Obama just launched single-payer in America

[kpete]

SUN NOV 24, 2013 AT 03:36 PM PST
Obama just launched single-payer in America
by Willinois


Did you notice? Did you see what happened when everyone was complaining about a website? Single-payer got started in America.

Vermont is using authority granted under the Affordable Care Act to start a single-payer system. Most Americans still don't know what the phrase "single-payer" even means. It had little support in Congress in 2009 and Senate "Democrats" like Nelson and Lieberman even killed the public option. But, ACA had this sweet little provision that allowed states to set up a single-payer system and now people will see it in action. You know what that means.

As Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) opines, "The quickest route toward a national health care program will be when individual states go forward and demonstrate that universal and non-profit health care works, and that it is the cost-effective and moral thing to do.”

Oh I know this is hard to swallow. Obama is third-way! He's dismantling the safetynet! A corporatist! He killed the public option!

Whatever else he is, Obama is a President who acts in a thoughtful, deliberate way that the chicken little headlines of the day often miss. As many predicted, ACA is already leading to the kind of transformative progressive change Obama promised. The progressive movement will be responsible for showing the nation how well single-payer works after the Vermont system goes into effect. When public and non-profit insurance becomes the national norm, we'll know where it began.

HERE:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/24/1258135/-Obama-just-launched-single-payer-in-America

The slogan of the program: Everybody in, nobody out.

The program will be fully operational by 2017, and will be funded through Medicare, Medicaid, federal money for the ACA given to Vermont, and a slight increase in taxes. In exchange, there will be no more premiums, deductibles, copay’s, hospital bills or anything else aimed at making insurance companies a profit. Further, all hospitals and healthcare providers will now be nonprofit.

This system will provide an instant boost the state economy. This system will provide an instant boost the state economy. On the one side, you have workers that no longer have to worry about paying medical costs or a monthly premium and are able to use that money for other things. On the other side, you have the burden of paying insurance taken off of the employers side, who will be able to use the saved money to provide a better wage and/or reinvest in their company through updated infrastructure and added jobs. It is a win-win solution.

http://www.occupydemocrats.com/vermont-makes-promise-people-video/

[spanone]

1. k&r....

[MrsKirkley]

2. Go Vermont!

If apartments weren't so expensive in Vermont, we would move there.

[tazkcmo]

4. And if summer

was longer than 2 weeks, I would too! Just joshin' about the two weeks but it gets awful cold and snowy for too long for me.

[cui bono]

3. meh... headline is completely wrong.

Obama didn't even mention single-payer.

[Maedhros]

13. S/B "Vermont just launched Single Payer"

Obama avoided even discussing Single Payer or Public Option when he began the ACA negotiations.

[ConservativeDemocrat]

15. That is entirely correct

And for very good reason.

And yet. Here we are.

- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community

[Maedhros]

33. I somehow doubt that Obama's master plan was for states to implement Single Payer

and therefore taking the Public Option off the table before negotiations began was eleventh dimensional chess on his part. The insight on this issue belongs to Bernie Sanders.

[sendero]

66. Exactly..

... the writer of the OP article needs to take a chill pill. It will be a cold day in hell before TX, CA, AZ, FL, NC, SC, or any number of other states follow Vermont's lead, hell many would not even take the virtually free Medicaid expansion.

If this is supposed to be the path to single payer well it will be a damn long walk.

[magical thyme]

92. It's essentially the same path Canada used to get there.

Change is hard and change is scary. I was as angry as anybody else that he took single-payer off the table before negotiations began. But too many people are afraid of "losing out" with single payer for it to get through congress and past the insurance industry.

Once Obama set the stage for states to do it without ever mentioning it, and then let Vermont institute their own single-payer system.

Now the dominos can begin to fall...

Suddenly the long-game becomes clear. Maybe, just maybe, he had already pre-negotiated with certain senators who clearly favored single payer. Maybe that's why those senators suddenly backed down and supported ACA....hmmmm...

[tavalon]

105. It's been a damn long walk for Marriage Equality

That walk isn't even close to over yet. And yet, the close is already known. I think this is the same thing.

