Galindez writes: "Bernie Sanders' proposal of Medicare for All will cover everything. Single payer is what works around the world and can work here. Bernie released his health care plan just hours before Sunday's debate. The Clinton campaign is critical of his past legislation in Congress that would have put the states in charge. Bernie's new plan is administered by the federal government, not by the states."
The Democratic candidates faced off in Charleston, South Carolina, Sunday evening. (photo: Randall Hill/Reuters)
Hillarycare Won't Cover Everyone, Berniecare Will
18 January 16
hile Hillary Clinton has made statements in the past in support of single-payer health care, she has never proposed it. Even in 1993, when she chaired Bill Clinton’s special commission on “universal" health care, she didn’t propose a plan that would have covered everyone. Like Obamacare, it had a mandate that said everyone has to buy into a private plan. She called it universal, but like Obamacare it would not have led to everyone getting health care.
Politicians have thrown around the term “universal health care” around, but rarely have they proposed it.
Hillary’s current plan is to defend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) against Republican efforts to repeal it. According to her website, she is “committed to building on delivery system reforms in the Affordable Care Act that improve value and quality care for Americans.”
Bernie Sanders also would not repeal Obamacare without first passing a better plan. But if you listen to Hillary, you would think Bernie is ready to throw everyone off their health care. That couldn’t be further from truth.
Single-payer government-run health care is the only way we get to 100% coverage of every American. Insurance companies love the mandate, since it means people have to buy insurance, but the mandate does not lead to lower premiums and deductibles. Don’t get me wrong, I support Obamacare and have benefited from it, but I have an employer that is giving me $300 a month for health care. But as I sit here in my hospital bed, I still dread the portion of my hospital bill that I will have to pay. I am worried that if I can’t pay, I might lose my health care.
According to Bernie’s website:
The Affordable Care Act was a critically important step towards the goal of universal health care. Thanks to the ACA, more than 17 million Americans have gained health insurance. Millions of low-income Americans have coverage through expanded eligibility for Medicaid that now exists in 31 states. Young adults can stay on their parents’ health plans until they’re 26. All Americans can benefit from increased protections against lifetime coverage limits and exclusion from coverage because of pre-existing conditions. Bernie was on the U.S. Senate committee that helped write the ACA.
But as we move forward, we must build upon the success of the ACA to achieve the goal of universal health care. Twenty-nine million Americans today still do not have health insurance and millions more are underinsured and cannot afford the high copayments and deductibles charged by private health insurance companies that put profits before people.
Bernie Sanders’ proposal of Medicare for All will cover everything. Single payer is what works around the world and can work here. Bernie released his health care plan just hours before Sunday’s debate. The Clinton campaign is critical of his past legislation in Congress that would have put the states in charge. Bernie’s new plan is administered by the federal government, not by the states.
Under Obamacare som states have shortchanged their residents by refusing to set up exchanges or expand Medicaid. I am in Iowa, where there are no platinum plans. I am one who has high premiums and co-pays. I know single payer would save me money. I am willing to pay higher taxes for single-payer health care. I will save money.
According to the plan posted on his website, under the Sanders plan the marginal income tax rate would be:
- 37 percent on income between $250,000 and $500,000.
- 43 percent on income between $500,000 and $2 million.
- 48 percent on income between $2 million and $10 million. (In 2013, only 113,000 households, the top 0.08 percent of taxpayers, had income between $2 million and $10 million.)
- 52 percent on income above $10 million. (In 2013, only 13,000 households, just 0.01 percent of taxpayers, had income exceeding $10 million.)
This plan would be partly paid for by:
- A 6.2 percent income-based health care premium paid by employers.
- A 2.2 percent income-based premium paid by households.
- This year, a family of four taking the standard deduction can have income up to $28,800 and not pay this tax under this plan. A family of four making $50,000 a year taking the standard deduction would only pay $466 this year.
These additional elements would pay for the remainder of the plan:
- Progressive income tax rates.
- Taxing capital gains and dividends the same as income from work.
