Discussion: Warren: The Next Step For Dems Is Single-Payer Health Care

Exactly correct. We need to get back into power first then get to big programs (if at all).

The issue that I think many Dems don’t get is that mindless stupidity has absolutely solidified in parts of this country. (See GA-06 '17). Using single payer as a rallying point isn’t going to get a crossover to the polls. It just won’t.

I understand that it makes sense; it truly does. But it wont get through to the entrenched nonsense and racism that’s acting as a block to progress throughout the country. Oh, some states will see the point but others won’t.

They need to fight to preserve what they have (if anything).

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Single-page solution to US health care costs/services:

Single Payer (or at least public option)
Subsidize superfoods (spinach, garlic, asparagus, beets, broccoli, etc)
Get the sugar industry out of our schools (kids need no more sugar)
Negotiate drug prices with Big Pharma
Rinse, repeat

That is all.

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Single payer is the way to go instead of giving wealthy people tax deductions.

As a self-employed business owner, who spent years with a $10,000 deductible on my insurance, I’m for anything rational that reduces health care costs while helping as many folks as possible. The biggest backlash against ACA is coming from Red State voters, that are probably the biggest beneficiaries of ACA. If they can’t see the value of ACA, I cannot begin to fathom how they would ever get behind single-payer. As @dickweed noted earlier, it will take lots of white red state voters dying from lack of insurance coverage before things will ever make a significant change.

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Thank you, Senator Warren. Let’s give Democrats and Independents something to get to the polls and vote for!

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a few of them might actually cotton to the idea of being able to go to the doctor when they need to do so, at lower cost.

And there’s the rub right there. So far, every Blue State that’s either had it on the ballot OR gotten it through council runs up against the hard realty of how does it get paid for. THAT’S when you see eyes glaze over and people start shuffling their feet looking for the exit door.

Dems are always eager to say that single payer polls well and it does. Until working on the specifics comes up then it fades awy.

If they can’t see the value of ACA, I cannot begin to fathom how they would ever get behind single-payer.

Very well put.

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With all due respect, Senator, I think we need to concentrate on finishing this fight first, winning back control of the government (possibly using this issue as part of a platform of doing so) before proceeding down that road.

Don’t misunderstand – I support the idea. I just don’t believe it’s a good sell at this moment in time. I don’t believe we as a whole nation a re there yet.

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I’d settle for single payer and negotiated drug prices.

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Gosh, let’s give McConnell some cover, let’s take the focus off of a terrible, shitty bill that’s actually being debated right now, that actually might pass this week.

That seems like a fantastic idea.

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It would be like rescuing a Le Car from the salvage yard and fixing it up.

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I agree, there’s probably very little chance to convert hard-core Trump voters to rationality. But there is a sizeable chunk of swing voters who sort-of-reluctantly backed Trump, and it’s possible they might respond to a robust Democratic policy that makes sense. Peel them away, and get Democrats off their asses and into the voting booths, and I think we might have a shot.

They will get behind it when they understand the benefits both in terms of jobs and cheaper health care. But we cannot be timid about making the case for it.

Trump blatantly lied about having a better healthcare program, and he got elected.

Democrats can truthfully put forward a better healthcare program and get elected as long as we are not timid about it, and call the Republican plan what it actually is: A people killer, a jobs killer, and a massive tax cut for the rich.

Compared to the Conservative Abominable Care Act (CACA), ACA is a gem.

Sometimes you have do drive a used car before convincing someone to pay for a sparkly new one.

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You are quoting perfectly logical facts in a country that lately thrives of rejecting anything remotely fact-based.

Especially at the polls, and that’s not going to change for a long, long time.

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Two thoughts–

  1. Warren did the left no favor in referring to the UK. The Tories have underfunded the health service for years and it’s running on fumes.
  2. Warren should have ‘sold the sizzle and not the steak.’ Everyone can get coverage. Reduced paperwork. Keep your own doctor. Reduced cost. etc. No need to trot out the bogey man phase
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Yes, but the Republicans are going to do all they can to sabotage it. And they can. And they will blame the Democrats.

We need to have a bold plan to counteract that. We cannot continue to be shrinking violets.

We should be encouraging Senator Warren, not criticizing her.

It’s weird to say this out loud, but I think the solution may to be address this at the state level. The most plausible route forward I can imagine for an eventual national single payer system is to first demonstrate that it works, and works well, in places like California or Massachusetts or Illinois where it has a snowball’s fart chance of actually getting passed.

Those states will end up having to pay extra and carry some load for Wyoming and Alabama and West Virginia in an eventual national system, that’s just a fact, but they do that for everything else already.

Incrementalism isn’t some kind of dirty word. When you shoot for the moon and miss, you don’t land among the stars. You die in a fiery explosion of rocket fuel.

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The big challenge will be to convince folks that single-payer is worth their paying higher taxes. It’s certainly worth it to me, but other people still see healthcare as optional, particularly if they are young and healthy. And voters are very short-sighted. Many are resentful of paying taxes. Even if they are reaping the benefits of the public services they enjoy, they take the services for granted and the taxes as a burden. Shit, I’ve seen folks in Tucson get worked up into a lather over a 0.1% increase in sales tax to fund pothole filling.

The idea of single-payer is great, The execution, given voter attitudes, well…that’s the trick, ain’t it.

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With all due respect the Sen Warren, I wish the Democrats would tie the AHCA motivation to a broader underlying problem that is touching everything while serving as the lifeblood of this incarceration of the GOP.

I’m not saying this is easy to articulate, but the Kochs are using the word, “invest” (with $100K annual minimums) in this piece from Wapo yesterday. (How bonkers is it that they’re not embarrassed to use the word, “invest?”) I think the Democrats are going to miss an opportunity to champion an issue that ranges from politically savvy (among Democratic and moderate Republican voters) to completely non-controversial (even among Trump voters) that also would enable a lot of long-term good to be achievable in 2021-24. Just because I can’t articulate campaign finance reform with exciting punch doesn’t mean that someone like Elizabeth Warren couldn’t.

I’m not criticizing Senator Warren or the concept. I am questioning the timing and feasibility of it occuring in the foreseeable future, given the polarized nature of the country. Single-payer is not the super glue that’s going to bring the country back together.

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