[louis-t]

106. Just call it Reagancare in those states.

The rubes will knock each other over trying to sign up for it.

[sendero]

140. LOL...

... well that might work..

... but excuse me if I find comparisons between Bernie Sanders and Rick Perry lacking.

It doesn't MATTER how well whatever Vermont does might WORK, these people don't care about what works they only care about ideology and money. Especially money.

And all the comparisons here to gay marriage miss the mark completely, the people that run the country don't give two shits about any social issue, only about money.

[Maraya1969]

138. Vermont was the first with gay marriage too and look how quickly they are lining up lately and will

so in the short future. Things like this have a way of falling in on themselves.

[dotymed]

68. Yes, Bernie Sanders

started Single Payer in America.

Give credit where it is due.

[BlueCaliDem]

77. What hyperbole.

As great of a Liberal Socialist as Senator Sanders is, he's just ONE VOTE in a body of one hundred.

He's not the president of the United States. He has no power to veto or sign bills into law, and if the majority of his colleagues in the Senate refuse to even touch something he wants, he'll get nothing done.

Senator Sanders, at best, should get credit for negotiating the Waiver of Innovation for States (if he negotiated that part of the PPACA) which gives the right AND - most importantly - Federal funding for each and every state to "be creative" at implementing a system that's better than the PPACA - single payer - starting 2017.

I know, based your avatar, that you're a Bernie Sanders fan, but let's give the right amount of credit where it's due without exaggeration.

[Dawgs]

89. The state of Vermont deserves credit. No one else. n/t

[BlueCaliDem]

112. Well, you're entitled to your opinion, I guess. eom

[dotymed]

125. Lets do that.

You sure didn't.

[BlueCaliDem]

136. Yeah, let's.

I did. You didn't. And you know it.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

102. Gotta love Bernie.

[Dustin DeWinde]

139. bernie sanders didnt give us the aca obama did

any credit goes to Obama.

[mikekohr]

85. Bingo, President Obama may not always be the smartest guy in a given room

but he usually is.
I've been saying that the PPACA set up a back door way for single payer to happen in just this manner. Eventually, after all the bile has been spewed, all the lies exposed, all the hate exhausted, and reality is embraced, that state by state we would move to wards "Single Payer, Medicare for all."

[Doctor_J]

88. Yep, here we are with mandatory private insurance sucking 20% out of the health care pool

Yippee. And the reason he didn't mention it was that he's a coward and rakes in money from Big Insurance.

[MNBrewer]

25. +1

[Le Taz Hot]

71. But that doesn't fit into the narrative.

I'm sure the Vermont State Legislature, the Governor and the thousands of people who worked on Single Payer are not appreciating getting absolutely no credit for its implementation.

[ConservativeDemocrat]

113. Extremists always seem determined to misrepresent

Only in your own little mind is it that Vermont gets no credit for taking this step. No one else said that.
However, the President is the one who made it even possible to take this step. Something the screamers never acknowledge.

Speaking for myself, I love State experimentation. But this may or may not work. It depends on how well they implement it.
Kentucky-care is doing fine as well.

- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community

[Wounded Bear]

5. I've thought since the ACA was passed...

that the states would start the Single Payer movement under it.

[cali]

64. uh, vermont started going down the single payer path LONG before the ACA

Vermont's state legislature had already voted on single payer.

The legislature started the process of designing a system in 2009, setting up a commission to figure out the steps that would be needed.

In 2010, that commission hired a health care economist to design 3 complete systems, using different models, including the financing:

http://vtdigger.org/...

Here's a fairly in depth story from 2011:

http://www.motherjones.com/...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/24/1258135/-Obama-just-launched-single-payer-in-America#

[Veilex]

94. Great point.

[Wounded Bear]

108. I won't argue your point...

Although I will say that 2009 is not exactly long before ACA.

IAE, ACA passed the impetus towards single payer to the states and provided a boost by amping up Medicaid with federal backing. Sane states have benefitted from ACA already. Progressive states (like VT) have gone, and are going, a step farther. I suspect that the move may have had a harder time if ACA had not passed.