- Limit tax deductions for rich.
- The Responsible Estate Tax
- Savings from health tax expenditures.
So it would be accurate to say taxes will go up, but the cost is offset by the end of premiums and co-pays. All you will have to do is go to the doctor. The bill will be paid for by the government. You won’t have to pay a dime.
All I see in Hillary Clinton’s health care plan is that she will fight to preserve and improve Obamacare. She will also address rising prescription drug costs.
According to Bernie’s website, his plan “will cover the entire continuum of health care, from inpatient to outpatient care; preventive to emergency care; primary care to specialty care, including long-term and palliative care; vision, hearing and oral health care; mental health and substance abuse services; as well as prescription medications, medical equipment, supplies, diagnostics and treatments. Patients will be able to choose a health care provider without worrying about whether that provider is in-network and will be able to get the care they need without having to read any fine print or trying to figure out how they can afford the out-of-pocket costs.”
So unless your employer is providing you with a great health care plan, you will save money on health,care. It is clear to me that we will get more and pay less for health care under Bernie Sanders.
Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott will be spending a year covering the presidential election from Iowa.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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Comments
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Bernie's Medicare for All makes a lot of sense. We really need universal coverage. Anyone who has seen what the uninsured are billed vs. the allowable Medicare caps understands this.
No penis enlargement either!
Whenever I visit my daughter and her family in London I see how easy it is to get medical services.
We have been so ignorant to not have insisted on this when HST was president.
For whatever relevance it may have, I am, for now, neither a Clinton nor a Sanders supporter, but am waiting to see how the race unfolds.
Weaver makes the point, above: for a fraction of our defense budget (500 Billion annually = 1.7 Billion per day!) we could cover health care for everyone, and send all eligible kids to school too, for free! And outside of empire building, why do we do it? Defense? I don't think so.
So, there you go... Don't want to raise taxes, like the rest of the sane world has? Then just forget the fight and reduce the pentagon budget by a few billion.
So knock it off with calling us kiddies — the only bullshit is coming from Hillary.
The ACA was a stab at health INSURANCE reform, not health CARE reform. America has to do better at health CARE reform, whether Hillary wants to do better or not, and if Hillary wants to tackle only one challenge at a time, then she's running for the wrong job.
So stay on the shelf and wait until you see which way the wind's blown' eh?
It very much depends on what you consider worth fighting for -and I'm sure Bernie Sanders knows he's IN for a fight -he's been around for long time fighting in the Belly of the greedy, seemingly insatiable, all-devouring Beast -and giving it an ulcer at times.
You can hardly say that for his Blue-Dawg-Dem' opponent.
I don't even get to vote but my American wife does and we've donated to Bernie's campaign from our anything but lucrative means, as we can talk for the bitter experience of being bankrupted by my getting seriously sick and almost croakin' WITH self-employed private insurance (which is why I've always referred to myself as self-exploited) ; just another sad example of the statistic that the joke of a healthcare non-system here is one of the principle causes of bankruptcy in the "Land of the Free" -if you can afford it.
I'd rather hold to King Harry V's inspirational exhortation to this few -this happy band of brothers (and in this case sisters -perhaps even more so) before Agincourt;
"That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die (Fight) in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to (fight) with us."
Have fun on that shelf Bubba!
We should keep building onto ObamaCare until it's the Universal Health Care plan we want. Bernie's really good at appealing to our emotions and single payer is emotional. However, let's be realistic, how is he going to convince the tea-bag repugs in congress?
We shouldn't duck the fight because its too hard like hillary said last night...
As Fredrick Douglass said no progress comes without struggle
We learned this in the sixties... !!!
He isn't. WE are. You, me, and everyone else in Bernie's revolution will demand it, and vote out everyone who doesn't comply.
Cut back on the caffeine.
A casual look at a red/blue map informs you the GOP isn't gonna lose the House and is unlikely to lose the Senate.
Sanders gives Dems their best chance to keep the WH because though 74, he is a fresh face on the national scene with new ideas, not wedded to the old elitist networks. He plays well to independents and swing voters without the old guard negatives surrounding Hillary.
