Why I think so many Bernie/Warren people (and others) want Single Payer.

[DanTex]

Single Payer is not the only route to universal healthcare. There's the argument that the transition from the current system to Single Payer is harder than to a hybrid-type system. I don't know if I'm for Single Payer, necessarily. But I get why so many people are for Single Payer specifically, and not some kind of hybrid or mandate-based universal system.

It's because, conceptually, if healthcare is a right, then free-market competition in health insurance is not what you want. With, say, cars, manufacturers can compete to make them safer, or cheaper, or more efficient, or nicer. How do health insurers compete to maximize profits? Well, they can try to exclude risky people, or charge them higher rates. We don't want that. They can sell cheap crappy plans. Don't want that. They can small-print people to deny claims. Don't want that either. What we want is for everyone to have good coverage. If healthcare is truly a right, then even if there are private insurers, they need to be regulated to the point where there really isn't much difference between the plans they offer. Sure, the wealthy can get supplemental plans that get them say a private hospital room, but we need everyone to have a solid plan, no matter who they get it from.

This is why, when you look at countries like Japan or Holland or whatever that have mandate-based universal systems, they are so heavily regulated that there isn't much of that "free market magic" left. If you compare the hybrids versus the Single Payers internationally, there's not much difference in terms of quality or efficiency, and this is because the non-SP systems are so heavily regulated. The US system is the sore thumb with huge costs and below-average outcomes.

And even if we don't get SP, starting with SP as a negotiating point is more likely to result in a decent hybrid plan. You don't want SP? OK. We'll have private insurers. But they have to cover all the stuff that SP would have covered. And pay providers at the rates SP would have paid. And premiums need to be subsidized so the cost to individuals will depend on income similar to the taxes that would pay for the SP would. And so on.

But if we're going to do all that with regulations, might as well just go for the real thing.

[redqueen]

1. Because they don't care about winning the election?

I'm being snarky but fr - that isn't going to go over with a majority of voters. It just isn't.

[Gravitycollapse]

5. I think you're wrong on this. Healthcare is the most important issue for Americans.

And they recognize that private insurers are, perhaps, the most crucial component to the failure of our healthcare system.

The popularity of medicare lends a lot of legitimacy to medicare for all.

[redqueen]

6. Most important for some Americans - but do they all want to jump straight to single-payer?

No. No, they don't.

[Gravitycollapse]

8. Upwards of 80% of Americans say healthcare is extremely/very important.

There is almost universal anger and frustration with our network of private health insurers. It is costing people their savings and their lives. Because of this, there is a titanic shift in public opinion on things like single payer or universal healthcare. Just 10 or 15 years ago, these ideas would have been dead in the water. Now, they have legitimate support. That support will only grow stronger in the future.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/244367/top-issues-voters-healthcare-economy-immigration.aspx
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/real_clear_opinion_research/new_poll_shows_health_care_is_voters_top_concern.html

[redqueen]

9. Again - does a clear majority want to jump straight to single-payer?

No. The answer is no.

[Gravitycollapse]

11. This is true perhaps because conservatives (and some on the left)...

Have waged all out war on the idea using disingenuous arguments. I agree, there is much work to be done persuading voters. But I believe it is possible to get a majority of Americans to support single payer (or even socialized medicine).

[zipplewrath]

13. Issues don't win elections

Issues are how Democrats decide on their candidate, but in the end, elections are won and lost on features of the candidates that have little to do with issues. Being right is more important than being popular when opposing an incumbent because it is the incumbents race to win or lose, the opponent just needs to present an alternative.

[scheming daemons]

2. America will reject an immediate transition. That's why M4A is diving in polls of general public.

America will not reject a public option being added to the current law... because it is an incremental "bridge" to single-payer.

[NewJeffCT]

7. Realistically

that is how it will get done - either a public option or Medicare buy-in at a younger age, or both.

The public option would include everybody, or almost everybody. And, the buy-in age can be gradually lowered over time.

If Sanders or Warren won in November and Dems won back the Senate and expanded their margin in the House, Medicare 4 All might get a majority of Democrats, but not nearly all of them, and zero Republicans.

[Rider3]

3. Hear, Hear!

You got it right. Healthcare should not be a for-profit. The population suffers, and only the wealthy will be able to get care.

[krissey]

4. I want to improve and strengthen ACA first. Republicans have done a lot of damage in the last three

years. I want to strengthen that for people today that are dying. Then I will have the discussion about single payer from there. I still am all out for Warren if she can get the momentum. She is smart. She will do that. I have confidence in that, since it is a life and death matter to some of us older people with limited income.

[Liberty Belle]

10. Our premiums jumped to $2,000 a month for hubby and me, with no subsidies or options.

We are middle class Californians where the cost of mortgages for an average home, gas, and electricity are among the highest in the nation.

We cannot possibly afford this and have no alternatives. Our income is too high to qualify for any subsidies and too low to afford such gouging.

This is for a crummy HMO through his work, and we checked into an ACA policy but the cost was no better.

On top of it all many of the providers on this plan are now moving offices far away (when we signed up they were 5 minutes from our home, next to a major hospital). The plan still has substantial deductibles and does not cover the 3 things I need to manage chronic pain from disks damaged in two car crashes: chiropractic, massage therapy, and medical marijuana cream for my aching neck and back.

So yes, I want single payer now. When I grew up, healthcare was totally 100% free my dad worked for a big company) with no deductibles or copays. I have no interest in private healthcare anymore, it's awful in every way from my experience and I've been on 3 plans in the last 5 years, as well as an Obamacare ACA plan that had slightly better care but was too expensive, too.

If single payer is done right and provides high quality healthcare at no cost, why would anybody want private care?

[krissey]

12. And I am paying 146. a month for me. I am making 23k a year. It has gone up the last three years

because of things the Republicans have done. There was a reason it was much lower when it first came out. 2016 I was getting the test paid for, as were you. Even at your high price. The guidelines were followed by insurance. Not today. We will not get a single today. Not going to happens, regardless how much you want it. Pipe dream. Waste of time demanding. So, lets get on what we do have and fix it so you can more easily afford, and you are covered.

Or not. Vote for who you want.

I would prefer to have something now, as I need it, now. To live. To not become homeless.

[Ron Green]

14. A Public Option Will Continue to Sort People Into Groups:

Older and sicker for the government pool, younger and healthier for the private insurers who’ll “cherry pick” and “lemon drop” according to their business needs.

One risk pool = a health care system. Multiple risk pools = an investment scheme. We have enough investment schemes in this country. We need a health care system.