I can envision a Canadian model, where the several states all have universal coverage, but use different methods to get there. I believe Hawaii has had UHC for a while.

I suspect it won't be long until corporate America notices people and businesses moving to UHC states at the expense of the more recalcitrant ones and relents a bit. At least I hope. I would not shed a single tear if the health care industry is dismantled in favor of a true health care system.

Kudos to VT for being on the forefront of this.

[truedelphi]

6. this had a lot more to do with Vermont, one of the few democratic

governments left in the USA.

Several years back, we tried to do this in California, and were two votes shy of Single Payer passing. Two new Dems on the state legislature got bought out. (Or somehow decided to vote with all the Republicans because...?? No one seems to know why or how it happened.)

[Warren Stupidity]

7. The people of Vermont did this. The ACA had very little to do with it.

Yes it allows the states to set up their own systems, but the states could already implement various forms of universal health care. Hawaii did so in 1974. Massachusetts did its thing well n advance of the ACA, although it is not single payer.

[ConservativeDemocrat]

17. They would have never had the money to implement this, Mr. Stupidity

- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community

[Warren Stupidity]

19. Actually implementation is being delayed by the ACA.

Without a waiver, Vermont would be required to implement private insurance exchanges instead.

[ConservativeDemocrat]

111. There would be no money without the ACA, Mr. Stupidity.

The "waiver" is to get the money the ACA provides without having to implement an exchange.

- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community

[mwrguy]

28. Never could have done it without Obama

Don't deny it.

[cui bono]

41. Check this out...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024088636

[Cali_Democrat]

32. Nice try

It was because of the ACA.

That pains you, doesn't it?

[cui bono]

42. Try this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024088636

[BlueCaliDem]

54. How about you try this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4088659

I hardly consider Manny to be a credible source about anything Obama around here.

[joshcryer]

80. They already have a low uninsured rate, the ACA's Medicaid expansion helps.

It helps dramatically.

The mandate is just going to force other states to follow Vermont and Oregon's lead on this.

[MNBrewer]

27. Nice capital "h" in his

very obamabot!

[Maedhros]

35. If He wanted Single Payer, then He could at least have pretended to fight for it

from the beginning.

[cui bono]

43. Are you sure about that?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024088636

[Grey]

9. K&R

[polichick]

10. Vermont was 100 years ahead of the country when it came to outlawing slavery...

No surprise that they'd run with this ball. I hope the other states follow asap!

[NoOneMan]

12. Obama just retroactively ended the Cold War

Mr Reagan, tell Gorbachev to bring down this wall!

[TheDebbieDee]

16. Lol !

[Capt. Obvious]

132. This made me LOL

[Phlem]

14. I did not know of that provision,

I stand corrected!

Way to go Obama!

now let's try not to fast track the TPP.

-p

[riverbendviewgal]

18. it started like this in Canada

Tommy Douglas was premier of Saskatchewan in the 60s when his province started one payer. It spread through canada shortly after.

A few years ago Tommy Douglas was voted by Canadians as the most important Canadian.
We canadians love our health care.

[roamer65]

22. Yup. Then PM Lester B Pearson took it much further.

His Liberal-NDP coalition government authored up legislation, where the federal government offered 50 percent funding to any other province who followed Saskatchewan's system. That was all it took for it to go national. All the other provinces followed suit.

[klook]

24. Excellent model for what many of us would like to see happen in the U.S.

Thanks for the reminder.

When a spark becomes a small flame, that flame can grow into an unstoppable wildfire. When more states go to single-payer, it's not hard to see their economies outstripping those of the Romneycare states.

[Whisp]

34. Tommy Douglas, a true hero

as President Obama will be one day for the very same thing.

This is great news.
Go Vermont, go! Show them all how it's done.

Show them all that it was meant to be done this way despite all the moaning and mewling and crying about how Obama sold everyone out and is on the insurance companies side and payroll - when all along he was working for single payer in perhaps the only way it could happen. This way.