That said, there will be no landslide winner.
If elected, Sanders will have to negotiate his "single payer" proposals and convince at least a few GOPers to come on board. This can be done. If he plays it smart.
Though many don't realize it, single payer is not some monolithic one size fits all. It's one thing in Canada and England, another in France, Denmark and Sweden and yet another in Singapore and Hong Kong. All have universal healthcare. All tailor it to their own needs, culture and financial abilities.
Sanders sells a bipartisan study committee for four or five "best of the best" to come up with an "American Plan for America". This provides some cover for GOP members. There are elements in the GOP open to SP. If the GOP loses the WH again, they will be ready to negotiate. It can happen.
for any politician to take it away.
And, there are young people who need it now. Who won't be able to pay the increasing cost of private insurance for another 5, 10, 20 years. It is discrimination against the young.
con-promises. We couldn't avoid voting for him, given the Republican competitor. But his compromises included health care which many "Democrats" excused by saying that it was better than nothing. Hillary, as we know, blew it in the '90s and she's happy with it now as Obamacare, because she wants Obama's endorsement and cares little about the public good.
I've lived part-time in several European countries since the Sixties and let me assure you, American medicine is great, except for their pill-pushing, unecessary testing, and cosmetic surgery, but so is that of the UK, France, Italy, and Portugal to my personal experience. When I come back here I'm always carrying 3 months of my blood pressure medications, because in Europe they cost about 40% of what they do here.
Bernie has the right idea. Could he get it past a Republican House or Senate? Perhaps we had better start paying attention to the congressional races, too.
You need to consider the difference between compromise and surrender.
I don't blame him.
Either way, I know I speak for many RSN readers when I wish you a speedy and long-lasting recovery.
Hillary won't cover people (except for the 1%) in ANY area, Bernie will cover the 99%.
Old liberal and Sayentenow reflect the neoliberal,comp romising, pragmatic cynicism that supports the status quo which works for the 1% and no one else.
"Evolution," is a carrot held out to the spineless who give away the family farm.
Playing basketball, I'm betting Obama broadcasts every move.
- only because it is!
"But people, let's not forget the repugs. want to dump ObamaCare. Why the hell would they support Bernie's plan.
- they don't! - check them out!
"We should keep building onto ObamaCare until it's the Universal Health Care plan we want.
- keep building onto ObamaCare until it's the Universal Health Care plan we want? - that's your plan, not hill's - hill has NO plan to build on obamneycare!
"Bernie's really good at appealing to our emotions and single payer is emotional.
- what the hell does that mean? it's what we want? what's wrong with that? is it time now to stop trying for what we want? aside from hill, of course, is that YOUR IDEA TOO?
"However, let's be realistic, how is he going to convince the tea-bag repugs in congress?"
- i have reason to doubt that this disgusting congress is ready to do anything about anything like healthcare - they are stuck in a repeal obamneycare death spiral!
- i have less reason to doubt that the repub electorate is ready to do anything about anything - many may love single-payer!
kindly confess that bernie voted for and supported obamneycare, as the lesser progressive solution to 40 million uninsured americans, and now wants to cover the remaining 30 million, okay?
how is hill having NO PLAN other than to hang onto obamneycare, better than bernie's plan to hang onto it only until america can do better?
hill is trying to prove she is less progressive than bernie and doing a good job of it - it is yet to be seen whether her false-flag attacks on single-payer will actually do her any good with voters, as dems tend to vote progressive - go bernie!
Clinton Attacks Produce Windfall of Campaign Cash for Sanders
Karen Tumulty, The Washington Post 14 January 16
Sanders’s … campaign … accused the Clinton campaign of making “vicious and coordinated attacks” on Sanders’s health-care plan, which calls for a government-run system.
… daughter, Chelsea Clinton, got into the act, bashing Sanders during her first campaign appearance on behalf of her mother this election season.
