +1 Both parties are waiting til it's completely privatized

Then they'll scream Medicare For All

We actually need the TriCare model

[MichMan]

32. Getting rid of MA needs to be a big campaign promise in 2028

FYI, It was Bill Clinton who signed Medicare Part C into law under the Balanced Budget Act of 1997

[leftstreet]

34. Many young people think Medicare For All is free

Boomers know it isn't. Gen Xers are about to find out

185 (about to be 206) a month for part B
30-50 for part D
Part C is just plain privatized Medicare

Part B was $4 a month in 1970 !!

[MichMan]

35. And that's after paying into it for 40 years before becoming eligible

[Unwind Your Mind]

36. This Gen Xer is about to be paying 700 a month with a big deductible

I’m fortunate to be able to absorb the increase, many are not so lucky

[lostincalifornia]

38. Thank-you. From some of the posts it is pretty clear that some people don't realize that original Medicare isn't free,

and that doesn't even include the supplemental or Medi-gap part which can be quite significant, and if you don't have it, that can break the bank for some also.

I think it would be instructive if some folks spent some time understanding what they pay into with their social security and Medicare taxes, and what it covers and what ISN'T included.

Maybe the confusion among some is they may not understand the difference between Medicare and Medicaid?

If they actually did Medicare for all, it would mean people would no longer need to wait until 65 to start receiving benefits. The assumption would be that there would be more healthy people in the pool than those that are not healthy, and it would be those healthy people who effectively would subsidize it for those at a higher risk, that is the older Americans for the most part.

It would be an entire paradigm shift from how Medicare was initially setup, and it is highly unlikely that would pass Congress.

I don't think many realize we barely got the affordable care act passed as it was, and it wasn't just because of the republicans.

The U.S. House of Representatives was safely Democratic as a result of the Nov. 4, 2008, elections by a margin of 257 – 199; the Democrats had gained 21 seats from the 2006-07 Congress, but it was the Senate where things became difficult.

Going into the 2008 elections, the Senate consisted of 49 Democrats, 49 Republicans, and two Independents (Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders of Vermont) who caucused with the Democrats. When the smoke cleared from those elections, the Democrats picked up eight seats to increase their majority to 57-41. With the two Independents, the Democrats were one vote shy of the supermajority the magic number of 60 they needed to ward off any filibuster attempts and move forward with broad healthcare reform legislation.

In April 2009, the dynamics changed when Republican Arlen Spector changed parties, giving Senate Democrats that coveted 60th vote.
Now the Democrats had a safe majority in the House and a filibuster-proof supermajority of 60 in the Senate, but that lasted only four months before Ted Kennedy died in August of 2009, leaving the Democrats, once again, with 59 seats (counting the two Independents). One month later, Democrat Paul Kirk was appointed interim senator from Massachusetts to serve until the special election set for January 19, 2010 – once again giving the Democrats that 60th vote. but things didn't quite work out the way we thought it would.

There didn’t seem to be an urgent need for Democrats to reconcile both bills immediately, because people thought that Marth Coakley was a shoe in for Kennedy's seat in the special election. Of course we all know what happened there, Scott Brown won the special election, and we didn't have the super majority anymore.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Obama needed to figure out a way to get it passed. It was assumed that the House bill would be tweaked enough to even offer a public option, but that wouldn't work now because the Democrats no longer had the 60th vote in the Senate to end debate. They decided to have the House take up the identical bill that the Senate passed on Christmas Eve. It passed in 2010 by a 219 – 212 vote. NO Republicans came on board, and 34 DEMOCRATS voted against. President Obama signed the ACA legislation two days later on March 23.

In addition, not all Senate Democrats were on board with the public option, yet alone Medicare for all. Blanch Lincoln, Nelson in Nebraska, Nelson in Florida, Lieberman, Birch Bayh, and Mark Pryor in Arkansas in the Senate refused to go along with a public option or Medicare for all.

[leftstreet]

40. +1

Thank you for that accurate (and horrible) reminder. I hope you'll make this an OP at some point

How the hell do you lose Kennedy's seat?! Okay, don't get me started

[lostincalifornia]

41. I know, if only.

[questionseverything]

42. You don't mention that the aca passed through reconciliation were only 51 votes were needed

So we never needed 60 to start with

[lostincalifornia]

48. and how was that going to happen when the Democrats in the Senate had at least 5-6 Democrats who refused to vote for

it if a public option was included?

Blanch Lincoln, Nelson in Nebraska, Nelson in Florida, Lieberman, Birch Bayh, and Mark Pryor in Arkansas in the Senate refused to go along with a public option or Medicare for all.

Of course the real problem was those jackasses who refused to vote for Hillary in the 2016 general election when we lost the Supreme Court, and those that refused to vote for Harris in 2024.

one mistake "might" be excusable, but not two, and I am not even including what happened in 2000.

That is what happens when you lose the majority in both Houses, and the presidency.

