Securing Universal Health Care is right there in the Democratic Platform

[ehrnst]

Securing Universal Health Care

Democrats believe that health care is a right, not a privilege, and our health care system should put people before profits. Thanks to the hard work of President Obama and Democrats in Congress, we took a critically important step toward the goal of universal health care by passing the Affordable Care Act, which has covered 20 million more Americans and ensured millions more will never be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. Democrats will never falter in our generations-long fight to guarantee health care as a fundamental right for every American. As part of that guarantee, Americans should be able to access public coverage through a public option, and those over 55 should be able to opt in to Medicare. Democrats will empower the states, which are the true laboratories of democracy, to use innovation waivers under the ACA to develop unique locally tailored approaches to health coverage. This will include removing barriers to states which seek to experiment with plans to ensure universal health care to every person in their state. By contrast, Donald Trump wants to repeal the ACA, leaving tens of millions of Americans without coverage.

For too many of us, health care costs are still too high, even for those with insurance. And medical debt is a problem for far too many working families, with one-quarter of Americans reporting that they or someone in their household had problems or an inability to pay medical bills in the past year. Democrats will also work to end surprise billing and other practices that lead to out-of-control medical debt that place an unconscionable economic strain on American households. We will repeal the excise tax on high-cost health insurance and find revenue to offset it because we need to contain the long-term growth of health care costs, but should not risk passing on too much of the burden to workers. Democrats will keep costs down by making premiums more affordable, reducing out-of-pocket expenses, and capping prescription drug costs. And we will fight against insurers trying to impose excessive premium increases.

Democrats will fight any attempts by Republicans in Congress to privatize, voucherize, or “phase out” Medicare as we know it. And we will oppose Republican plans to slash funding and block grant Medicaid and SNAP, which would harm millions of Americans.

We will keep fighting until the ACA’s Medicaid expansion has been adopted in every state. Nineteen states have not yet expanded Medicaid. This means that millions of low-income Americans still lack health insurance and are not getting the care they need. Additionally, health care providers, clinics, hospitals, and taxpayers are footing a higher bill when people without insurance visit expensive emergency rooms.

Democrats believe your zip code or census tract should not be a predictor of your health, which is why we will make health equity a central part of our commitment to revitalizing communities left behind. Democrats believe that all health care services should be culturally and linguistically appropriate, and that neither fear nor immigration status should be barriers that impede health care access.

https://www.democrats.org/party-platform#universal-health

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. And killing the poor is in the GOP platform. Wait, did i say the poor?

Try everybody who isnt rich.


I bet peace on earth is in there too, but that doesnt mean there wont be fighting first.

[sheshe2]

2. Yes.

It is right there in the Democratic Platform... Securing Universal Health Care.

Thank you for posting it for us, ehrnst.

Democrats believe that health care is a right, not a privilege, and our health care system should put people before profits. Thanks to the hard work of President Obama and Democrats in Congress, we took a critically important step toward the goal of universal health care by passing the Affordable Care Act, which has covered 20 million more Americans and ensured millions more will never be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. Democrats will never falter in our generations-long fight to guarantee health care as a fundamental right for every American.

[ehrnst]

6. I've been told that the platform is NOT THE REASON PEOPLE VOTE FOR DEMS

and DEMS ARE NOT SUPPORTING THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE ON UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE1111!!!!!!

[sheshe2]

7. Hmmmm...

[dogman]

3. But the Grand Old Pharisees are so pro-life.

[JustAnotherGen]

4. I thought it was in there

[Iggo]

5. Yeah, but...

[NurseJackie]

8. Thanks for posting this.

[ehrnst]

9. With all the complaints about the Democratic Platform

I find surprisingly few that actually know what's in it.

[NurseJackie]

11. I'm not at all surprised. Disappointed, yes. But not surprised.

[FairWinds]

10. the public option would have paved the way for real reform . .

but key democratic senators voted against it in committee
and it never came to a vote . .

Those sorts of non-Dems should be primaried.