“Senator Sanders wants to dismantle Obamacare, dismantle the [Children’s Health Insurance Program], dismantle Medicare and dismantle private insurance,” Chelsea Clinton said at a stop in New Hampshire. “I worry if we give Republicans Democratic permission to do that, we’ll go back to an era — before we had the Affordable Care Act — that would strip millions and millions and millions of people off their health insurance.”
.… Single-payer health care has long been a cherished hope of liberals, who see it as the only way to assure that all Americans receive medical coverage.
- to me this is the most important point! - in essence hill defends obamacare against single-payer!
she's supporting a private, profit-based middle-man, healthcare system that affords medical care for an additional dozen millions of working americans against a healthcare system that affords medical care for all americans - she draws a bright line - she shows how she is markedly less progressive than bernie - she shows a distinct policy difference from bernie! (note that obama beat hill in 2008 while championing single-payer! deja vu!)
in the overall shift of america to a more progressive society, hill defines herself as the healthcare moderate leaning to conservative - (yet not so far right that she wants to repeal obamacare with no alternative in sight! - she’s no zomblican!)
overall i find it helpful to bernie, not harmful to bernie, that hill has staked out a clear difference from bernie! - they will debate the issue and bernie will win! - go bernie!
- i posted the above before sunday's debate when bernie killed hill on healthcare!
And then there are the polls showing 81% of Dems and 58% of the population at large favor single-payer.
Single-payer will remain a political nonstarter until American opinions toward government, specifically social welfare programs, significantly change. You have too many Americans whose belief is:
"I don't want my tax dollars paying for those peoples' healthcare (i.e. minorities on welfare, illegal immigrants, and other unpopular groups) at my expense. It's not my fault they won't get a job. I shouldn't have to pay for other peoples' healthcare".
And until those opinions change I suspect that single-payer is a political nonstarter.
1. I don't want to lose the right to pick my own doctor (even though today insurance companies largely make that same decision).
2. I don't want the government to take over healthcare and make medical decisions.
3. I don't want the government coming between me and my doctor.
4. I don't want to have to report to some scary-looking Soviet-style building replete with hostile bureaucrats whose only goal in life is to come between me and my doctor.
5. I'll have to wait three years to get that knee replacement!
6. I'll have to wait six months to get an appointment, while "those people" rush to the front of the line.
Again, as I've said in most of these threads, until American attitudes toward government, especially social programs, significantly change, single-payer is likely a political nonstarter. You have too many Americans who "don't want to pay for other peoples' stuff.
But that is only one plank in Sanders' platform, all of which are favored by substantial majorities, including "independents" and even many Republicans.
I really hope you get better soon. Before you lose too much money to the current health care non-system. It's too bad we don't already have single-payer. That would be one less thing to worry about while your trying to recover.
says - # Shades of gray matter 2016-01-18 20:18 "... THERE IS THE 900LB GORILLA in Bernie's living room ... Tens of millions are content NOW with employer provided insurance, plus the Obamacare safety net. The little babies can stop reading now, click thumbs down, & go about your infantile Revolution. I THINK Bernie has misread his support, most of which is NOT over insurance, but Wall Street criminality, abuse, political corruption."
- now i'm not saying all employers will refund to all employees all the premiums they save on fringe benefit health insurance - and pay it to employees as wages - BUT, TO THE EXTENT THEY DO, NET AFTER TAXES IT WILL STILL MORE THAN COVER THE EMPLOYEE SHARE OF NO DEDUCTIBLE, NO CO-PAY CARE THAT SINGLE-PAYER WILL AFFORD TO ALL, EVEN THEIR KIDS! EVEN AFTER THEY LEAVE HOME! AND THEIR KIDS KIDS!
THE PROBLEM WITH THESE BAND-AID PRIVATE CARE PLANS IS THAT FOLKS STILL AVOID DOCS, SLACK ON MEDS, LIVE LESS HEALTHY LIVES AND DECLARE HEALTHCARE BANKRUPTCIES! YOUR GORILLA IS NOT REALLY SO FORMIDABLE AS YOU BELIEVE!
bernie can whup your gorilla with one hand tied behind his back! just watch him! - go bernie!
