The best healthcare in the World is useless...

[sheshe2]

The best healthcare in the World is useless if we have to wait years to implement it. No one has explained how this works. Does all healthcare get taken away, employer base, Medicare, ACA until the plan is hashed out?

No candidate, and Warren is my choice, has told us how long it will take to implement M4A. Nor have I seen the cost.

Why can't we build on a foundation we already have in place? That would be ACA. Build on the foundation that the GOP has done their best to destroy. We would be so much further along toward single payer without their best to destroy all the good work of the Obama administration.

‘Obamacare’ successes undermine Republicans’ repeal crusade



Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) argued last week that the Affordable Care Act was “designed to fail,” as part of an elaborate Democratic ruse., As Graham sees it, those Democrats knew all along that “Obamacare” would collapse, at which point those rascally Dems would open the door to a single-payer system.

This is obviously ridiculous for all sorts of reasons, but let’s focus for now on the most pressing truth: the Affordable Care Act is actually doing pretty well. Vox’s Ezra Klein explained this morning that the ACA, despite facing real challenges, is both popular and effective, “and that makes it damn hard to replace.”


Fact is, ACA was always meant to be single payer. It was the stepping stone. Stones are hard, pretty stable and have been around for centuries. Lets use them, step on them to move us foreward.

[In the Republicans’ telling, the ACA] is always “imploding,” “failing,” “dying,” “disastrous.” How can a law in such crisis command such healthy public support? The answer is that the law is, for the most part, not in crisis. There are areas of the country where the exchanges have struggled to attract insurers, and there are markets in which premiums have increased rapidly. These problems are real and, if the party in power were interested in improving the law, solvable.

But even without improvements, the reality is that for most people, in most places, the Affordable Care Act is working.

This isn’t just true in the broad sense – the ACA has, for example, pushed the uninsured rate to record lows – it’s also true when we consider the latest details.

Read More: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/obamacare-successes-undermine-republicans-repeal-crusade



10 ways the GOP sabotaged Obamacare

Trump and Congressional Republicans have spent years working to undermine the ACA

The Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress have long said that the ACA is collapsing under its own weight. But the individual insurance markets in most states had begun to stabilize by 2017, and 2018 was a profitable year in the individual market.

After steep rate increases in 2017 and 2018 (the latter driven largely by the Trump administration’s decision to stop funding cost-sharing reductions), rate increases for 2019 averaged less than 3 percent nationwide, and proposed rate increases for 2020 are trending even smaller. And while there were numerous insurer exits from the exchanges at the end of 2016 and at the end of 2017, that was not the case at the end of 2018; there was an overall trend towards insurers joining the exchanges for 2019, and that’s happening in some places for 2020 as well.

Source: https://www.healthinsurance.org/blog/2017/05/17/10-ways-the-gop-sabotaged-obamacare/

……...…………………………………...

Tear it all down and start from scratch? No thanks. Build on the foundation that is already in place. It has proven to be strong no matter how much dynamite the GOP put under it. This is Biden's plan. I stand with that. Warren is my choice, yet this is where I disagree with her M4A stance.

Let's build and not Tear Down.

[brer cat]

1. I agree.

I don't know why some people act like we must have M4A or nothing useful. There are many avenues to universal coverage and ACA is a huge stepping stone. Build on it!

[sheshe2]

3. ACA was always meant to be the bridge to single payer.

We never had the votes and barely got ACA through.

I was on ACA for a short time while unemployed. Cobra would have been 700 a month. ACA was $70. I also got two refund checks when the Insurance company did not comply with the law.

Billions in ACA rebates show 80/20 Rule’s impact

Medical loss ratio forced carriers to devote more premium dollars to care, and record-high rebates are being issued in 2019 following premium spikes in 2018

Source: https://www.healthinsurance.org/obamacare/billions-in-aca-rebates-show-80-20-rules-impact/
Follow us: @EyeOnInsurance on Twitter | healthinsurance.org on Facebook


M4A or we get nothing is useful. I don't think so. Build on solid ground. There is so much there already despite what the GOP has tried to destroy.