Source - ExtraNewsFeed

"It is worth recalling that the House of Representatives version of the
Healthcare Act included a public, non-profit alternative to private insurance.
The plan was killed in the Senate, not by Republicans whose support it never
had, but by a handful of Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee—
Max Baucus of Montana, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas."

[leftstreet]

12. Baucus is sure singing a different tune now

WASHINGTON — In the summer of 2009, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. was asked if Max Baucus, the Democratic chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee who was taking the lead on health care reform at the time, was open to his ideas.

"To a single-payer idea? No. Not in a million years," Sanders replied to a C-SPAN interviewer.

It turns out the wait was much shorter.

"I just think the time has come," Baucus told NBC News Friday, after stunning healthcare observers earlier in the day by seemingly coming around on single-payer at a public forum. "Back in '09, we were not ready to address it. It would never have passed. Here we are nine years later, I think it's time to hopefully have a very serious good faith look at it."

Baucus' evolution reflects how quickly the once-fringe idea of government-funded health care is gaining traction inside the Democratic party.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/sanders-steps-push-single-payer-health-care-old-foe-switches-n799911

[Hortensis]

13. If only? :) "Securing Universal Health Care: Democrats believe health care is a right,"

"Thanks to the hard work of President Obama and Democrats in Congress, we took a critically important step toward the goal of universal health care by passing the Affordable Care Act"

Our goals are the same. Universal healthcare has been a Democratic Party dream for decades, certainly all my adult life, and that's a long time. We only differ in our understanding of what can be accomplished at this point in time. Remember, over half the current voters in our nation are adamantly opposed to single payer, far more than they were to the ACA.

Not for good reasons, though. They're deluded by lies, a very poor foundation for belief, and their own personal needs, our nation's economic health, the progression of history, and even the precepts of all of today's dominant religions are on our side.

[ehrnst]

17. And those are obstacles to Single Payer that have to be addressed.

They are not the only obstacles, but they are formidable ones, and if they are not addressed, we're not going to get anywhere.

People have become accustomed to the ACA. That is a big advantage that incremental expansion of the ACA has over a brand new piece of legislation with the name of a self-described socialist on it.

[OilemFirchen]

19. Harry Truman proposed the first National Health Insurance plan.

I'm not sure which members of our current Congress were in office at the time.

[Hortensis]

25. :) Their strong conservative counterparts in the 1930s-40s cast it as an evil

Prussian system (Germany and England both already had national healthcare programs) and thus extremely inimical to our values. National healthcare un-American!

Also, Hitler's ultraconservative, extreme right party had added "socialist" to its name in a cynical attempt to woo support from the far left, so that really helped the Republicans portray the movement for universal healthcare as the kind of evil that had taken over Germany.

Repubs today are still doing the evil Nazi socialist thing, of course, Hitler's gift to other right-wing leaders that just keeps giving.

[dsc]

21. I think we have only one opponent of the public option left who was serving then

and that is Nelson of FL kind of hard to primary the ones you mentioned or Joe Lieberman for that matter.

[ehrnst]

24. Actually, it was Joe Lieberman (I) who threatened to filibuster

who usually caucuses with Dems, if it was included.

http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/29/6/1117.full

[HughBeaumont]

30. Actually, it wasn't just Lieberturd that didn't support a public option.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/health/policy/30health.html

The first proposal, by Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, was rejected 15 to 8, as five Democrats joined all Republicans on the panel in voting no. The second proposal, by Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, was defeated 13 to 10, with three Democrats voting no.

[ehrnst]

33. I pointed out the Lieberman was the one who threatened to filibuster.

And the post that this person is copying and pasting all around says the problem was this:

"but key democratic senators voted against it in committee and it never came to a vote."

There was far, far more to it than a simple vote.... which I understand supports a "Establisment Democrats chickened out" narrative, which is not really the case.