I'll say it again as I've said each time an article on healthcare reform has appeared on this site. If we are ever to get single-payer American attitudes toward government, especially social programs, are going to have to significantly change. Right now you simply have too many Americans whose belief is:
"I don't want my tax dollars going to pay for 'those peoples' healthcare' (i.e., minorities on welfare, illegal immigrants, and other unpopular groups) at my expense. I shouldn't have to pay for other peoples' healthcare."
And that's even before you consider other people who are afraid that they'll "lose the right to pick their own doctor" or "have to wait three years to get that knee replacement". Yet there are others who fear "long waiting lines" and "bureaucrats making medical decisions".
That the ACA even passed is a miracle. But my larger point is that, until the number of Americans who believe what I wrote above decreases significantly, single-payer will remain politically a nonstarter in this country.
To some of them living out this "revolution" amounts to nothing more than acting out a fantasy of radicalism. Mark my words, once some of them actually have to get a real job and earn a living, watch some of them become conservative.
Look at David Horowitz, who was once a New Left radical in the late 1960s and 70s and became a conservative by the mid-1980s. I suspect that some of the most ardent McGovern supporters from 1972 gladly pulled the lever for Ronald Reagan in 1980. By the mid 1980s they nostalgically looked back on the "radicalism of their youth".
Odds are the at the ones who are willing "to bet the house" are likely the ones with good health insurance and jobs. Much like I said about most who supported Nader in 2000, they're not going to be suffering the consequences that they want to inflict on everyone else. So they can afford the luxury of "betting the house and everything else" because, if they bust, they're not going to be suffering the consequences.
I like Bernie and agree with some of his ideas. However, I'm just also realistic enough to know that, at least right now, a majority of Americans does not support his agenda--or at least not to the extent that others on this board thinks.
Like some before him, Bernie is our teacher, not our miracle working savior. Listen. Observe. The anti-war movement mobilized MILLIONS to take ACTION, over and over. Dedicated activists were arrested today after shutting down the SF Bay Bridge. WE will have to mobilize MILLIONS of activists in risky endeavors over and over and over, for decades. Get prepared.
I just don't think that Sanders can survive the inevitable torrent of red-baiting and negative ads that are almost certain to air against him. Too many Americans equate Socialism with Communism. But there are some people here who live in denial, cover their ears, and say "lalalala--I can't hear you" when anyone dares to make that point.
But the other point you make is correct. What do people expect Sanders to do should he, against all odds, become President? Do they magically expect him to enact his agenda with a Republican-cont rolled House and Senate? Do they really think that, somehow, he's going to wave a magic wand--and everything will fall into place?
And then, much like how people turned against Obama, as soon as it becomes clear that Sanders can't do everything in two yeras, these same people will come back here and scream "he is a sellout". Some of them will then sit out, stay at home, and/or vote third party in the midterm elections, giving more power to the GOP.
Bernie is the most electable candidate.
If we model ours on that system we will have a disaster!
Let us look instead at all the other medical single payer systems in use in Europe.
I know about England. I grew up there and have seen several friends and family go through horrific mistakes and even death because the system is not good.
are tens of millions of health-insured employees content to go along with obamneycare, which the GOP vows to repeal with, as yet, 5 years later, no proposed alternative? CONTINUALLY AT RISK OF LOSING COVERAGE IF THEY LOSE A JOB - WITH, PERHAPS, NO COVERAGE FOR PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS - WITH CO-PAYS AND LARGE DEDUCTIBLES? - are these tens of millions of hostages to jobs content? when, at less expense, they would not be hostages and would be entitled to care, as a right?
we got obamneycare when 54 senators and obama expressly demanded single-payer - when 6 blue dog senators, needed to defeat filibuster, insisted on private healthcare, to try to save their jobs - that's our miracle? look at what obama demanded until 6 blue dogs got in the way! he was single-payer!
the real question is how long will tens of millions of health-insured employees remain content with private healthcare - when will they decide to act in their own self-interest?
bernie will make the case! hill will not! my point is that it is better to make the case than to shut up about healthcare and propose no way to improve on obamneycare - go bernie!
