Will Wisconsin be a missed opportunity for the single-payer movement?

[newtothegame]

20 months ago, DU and the progressive movement as a whole was getting the word out that fully-funded, single-payer healthcare was the best and most fiscally responsible way out of the "healthcare mess." Though the Administration refused us a seat at the discussion table, I still felt progress was made and that we ought to take each opportunity presented to educate as many as possible on how such a system would work.

However, are we missing the boat with Wisconsin now? Employer-sponsored healthcare is a dying institution that is 1) becoming unaffordable and frankly bankrupting alot of employers and 2)creates inequities and inefficiencies that burdens the entire health system. Yet we're there in droves debating the, in my opinion, meaningless question of how much employers should be paying for their employees' healthcare.

I feel we're moving backwards if in Wisconsin we're trying to strengthen and further entrench a system that we were actually trying to replace just 20 short months ago. Why push an antiquated and broken system, employer-sponsored healthcare, that is part of the PROBLEM, instead of using the opportunity to push the practical SOLUTION of single-payer?

edited headline to clarify point

[Myrina]

1. uhhhh .... no.

n/t

[Le Taz Hot]

2. I think most of us understand

that a populace movement must take place before any significant changes can be made to the status quo. I think we're watching the "Cheesehead Uprising" as a possible flashpoint for a much-needed and long-awaited populist revolution. The list of Progressive issues are voluminous of which single payer is but one; however, until we have a coherent, unified movement, there will be no change.

You see in unions "an antiquated and broken system that is part of the PROBLEM." Some of us see them as a rallying point.

[lonestarnot]

9. And some of us take it even a bit further in that Unions are the only answer!

:)

[postulater]

10. I saw 60000 people there Saturday and did not see one single cheesehead.

Not sure that "Cheesehead Uprising" is such a good label for what is going on.

[Le Taz Hot]

11. You'll have to take that up with the originator

of the term. I thought it was pretty cute. If it were happening in CA I'd have no problem with people referring to it as the "Fruits and Nuts Uprising." :shrug:

[mother earth]

3. What's happening there is just the beginning, single payer is

inevitable.

[HereSince1628]

4. Probably because there ISN'T a single payer system and wont be

With this RedState government. Sure I agree that single payer would have advantages. It's just that if you are picking a fight, you've got to pick one that does more than message sending.

Walker and the legislature want to kill BadgerCare. Walker and the Fitzgeralds want to opt out of Obama's healthcare reform. At the moment single payer in Wisconsin is pie-in-the-sky. I don't know if you could find democratic assemblymen to take it on.

Let's get beyond this battle and then think about what is the next priority.

[elocs]

6. I am covered under BadgerCare Plus and I anticipate losing my insurance this year.

Within this budget bill that Walker is proposing it will turn over control of BadgerCare to the governor and he will surely kill it. The important thing is to provide big tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations and screw the poor and the needy.

I have my annual physical today and I will have to inform my doctor that I likely will not have insurance by this time next year.

[newtothegame]

7. Sorry to hear that elocs!

Here's hoping that Wisconsin is the start of truly progressive change for all of us.

I just think we're taking a step back if we're now pushing to strengthen and further entrench a system that 20 months ago we were trying to replace completely.

[HereSince1628]

8. Sometimes it must be one step back before 2 steps forward

We agree on everything--except the timing of the fight. We have to be careful about getting too far out in front of ourselves.

I expect that the state employees' unions will support the single-payer movement when it's circumstance is ripe.

[Lefta Dissenter]

5. what's more important than the benefits themselves

is the crushing of unions. I don't think this is the time for the single-payer argument - it would be a huge distraction.

There is SO much in this bill that people aren't talking about, because it's so broadly sweeping and there's simply too much to be able to argue every point.