President Trump and House Republicans celebrate House passage of a bill to repeal major parts of the ACA in 2017. (Many of these legislators exited Congress in the 2018 mid-terms, an election that was largely about healthcare.) | REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Source: https://www.healthinsurance.org/blog/2019/03/26/not-even-the-slightest-pretense/
Follow us: @EyeOnInsurance on Twitter | healthinsurance.org on Facebook

Not even the slightest pretense:
Yesterday's action by the U.S. Department of Justice shows that President Trump and the GOP are still coming for your healthcare.

Source: https://www.healthinsurance.org/blog/2019/03/26/not-even-the-slightest-pretense/

he Trump Administration Now Thinks the Entire ACA Should Fall

In a stunning, two-sentence letter submitted to the Fifth Circuit today, the Justice Department announced that it now thinks the entire Affordable Care Act should be enjoined. That’s an even more extreme position than the one it advanced at the district court in Texas v. Azar, when it argued that the court should “only” zero out the protections for people with preexisting conditions. 

… Even apart from that, the sheer reckless irresponsibility is hard to overstate. The notion that you could gut the entire ACA and not wreak havoc on the lives of millions of people is insane. The Act is now part of the plumbing of the health-care system. Which means the Trump administration has now committed itself to a legal position that would inflict untold damage on the American public.

And for what? Every reputable commentator — on both the left and the right — thinks that Judge O’Connor’s decision invalidating the entire ACA is a joke. To my knowledge, not one has defended it. This is not a “reasonable minds can differ” sort of case. It is insanity in print.




Thanks, brer.

[ritapria]

2. Bernie has outlined a 4 year timetable for Medicare 4 ALL

The Canadians have universal healthcare and spend, on a per capita basis, 50% of what we spend on healthcare …..It is not radical to follow the course every other developed country has chosen to travel down long ago …….Medicare for All saves lives and , less importantly, gobs of money …..The ultimate No-Brainer …. .

[JI7]

4. then why isn't he doing anything to pass it in the Senate ?

[sheshe2]

6. Excellent question, JI7.

[BlueMississippi]

8. Because he knows it is just an election year slogan and a gimmick

which will not even pass a committee.

[sheshe2]

5. How long did it take Canada to build this?

Since they did this first link to how long it took for all of Canada to get this.

Link to how long this took for all of Canada to get there.

[BlueMississippi]

9. Also, Canada is not the US

and nor are Denmark, Sweden or any other country touted by BS as models.

None of them is as diverse as the US and none of them have the kind of excellent healthcare that over 80% of the people in the US already have.

Yes, we do need to do something for the 10-12% who are without coverage -- but to wreck something that is working for an overwhelming majority is not the answer.

[sheshe2]

10. Agreed.

Wrecking ball and tear it all down will not work.

Build on what we have works better for all of us. Start at the foundation and build on that.

[BlueMississippi]

7. BS's pipedream and sloganeering

is like letting a drunk bull loose in a china shop and then hoping that suddenly, brand new china would appear to be given for free to everyone who wants it. (And no bull)

[ooky]

11. This is why Warren is not my candidate.

Love her, but MFA is kind of the elephant in the room.

[JI7]

13. actually i think for Warren it may be more of a strategic move to help win

she is trying to get people who support Sanders to support her.

[ooky]

15. I'm sure it is, and it may very well win her the nomination if she is successful in

consolidating Bernie's support behind her. But then she has to carry MFA into the general election.

[Cha]

12. Exactly, she.. and Thankfully this

is the most popular and best to go!

[sheshe2]

14. I have a huge problem with her M4A.

Not giving up on her, yet I have an issue.

She needs to give ME more details. I want answers.

Thanks Cha. Early yet we shall see.

[Cha]

16. Good on you wanting

answers!

I strongly dislike primaries yet here we are.

[sheshe2]

18. Yep.

Gonna be a long row to hoe.

**sigh**

Side note...every time I go to type M4A, I forget to drop the cap and get M$A.

[Cha]

19. Freudian slip?

[sheshe2]

21. Hahahahahaha

Seriously. I have done it a dozen times now.

[oasis]

17. ImWithLetsBuild

[Cha]

20. ...

[sheshe2]

22. Me Too

First we do this:



Then We Together Do This.