At that stage the issue of the "uninsured" doesn't matter to them because they have coverage. To them the uninsured mostly consist of "those people"--i.e., "minorities on welfare, illegal/undocum ented immigrants, those who don't want to work, and other unpopular groups". They don't think that they are at risk of losing their coverage because "they are responsible" unlike "those people".
Only if/until some of them run into a situation where their insurance won't cover a condition or if/until some of them end up with a large hospital bill for an emergency that wasn't their fault will reconsider their positions. At that point the issue is no longer abstract, but real to them. When they actually suffer at the hands of the US healthcare system the damage becomes concrete, not abstract anymore.
But the vast majority of those with employer provided health insurance are happy with it because they haven't been faced with large hospital bills.
says Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog 04 January 16 "Bernie Sander’s presidential campaign is part of this mobilization ... no single president or any other politician can accomplish what’s needed because a system caught in the spiral of wealth and power cannot be reformed from within. It can be changed only by a mass movement of citizens pushing from the outside.
“So regardless of who wins the presidency in November and which party dominates the next Congress, it is up to the rest of us to continue to organize and mobilize. Real reform will require many years of hard work from millions of us.”
then says - This Is Not Democracy. This Is Oligarchy. Bernie Sanders, Reader Supported News 05 January 16 “Here’s the truth: The economic and political systems of this country are stacked against ordinary Americans. The rich get richer and use their wealth to buy elections, and I believe that we cannot change this corrupt system by taking its money. If we’re serious about creating jobs, health care for all, climate change, and the needs of our children and the elderly, we must be serious about campaign finance reform …”
“We must pass a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United … We need legislation that requires wealthy individuals and corporations who make large campaign contributions to disclose where their money is going. And more importantly, I believe we need to move towards the public funding of elections.”
does anyone here know just what "political revolution" bernie calls for? or what's revolutionary about it?
no, it's not whack-a-mole, fending-off every abuse of us 99%, whatever pops up and gores us next
as bernie puts it - “Long term, we need to go further and establish public funding of elections … American democracy is not about corporations and billionaires being able to buy candidates and elections. It is not about Wall Street and big oil or the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson spending billions of dollars to elect candidates who will make the rich richer and everyone else poorer ... This is not democracy. This is oligarchy. The defining principle of American democracy is ... every citizen having an equal say ... And that’s the kind of American political system we have to fight for!”
- it's overthrowing the plutoccracy that rules us! - restoring democracy! - and he's told us how we will do it!
we say we love him but, except for robert reich and i, who here on rsn supports bernie's "political revolution"? - it’s not too late! listen to bernie!
Nate: "Bernie Sanders is the only candidate in either party with a net-positive favorability rating"
From an article on FiveThirtyEight .Com by Nate Silver:
“We’ve got an unpopular set of presidential candidates this year– Bernie Sanders is the only candidate in either party with a net-positive favorability rating — but Trump is the most unpopular of all. His favorability rating is 33 percent, as compared with an unfavorable rating of 58 percent, for a net rating of -25 percentage points. By comparison Hillary Clinton, whose favorability ratings are notoriously poor, has a 42 percent favorable rating against a 50 percent unfavorable rating, for a net of -8 points. Those are bad numbers, but nowhere near as bad as Trump’s.
"Contra Rupert Murdoch’s assertion about Trump having crossover appeal, Trump is extraordinarily unpopular with independent voters and Democrats. Gallup polling conducted over the past six weeks found Trump with a -27-percentage- point net favorability rating among independent voters, and a -70-point net rating among Democrats; both marks are easily the worst in the GOP field. (Trump also has less-than-spect acular favorable ratings among his fellow Republicans.)
"You could plausibly argue that Ted Cruz would be a worse nominee than Trump ... It’s a perplexing that Republican elites have resigned to nominating either Trump or Cruz ..."
I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impel. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless , unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.
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