[questionseverything]

62. 59-6 53 which was is still over 50, which is all reconciliation required

[area51]

45. Medicare for All

Isn't the same Medicare that exists now with gaps in coverage.

[pat_k]

30. Should've started demanding tbe second they tried to repeal obamacare.

Last edited Sun Nov 9, 2025, 11:49 AM - Edit history (1)

Actually, should have been demanding a lot sooner, but every single time they said/say "obamacare is broken," we should have said "damn right it is, we need single-payor heath care, and we need it NOW!

Heath care is NOT a fucking commodity! You need the health care you need when you fucking need it.

You don't wake up one day and decide you want to start injecting yourself with this expensive Rheumatoid Arthritis drug because, gee all my friends are doing it!

NO MORE heath care for profit. Our health is not a commodity. It is a RIGHT without which there can be NO "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

[lostincalifornia]

39. You realize it wasn't just the republicans we had to fight for that, but there were Democrats who refused to agree to

single-payer, a public option, yet alone Medicare for all.

The ACA barely passed.

Blanch Lincoln, Nelson in Nebraska, Nelson in Florida, Lieberman, Birch Bayh, and Mark Pryor in Arkansas in the Senate refused to go along with a public option, single payer or Medicare for all at the time the ACA was passed.

Even Vermont, from where Bernie Sanders is from, who is one of the biggest proponents of Medicare for all couldn't pass its single-payer health plan in 2014. The excuse used was the high cost it would entail, and it would cause economic disruption because the proposed funding mechanisms that would be used, payroll and income taxes would not be politically viable according to their Governor at the time, and could not guarantee that the plan wouldn't require even higher taxes due to rising healthcare stocks.

I am just saying, unless ALL Democrats are on board, it is highly unlikely to happen anytime soon.

[questionseverything]

43. Vermont can't run a deficit like the United States can

[MichMan]

47. By sticking future generations with the bills?

[pat_k]

55. My point is that it will NEVER happen if more of them aren't out there making the case, LOUDLY.

And it is up to us to push our electeds to take a stand for what we need. State the ultimate goal -- universal health care as a right paid for by our tax dollars -- and WHY it is both a moral imperative and an economic necessity.

Why the hell cant the united states do what EVERY OTHER large developed economy has done? They need to be talking about what an obscene outlier we are in terms of what we spend. And the REASON is clear. Health care is not a commodity and can't be run as a for profit insurance scheme!

Build a vision of what this nation can do, and deserves. Step one is the public option. But we must always be clear that our health care system will still be broken -- that we need truly transformational reform and we the people have the power to make it happen by doing our bit to push our leaders, talk to each other, and get a virtuous snowball of hope and action rolling.

Had we kept the drumbeat going since 1995, we would probably already have universal health care, or at least be a whole hell of a lot closer to it today.

[lostincalifornia]

57. Well, it sure as heck won't happen as long as people continue to do what they did in 2000, 2016, and 2024.

[kimbutgar]

37. No healthcare for profit

If we get in power again we should pass laws saying corporations can not profit off healthcare.get Wall Street and corporations banned from healthcare and make it a public service.

[gulliver]

44. All of our issues should be repeated constantly

I'm opposed to government shutdowns as a way to create crises. But, since we're already there, there's no reason at all that every time a Democrat shows up in an interview or anywhere, they should have a litany of reasons to vote against Republicans next year. We have the issues.

[Nanjeanne]

46. When I was watching MSNBC this morning and Eric Swalwell was on - they showed Trump tweets about not giving money

to insurance companies, etc. I thought - what an perfect opportunity for him to say "Let's work on this - first we extend the subsidies for one year and during that year - we put together a real Medicare For All plan that helps achieve Trump's supposed goal". But he didn't . . .

[Javaman]

49. With dental and vision! nt

[Demsrule86]

50. Please stop. That won't happen. We need the ACA.

This may hurt democrats in the midterm also. Any Democrat who votes for this needs a primary.

[Bettie]

52. How many of both parties are

owned by the health care industry?

Far too many. It would hurt the bottom line of too many people with power to have a public option or to actually deliver health CARE rather than insurance.

[Demsrule86]

53. We don't have House Senate or presidency so

No it is not a good time. We need to save the ACA or millions die. This is a betrayal.

[yourout]

56. We got pretty close to the public option and I wish Obama would have maybe went

To the carpet for it as it would have really laid the groundwork for a potential Medicare for all

[BlueTsunami2018]

58. Traitor Joe Lieberman threatened to blow the whole deal up if the PO was included.

And if it wasn’t him, it would have been someone else. The ruling class always gets what it wants.

[Trueblue1968]

59. Medicare for all ...... Yes !!!

[OrlandoDem2]

60. Now more than ever we need the Democrats to demand Medicare for All.

The ACA is too expensive!

[BlueTsunami2018]

61. Why would they call for something they don't actually want?

We must remember that the Democratic Party is a capitalist party. There are billions of dollars in profits at stake. The insurance lobby is huge and influential. They’re never going to call for this let alone go to the mattresses for it.