Best President Ever.

Do not doubt this man's good intentions.
His mother lay on her deathbed fighting with insurance companies. He saw that. He felt that.
How anyone can possibly accuse him of those terrible things - of not being on his mothers side but on the side of the insurance predators.

Shame on you who thought that and still think that.

[ANOIS]

39. Donald Sutherland's grandfather.

I believe that is the connection.

DS--the actor.

[Whisp]

40. Shirley Douglas is Donald Sutherlands wife.

Shirley was Tommy Douglas' daughter.

[MADem]

62. Ex-wife. Kiefer's mother.

She played the MATRIARCH in the popular series Wind At My Back....great role, that!!!

His current wife is named Francine Racette.

http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/donald-sutherland/bio/147781

[SidDithers]

67. In the 40's...

Douglas introduced the earliest version of single-payer hospital insurance in Saskatchewan in 1946.

Sid

[LionsTigersRedWings]

83. Oh wow I didn't know that!

How long before it spread to the other provinces?

[riverbendviewgal]

127. Here is the history of our health care

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_Canada

[Doctor_J]

100. Canadian HC did not start with mandatory insurance

Please stop spreading the propaganda.

[The Midway Rebel]

20. Ha! Ha!

Doing my best Ralph from the Simpsons here!

[Beartracks]

21. ACA provided the tools and the workspace, and Vermont is building. k&r n/t

[MannyGoldstein]

23. Actually, ACA *forbids* single payer

Bernie Sanders inserted a provision that permits waivers. But there's no guarantee.

AFAIK, single payer could have been done before ACA.

[msanthrope]

44. Um, no. If there's a waiver, then Obamacare permits single payer. That's how laws work. Here's a

primer:

[Dawgs]

90. And it got put in the bill because of Bernie Sanders.

Your video just proves that it was Congress, and not the President, that wrote the bill.

[msanthrope]

93. No... article 1 section 8 of the Constitution mandates that the Congress writes the laws.

Anything the president writes must be submitted by a member of Congress. In other words the entire fucking bill is inserted by Congresspeople.


President Obama was right..... Once it starts working a lot of bitter people aren't going to want to call it Obamacare.

[Dawgs]

95. Your response is pathetic. You need to take a step back. n/t

[msanthrope]

97. Yep...I've generally found that direct citation to the Constitution tends to shut down nonsense.

I recommend you watching the video all the way through.

[joshcryer]

81. Now I see where your other ill informed OP comes from...

[zeemike]

26. Do you think that was his plan all along?

Well I want to believe I really do...But the reality is that this is one small state and we have 49 more to go and IMO the insurance industry is too strong to let it go any further...they will bring the money to bear and they can defeat it.
And the media will be very helpful, telling us what a big failure Vermont is because of that socialist health care...it will be all over the news.

Like I said I want to believe but right now I am much to cynical for that leap of faith necessary to believe.

[mwrguy]

29. Of course, chess not checkers

It's a long game

[cui bono]

45. IT'S NOT FUCKING CHESS

for motherfucking sakes.

Where was there any plan of Obama's that said anything about single-payer. Citations please.

[uponit7771]

59. please stay calm

[img][/img]

[cui bono]

60. LOL

Thanks for the laugh!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

75. Fucking has nothing to do with it. nt.

[tridim]

76. Cui bono has spoken, it's not chess!!!!11 Zero doubt.

Iran, DADT and the Bin Laden operation were just candy land, not chess for motherfucking sakes. Eh Cui Bono?

It is clear that people who don't play chess IRL seldom recognize or even understand political chess.

[BlueCaliDem]

58. His ACA is moving in the same way Canada's single-payer had moved...

...province by province, and for us, state by state.

California is working on a single-payer system as well, but it's expensive. Democrats want to implement the ACA first (to get those dollars to fund single-payer) before they'll begin working on getting the Waiver for State Innovation and begin implementing single-payer. This is California's plan of action.

By the time California votes to move to a single payer system – the earliest date possible is 2017 when the Affordable Care Act allows states to set up their own systems – Congress will have gone through two more election cycles.