A quick look at the link I posted would show that Leiberman created the "critical impasse"

Senate Democrats were engaged in a highly contentious debate throughout the fall of 2009, and the political life of the public option changed almost daily. The debate reached a critical impasse in November 2009, when Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), who usually caucuses with the Democrats, threatened to filibuster the Senate bill if it included a public option.[div]

There were those key that very much tried to save it:

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) made last-minute attempts to introduce amendments to include a public option as the bill was about to be voted on by the Senate Finance Committee. Those failed, and there was no public option in either the bill that emerged from that committee or the bill that passed the full Senate on 24 December 2009 (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, HR 3590). The option was also omitted from the president’s proposal, Principles for Health Reform, released 22 February 2010 prior to a bipartisan health care summit. Likewise, it was not present in the budget reconciliation bill passed by the House and Senate and signed into law by President Obama in March 2010.

And from your link:

Besides Mr. Baucus, two Democrats, Senators Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, voted against both public option proposals. Two other Democrats, Senators Thomas R. Carper of Delaware and Bill Nelson of Florida, voted against the first amendment, but supported the second.

I guess I don't understand what "key" Democrats is supposed to imply - that Dem leadership didn't fight for it? Harry Reid was the Majority Leader, and he voted for it.

[HughBeaumont]

34. And I CORRECTLY pointed out that it was NOT just Lieberturd that DIDN'T support a public option.

At least 8 Democrats voted WITH Republicans to shoot down both Rockefeller and Schumer's last ditch attempts to get a public option (vis a vis multi-payer) attached TO the PPACA.

The Public Option had opponents all around - not JUST Hartford Joe Lieberturd, Big Insurance's man on the inside. It never had a chance because it was shot down in committee . . . by Republicans AND Blue Dog Democrats.

If there's any narrative I'm weirded out by, it's one that sees Democratic politicians doing no wrong EVER. That's "My Party, right or wrong" and historically inaccurate.

[ehrnst]

35. You went off on a tangent, I addressed it.

I'm done.

[Demsrule86]

31. Joe Lieberman killed it actually.

[brer cat]

14. Thanks for the reminder, ehrnst.

It seems that some people around here never knew that or forgot that the Party is on record in support of UHC. There are many routes to that goal and we need to find the best way.

[Demsrule86]

32. The reality is we don't want a universal coverage plan that fails...

It must be done my trying to pass a huge stand alone bill...how about a public option and lower the age of Medicare to 55 when we get back in power.

[brer cat]

36. That is probably more realistic

than trying to do M4A in a short time frame. I suspect that we will wind up with a combination of public option and insurance.

[betsuni]

15. Thank you. People who hate Democrats keep insisting Dems don't want universal health care.

I understand if their goal is to spread lies, but if they really believe that, how stupid.

[ehrnst]

16. Indeed.(nt)

[HarmonyRockets]

18. To be fair

I can name two regular posters on this board that are not in favor of it. But yes, the large majority claim to be.

[OilemFirchen]

20. How fascinating!

I can name more than two who believe we should eliminate the DoD. And many more so who would do away with the Federal Reserve.

Aren't people a hoot?

[dsc]

22. are they opposed to universal health care or single payer

they aren't the same thing.

[ehrnst]

23. Not in favor of Universal health care coverage?

Who?

I have seen no one on DU opposed to universal health care coverage.

Can you provide a link where someone opposes it?

[Gothmog]

26. I was a delegate to the nationsl convention

I remember reading this plank before we voted to approve the platform

[NastyRiffraff]

27. But...but...

They didn't say SINGLE PAYER! The Democratic Party is SELLING US OUT! WHAAAAHHHHHHHHH!

In case it's needed:

[ehrnst]

28. Don't let any corporate shills try to tell you that

Universal Health Care can be something other than MEDICARE FOR ALL!

[SunSeeker]

37. K & R

[JCanete]

38. Most of us are aware that the Democratic party's platform was the most progressive it has ever been.

Some of us think it just magically happened. Some of us are aware that liberal pressure absolutely tacked the party to the left in order to shore up Sanders voters. There was a marked shift of Clinton's rhetoric after the convention to incorporate some of Sanders pet issues, as one example of that.