Medicare for All — No more excuses
Bernie, along with many others, says the new Democratic majority must deliver on health care. No more excuses.
That’s all well and good, but we know, we’re already hearing it, that the moderate Democrats and those across the aisle will start squealing, “How are we going to pay for that?” We need to explain today, and repeat over and over, that we’re already paying for it. The overhead we’re paying to run a multipayer hybrid public/private health insurance system sucks resources in the form of the many clerks and specialists in hospitals, doctors’ offices and in the insurance companies needed to review approvals and medical coding. The extra costs of privatized insurance also are due to the corporate imperative to maximize shareholder value, and pay the CEOs accordingly. We’re paying for it in closures of rural hospitals, paring down of available services, denied procedures, practitioners time and effort in getting third party permission to provide proper care to their patients.
Another way of looking at how we’re going to pay for it, is to understand that “The Economy” is not some monolithic thing imposed upon us, but rather something we must design and set up to meet our needs as we define them. It’s up to us to decide that it’s more important to raise funds for, let’s say, universal health insurance, than to relieve billionaires of having to pay a small percentage “wealth tax” which would have no effect whatsoever on their quality of life.