Voters will be less white, and probably less conservative, and the changing composition of the House of Representatives may allow for passage of single-payer waiver legislation for states, perhaps even with “state’s rights” support from a few Republicans.

California, Vermont and possibly other states moving to single-payer will put increasing pressure on Congress to grant other state waivers. Once subject to such pressure, Congress could theoretically pass a federal bill to give (improved) Medicare to all, but it is politically far more likely that they will simply let the states set up their own systems, which can then become models for a larger federal program. California, once again, could be the engine driving national change.
http://californiaonecare.org/why-california-can-lead-the-way-to-single-payer-in-the-u-s/

Single-payer will come to the United States - state-by-state.

[joshcryer]

82. Erm, yes, that is the plan all along.

Mandated private insurance with a public option leading to single payer.

We didn't get the public option so we might actually get single payer quicker.

[cantbeserious]

30. To Be Clear - Vermont Has Embraced Single Payer - No Evidence That Obama Has Embraced The Same

eom

[JimDandy]

48. +1

[Warren DeMontague]

57. I think Obama has embraced it philosophically. He stated at least once that it probably made the

most sense, particularly if we were building the system from scratch or had no political realities to deal with.

But we don't live in a dictatorship. He passed about the most progressive legislation he was going to be able to.

[NYC_SKP]

31. If I had just one rec to give this year, it might have to go here. nt

[Major Hogwash]

37. But, what about Ben Gozzi? What will happen to him now? Is he just thrown out in to the street?

Darrell Issa is conducting an American, patriotic tour of 4 red states dammit!!!
He's collecting information that he will use later to prove that Ben Gozzi never got a fair hearing.
Is this fair?
Is this equitable?

Issa, a man who went out of his way to be an example to others, a man who acts and thinks like he is the leader of the free world, a man who has worked tirelessly for the healthcare insurance industry . . . never got a dinner.

[navarth]

117. chuckle. nt

[Whisp]

36. super mega rec. n/t

[jaysunb]

38. A former Gov of Vermont named Howard Dean .......n/t

[libdem4life]

46. Just maybe it will be easier to dismantle the mega-insurance companies one state at a time.

Hopefully Vermont is just the beginning of a very, slippery slope ... which "they" fear. Obama gets the win for doing the best possible in a very difficult national political climate. Vermont can show other states how it's done. (hopefully) And if it does actually prove to boost the state economy, wow. Every state is different, but it always helps to have the first one done and copy and alter the plan as needed.

Also it makes it easier to organize and put on pressure at the state/local level because it's no longer quite as risky and a complete unknown.

For the insurance companies, it's easier to stop a national health plan, at this point, one state at a time, maybe not so much. I'm encouraged.

[UtahLib]

51. I hope this is just the beginning of a true healthcare revolution. n/t

[WowSeriously]

52. Vermont has been working towards this for some time.

The ACA prevents them from launching until 2017, so we shall see.

I don't know of any that law prohibited them from launching now, except the ACA.

So maybe the title could just as easily have said "Obama delays single payer in Vermont".

I only put this response out there because the President never championed single payer and dropped the public option like a hot potato. And no chess was involved.

I am thankful for the elimination of preexisting conditions as well as the cap and the junk insurance plans. But the ACA was NEVER about single payer or a public option.

[RBInMaine]

63. Wrong. Obama intended a public option. It COULD NOT PASS, unfortunately. He did the best he could.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

122. That's because he strong-armed the Progressive Caucus instead of the accursed Blue Dogs

If he had really wanted a public option, he could have gotten it, since there are more Progressives than Blue Dogs.

[WowSeriously]

133. Yeah. Seems the only thing that could pass was the minority's proposal.

Public Option could have passed with a simple majority, as it was a revenue affecting bill, had the Democrats chosen to do so. This was precisely what the Republicans did with Junior's tax breaks and Medicare Part D(estroy)

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

55. Add me to the list. Fuck the ODSers!!

[Warren DeMontague]

56. Them dudes from Phish have to get some of the credit, too.

Not sure why, but they do.