[betsuni]

23. K&R

[Hortensis]

24. "The ACA was always meant to be single payer." Yes,

and it will be. Tearing it down would go down in the history books as yet another bizarre manifestation of the political dysfunction that defines this era. But the quiet but reliable voting base of the Democratic Party and all our members in congress, most of whom worked and fought to create the ACA and are very proud of it, don't share that dysfunction. So in spite of all the noise, I have great hopes that we won't be doing anything half as foolish. We're not Republicans, after all.

It might help everyone to remember that the Democratic Party was and is committed to universal healthcare. All the candidates on that debate stage are committed to universal healthcare. We are delayed in achieving it because the people, in their wisdom, put conservatives in power who are determined to destroy the ACA and make sure we never have universal healthcare. So first we fix that problem, then we complete the ACA.

[Amimnoch]

25. Even larger root problem to be addressed imo.

We keep calling this a healthcare program, but it's not. It's a health insurance program still designed around a system of feeding money into for profit predatory healthcare providing system.

What we really need is a Jobs + building/infrastructure + education + health insurance bill.

Jobs + building/infrastructure: Start by expanding and revitalizing the network of free clinics, university, and charity hospitals. Once upon a time this was actually a fairly robust network that people who were uninsured/underinsured could go to as an option. Around the country these have dwindled, disappeared, or got converted to at profit management systems. Create jobs by bringing these back, building new free clinics where affordable/free preventative care may be provided, and return to us a large network of hospitals by shoring up the university provided and training full hospital facilities. Incentivize philanthropists to invest heavily into this network while simultaneously building/expanding our university training networks.

Education: Build/expand government supported degree and certification programs. Start at the grade school level by increasing funding to underprivileged public schools but with the caveat that they must include medical field preparatory courses. Create scholarship programs for these same kids to have a path to become hospital techs, phlebotomists, hospital administrators, nurses, doctors. Much as the military does with programs like ROTC, tie these free/cheap education incentives to term contracts upon completion where they must work in the public healthcare sector (these clinics and hospitals listed above) for a certain number of years, but at a reduced, but still fully livable wage. For example someone who gets certified as an X-ray tech under the program must work at one of the clinics or hospitals for 4 years upon receiving certification for it to be valid in the private sector afterwards, a nurse make it 6 years, a Doctor 10 years, a MD specialist 12 years.. etc..

Health insurance: Focus our single payer system be it MFA or ACA around utilizing these facilities, and incentivize people who choose to maintain their private insurance by eliminating co-pays when using their insurance in these facilities.

I think expanding the roles and responsibilities for the Surgeon Generals office would be a great place to locate and manage this plan under.

[Gothmog]

26. Speaker Pelosi-There's no need to reinvent health care -- just improve Obamacare

I agree with Speaker Pelosi https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/17/nancy-pelosi-no-need-to-reinvent-health-care-improve-obamacare.html?__source=sharebar|twitter&par=sharebar

Democrats should focus on making improvements to Obamacare instead of trying to reinvent the wheel with “Medicare for All,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday.

“God bless” 2020 Democratic presidential candidates putting forth Medicare for All proposals, Pelosi said in an interview with “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer. “But know what that entails.”

Pelosi’s thoughts on how to improve the nation’s health-care laws appear to align with those of former Vice President Joe Biden, who in his 2020 presidential bid is calling for building on provisions of Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act.

“I believe the path to ‘health care for all’ is a path following the lead of the Affordable Care Act,” Pelosi told Cramer. “Let’s use our energy to have health care for all Americans, and that involves over 150 million families that have it through the private sector.”

[sheshe2]

27. I am with Speaker Pelosi on this.

“I believe the path to ‘health care for all’ is a path following the lead of the Affordable Care Act,” Pelosi told Cramer. “Let’s use our energy to have health care for all Americans, and that involves over 150 million families that have it through the private sector.”

Thanks, Gothmog.

[Claritie Pixie]

28. Don't confuse health care with health insurance please.

Health insurance companies tell docs what to do and who can get care based on profit.

ACA is still a selection of plans by health insurance companies. I know.

For those with stellar health insurance plans obtained through employment, all may be just fine and dandy when it comes to health care. But what if you lose your job?

Those who are self-employed can get ACA, but it's expensive for a stellar plan.

Those who are not employed and low income can get help with a fed subsidy for ACA but still have to pay something.

Our current health insurance system is tiered to benefit the better off.

Whether a person with a serious illness or injury lives or dies depends on their social status.

It's amoral. Health care is a human right.