[grahamhgreen]

61. Cough - BS - cough... But I'll give it to him if it gets us Medicare for All;)

[treestar]

65. Prepare for any problems with it

to be dwelt on by the media.

[1StrongBlackMan]

69. I do believe ...

that the way ObamaCare was built allowed for single-payer to get a trial run (in terms of public support and actual what it could look like on a national scale) ... for any jursidiction brave enough to install one (you know, that "50 incubator of ideas" thing); while fundamentally changing the game for all other jurisdictions that weren't/aren't.

Face it, folks ... social (policy) change comes grindingly slowly; not matter how many magic wands we pretend to have ... first there is the idea; then it's tried in a limited fashion; then all the other jurisdictions point to where the idea is working to adopt it for themselve, once a critical mass of the electorate sees that, and how, it works.

Pick a social (policy) change in Americam and tell me how it didn't happen that way.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

72. [phone]. You are so right

It's agonizing, but it's the truth.

And our scumbag media monopoly will do everything in its power to disinform and stir up angst and scapegoat and set hair on fire.

[riqster]

121. Indeed. The Prexy called it a "Gradual Revolution". nt

[IronLionZion]

70. The real question is whether the so-called single payer supporters here

are willing to do anything to promote single payer at the state level, or just continue to start 101 threads every minute about how national single payer is better than the ACA so we should stop voting for Democrats.

Good for Vermont for leading the way forward yet again. It was a grass roots movement and Democrats in Vermont got it passed and signed into law.

[NorthCarolina]

73. Wow, that's a stretch. Is Obama actually claiming full credit for VT passing single payer? nt

[JoePhilly]

74. Clearly, "credit" is a finite resource which should be rationed.

Scorn however, is renewable and infinite, and as such, it should be applied very "liberally".

At least that's what I've learned in this thread.

[BlueCaliDem]

78. Absolutely, kpete. Without the PPACA there will be NO single-payer.

President Obama and Congressional Democrats were very, very clever about drafting the PPACA that will not only allow states to open their own single-payer system, but more importantly, will provide federal funding to make it happen.

California is set to begin implementation of single-payer starting 2017 when the funding is released to make this expensive start-up possible - something that would have never happened without President Obama's PPACA.

Yet here, this president doesn't get credit for this ingenuous law from some of his most ardent opponents who still call themselves Democrats. Uneffingbelievable.

[Dawgs]

91. Right, because the President owns the ACA all by himself.

Forget about the Congress that actually wrote it, and people like Bernie demanding that states could create their own system.

Obama gets all of the credit.

[BlueCaliDem]

114. Well, if he catches all the FLACK when you don't like the PPACA

then he should get all the CREDIT when it proves to be better than you first surmised, don't you think?

That said, Democrats weren't in any hurry to work on health care reform. Bernie Sanders was powerless to push a bill forward even with slim Dem majorities.

It wasn't until President Obama actually pushed and shoved Congressional Dems to actually do something about our failing health care system and how it failed our citizens that Dems finally, finally, got to working on it. Have you already forgotten?

[Doctor_J]

99. Did Canada have mandatory insurance before SP?

No, they didn't. Your subject line is preposterous.

[BlueCaliDem]

115. And that has WHAT exactly to do with the price of eggs?

You're sounding desperate in your defense of keeping the hate for Obama while trying to portray Bernie Sanders as all powerful.

Get real.

[Doctor_J]

142. you posted that sp would be impossible without the aca.

I pointed out that the Canadian sp healthcare came into being without mandatory for profit health care. How can you possibly not connect the two? Has your crush on the president completely killed your ability to think?

[JimboBillyBubbaBob]

79. I continue to stand for a...

...single payer system.

[joshcryer]

84. I'm just glad we got the damn mandate.

So happy. It's going to force the hand of all the blue states quick and the red states are just going to lose their minds.

[fadedrose]

86. Thank you for posting this

your posts are always interesting

[Myrina]

87. I'll just thank Howard Dean

Cuz, ya' know ... I can.

[L0oniX]

96. If it wasn't so damn cold up there ...I'd move just to be in a progressive state.

[Lasher]

98. The phrase, "universal health care" was hijacked during recent years.

Last edited Mon Nov 25, 2013, 12:57 PM - Edit history (2)

"Universal health care" was once commonly used to describe what most Americans really want in a health care system. The Vermont model is an example of that. It's now being used to describe the ACA. Now we have to use "single payer" or "single payer universal health care" to describe what's going to be provided in Vermont. This new label doesn't sound as good to the casual observer, does it?

I don't know if this is why Americans still don't know what "single payer" means, but the semantic shell game certainly hasn't promoted comprehension.

[nonoxy9]

101. So, are they "chicken littles" or "progressives" leading the way?

A little confused by the OP's complaints here.

[LWolf]

103. Good Lord.

I'm excited about what is happening in Vermont, and watching to see how it plays out.

To attribute what's going on with Vermont's health care system to Obama is more than a stretch; more than a leap; it's a launch of desperation.

[tavalon]

104. I was just talking to a fellow DUer I met last night about this

I was so mad at him for ACA in the beginning but I'm wiping egg out of my eyes. He pulled the marriage equality card. Start the ball rolling and get one of the states to add onto it and who else but Bernie's Vermont. I love his quote. "The quickest route toward a national health care program will be when individual states go forward and demonstrate that universal and non-profit health care works, and that it is the cost-effective and moral thing to do.”

President Obama is third way, he is a corporatist. He's just like the Clintons and even like Gore before he understood what the score was. And yet, his legacy may well be that he started Single Payer. And if so, I do not begrudge him that at all. I do hope he shares the accolades with his deserving socialist colleague.

I couldn't see past the problems in the beginning. Now, I can see right past them onto the other shore and that other shore is single payer, Medicare for All. What I wanted.

This is my official apology for being a shit about ACA. Forget 12 dimensional chess. It's a Jenga move.

[KittyWampus]

107. that's such a sweet post. Posts like yours are why I still come to DU...

like minded people can bicker. Bickering is normal amongst families.

I just have to ignore those who only want to be divisive and antagonistic.

[zipplewrath]

109. Rose colored glasses

Look, I'm not saying it won't happen, but if it does, it won't be states like Vermont that create the trend, it will be states like California. The good part of the Vermont experiment is that they are favorably disposed towards it, so it may actually get a chance to "work out the kinks". But the primary success of single payer will be in the funding/cost control side and Vermont isn't exactly typical of a state structure. And if Vermont DOESN'T get it right, it could be a real problem. This is a state that doesn't have a hospital system of the magnitude of Pennsylvania. If they have to end up shipping alot of patients out of state for various forms of very expensive care, it could get expensive.

The activity that needs to happen going forward is that progressives need to keep their eye on the ball and push towards single payer at all avenues. It needs to be repeated that the current system is unsustainable and that ACA is a transition plan, not an end in and of itself.

[ProSense]

110. FYI:

Single Payer movement in the era of Obamacare
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024090281

[valerief]

116. I remember reading about Vermont and single payer a while back. nt

[Xithras]

118. The ACA destroyed the momentum for single payer in California.

Prior to the ACA, implementing single payer in California was twice approved by both houses of our state legislature before being rejected by Der Gropenfurher. After the passage of the ACA, State Senator Mark Leno, the author and firebrand behind the act (who, incidentally, was also the author of AB849...the first attempt to legalize gay marriage in any American state) was openly told NOT to attempt reintroduction again, because the state leadership was more focused on implementing Covered California (our state ACA exchange). Our own state party leadership, in spite of TWICE getting single payer approved in both of our state houses, decided that it didn't want a third push for single payer to "undermine" the states Obamacare rollout.

It's unfortunate that our states Democratic leaders don't have the same foresight as Vermont's.

[nomorenomore08]

128. But look at it this way: now that Obamacare's a done deal (more or less) there's no reason

why the push for single payer in CA can't start up all over again.

[Fumesucker]

141. They were fine with voting for single payer when they knew it would be vetoed

On the other hand when there is a chance of it passing the bill won't even come up.

[SunSeeker]

119. K & R

[calimary]

120. OH YEAH!!!!

BIG THUMBS UP!!!

[adieu]

123. And if such a tiny state like Vermont can make it happen

imagine the bigger states like NY and CA doing it. The sooner they get that happening, the quicker they will staunch any flow of jobs to the states that don't offer such programs, because it'll be cheaper for employers and "free" for employees. TX's and Rick Perry's plans to steal employment from CA or other states will dry up immediately.

[Blue Idaho]

124. Excellent! So who's next?

Let's keep this rolling along - please?

[JimboBillyBubbaBob]

126. I simply...

...LOVE IT! A piece at a time.

[bvar22]

129. There is just so much WRONG with this OP, I don't know where to start.

But I hope and pray that Vermont will be successful with their efforts in implementing a successful Public Plan.
There are many land mines and hurtles still to go.
The Public Plan has to be self-funding with a very small risk pool,
and there are many sharks swimming in that pool.

It will be like Mom & Pop opening a small store directly competing with WalMart in the same neighborhood.
The Big Boys have $Billions and a great financial incentive to make sure that the Vermont Public Plan fails in its first year by being forced to raise Premiums to a point of not being competitive with the cheap rates offered by the "private" players on the Vermont Exchange who have the deep pockets to sustain losses until the Public Plan is snuffed out.

Are there any estimates yet of how many Vermonters will be eligible to enroll in the Public Plan, and any Rate comparisons?


Good luck to Vermont and Vermonters!
I hope your Public Plan can survive the gauntlet.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

131. "Are there any estimates yet" ... Yes:

"Everybody in, nobody out" and no premiums or deductibles.

[bvar22]

134. That is indeed Single Payer Publicly Owned Health Insurance.

Will private insurance still exist?

Between 2014 and 2017 private insurance will be phased out. Under Green Mountain Care (Act 48), as of January 1, 2017 private insurance will cease to be legally available to Vermonters.

http://www.vthealthcarefreedom.org/faq

The State of Vermont has made Private Health Insurance illegal,
and I congratulate them.
I hope this paves the way for the rest of us.

[Iliyah]

130. K & R

California to follow. Thanks Pres O!

[Enrique]

135. then Max Baucus deserves credit too

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021666636

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2011/june/how-libby-montana-got-medicare-for-all

Yet when Senator Baucus needed a solution to a catastrophic health disaster in Libby, Montana, and surrounding Lincoln County, he turned to the nation’s single-payer health care system, Medicare, to solve the problem.

Baucus’ problem was caused by a vermiculite mine that had spread deadly airborne asbestos, killing hundreds and sickening thousands in Libby and northwest Montana. The W.R. Grace Company that owned the mine denied its connection to the massive levels of mesothelioma and asbestosis and dodged responsibility for this environmental and health disaster. When all lawsuits and legal avenues failed, Baucus turned to our country’s single-payer plan, Medicare.

The single-payer plan that Baucus kept off the table is now very much on the table in Libby. Unknown to most of the public, Baucus inserted a section into the health reform bill that covers the suffering people of Libby, not just the former miners but the whole community – all covered by Medicare.

They don’t have to be 65 years old or more. They don’t have to wait until 2014 for the state exchanges. No 10-year rollout – it’s immediate. They don’t have to purchase a plan – this is not a buy-in to Medicare – it’s free. They don’t have to be disabled for two years before they apply. They don’t have to go without care for three years until Medicaid expands. They don’t have to meet income tests. They don’t have to apply for a subsidy. They don’t have to pay a fine for failure to buy insurance. They don’t have to hope that the market will make a plan affordable. They don’t have to hide their pre-existing conditions. They don’t have to find a job that provides coverage. Baucus inserted a clause in the Affordable Care Act to make special arrangements for them in Medicare, and he didn’t wait for any Congressional Budget Office scoring to do it.

[mstinamotorcity2]

137. Didn't know

thanks kpete.