I think there's still alot of misunderstanding of the process of lawmaking in American government. What happens in reality is Bernie has nothing to do with the actual bill being created. As a Vermont Senator he has more power to create the bill which can technically start in the Senate. But as president, his role is to be the signer of the Bill, and to sell the bill. So as a Bill is created in the House, you'll see a process that has so many people involved that you'll see alot of horse trading, and then when it goes to the Senate and back to the House it will look a whole lot different than Bernies M4A bill he drafted in the Senate that has gone nowhere. If Bernie is able to get his M4A bill through the House & Senate as it, it'll be a pretty clear indication that the vast majority of Americans are on board & giving Congress (even some Republicans) the okay to know they are politically safe voting for the bill. Bernie's M4A bill (if he spends his capital in his first term to work on healthcare) would likely be a public option expansion of the ACA. And getting that done would wipe out much of Bernies first term. .......... My preference as a Bernie supporter (but unlikely primary voter) - First day in office - establish a committee that can work with HHS, OMB, etc. to take executive action on getting the ACA to work 10% better than it's working today because of the hatchet the Republicans have taken to the law. Second day- spend your capital working with Congress on getting an anti-corruption bill started that can be the hallmark of your first term. Do something to create a law that essentially overturns the Citizens United and makes sure that a grifter like Trump can never come into power again unchecked. Unfortunately, I think Bernie probably does go to healthcare first, and we end up with a really tough first term where we spend 2 years on nothing but healthcare & there's no guarantees that the Dems will have the votes to get the public option put into law. The wildcard will be Trumps partisan judges there to create legal roadblocks on any new legislation that Bernie gets passed.
You don't think that the same wave that can carry Bernie Sanders into the white house will also carry a majority of Dems into the senate? lol.
People don't understand that if Bernie wins, there is a strong chance of many establishment Democrats being primaried from the left in the Senate and the threat of being primaried might make them change their tune on M4A. It would be sort of like Trump I guess where GOP senators are afraid of being primaried from the right if they don't bootlick for Trump but the difference here is that for Trump, it's purely about bootlicking to cover up his illegal practices and personal grifting while for Sanders it's Democrat establishment senators being afraid of a policy based movement. So for me, one of those is a far more morally sound motive. If Sanders wins, he has the national bully pulpit. As we can see from Trump, that pulpit is powerful, extremely powerful. However, there is one major difference between Trump and Bernie in terms of influence from their bully pulpit and that's the media. Trump has a massive cable network in Fox News that will bootlick for him minus a few players in the network. I don't see CNN or MSNBC standing behind Bernie. The reason why GOP senators are so afraid of being primaried from the right if they don't bootlick for Trump is because the entire GOP base is constantly in a isolated news bubble that constantly spams about presidential harassment and how Trump has never done any wrong.
Theoretically, I agree with Bernie. There is no reason for Billionaires to exist. I don't believe that's the antithesis of the American Dream. I don't think the dream is to amass more money than anyone would ever need is the American Dream. I think it's to have an opportunity to work hard and provide for yourself and loved ones in a legal and ethical way. Also what good comes from anyone being a billionaire? That's kind of an arbitrary cut-off level, but still. The billionaires don't really get anything out of it they couldn't already get except maybe being able to make a vanity-run for President. They could have also dedicated their lives to working and serving the people to build a campaign as other candidates have done throughout our history. But even they don't get really get anything important from being a billionaire. The rest of us don't get anything from it. It serves no purpose. I don't believe that declaring war on Billionaires is a wise decision and the wrong way to approach it. It is better to point out unfair practices and ways the system is abused and manipulated by the powerful and corporations for their own benefit. It is wise to point out that a decreasing middle class isn't good for the nation but only a few folks while a growing middle class helps the nation as a whole. That is true even if people making tens or hundreds of millions of dollars make several million less. They won't be suffering or sacrificing their comfort, lifestyle or anything they've worked hard to acquire. Hopefully, Bernie would appoint a qualified administration that can help him make progress toward his goals a step or two at a time. Change laws to avoid lengthy court cases. That will require a good staff on Bernie's part as well.
Many people in this country are struggling to the point of exhaustion, both mentally and physically. Working for pennies, not being able to afford healthcare, churches burning, racist attacks, immigrant families being torn apart, buying an armor proof backpack for your child to take to school, and being homeless, are not what I call the American Dream. It is time to wake up. We need a change.
I'm pretty confident that if Bernie is successful in convincing Democrat legislators to work with him on a bill, it would have a drawn out implementation phase that will take multiple years in the plan. Anyways, the first step is overhauling the tax code before we can even write and vote on a actual M4A plan.
The lucky people here that can't fathom Medicare for all just need to look at gofundme. Watch americans beg for money to have surgeries for their kids and then come back here and say healthcare is ok in this country. It's not. We are turning to a dystopian society and if you're not careful we will start building guillotines.
I myself, have great healthcare as a military retiree. I think healthcare for all, and quality of life for all, and not just the wealthy, is far more important.
You nationalize the insurance companies......follow the lead of other countries. And yes, it will be disruptive.....which is why it should be phased in. DD
I think this is true for pretty much all of his agenda. Raising the question...why elect him then? If he can't do what he's campaigning on doing, what's the point?
Nope. As BIG middlemen, they do a lot to CONTROL costs. They don't want to spend any more money than they have to. They therefore do everything they can to LOWER costs. Take them out...and who is doing that? I've seen first hand what insurance companies get hit with. Anybody else have a health care plan where the deductibles, etc are automatically deducted from your HCRA account? Sounds good...don't do it. I had surgery on my wrist. Shortly afterwards, I saw a whole bunch of charges, which cleaned out my HCRA account. I raised a concern with HR, as I didn't know what many of the charges were. A month later..all the charges were gone, as was all my HCRA money. What happened? Doctors and hospitals apparently just flood insurance companies with a whole bunch of spurious charges, just to see which ones they might pay. They wait a bit, then zero out all the charges. Except whey you have your HCRA set up this way, essentially you are the insurance company. Insurance companies get a bad rap, and in years past, many of them deserved it. But they aren't the only culprit here, and probably do a lot more to control costs than anyone gives them credit for. Look at any doctor's bill. You will see their charge, the ALLOWED charge from the insurance company, and then how much of that they covered. The ALLOWED charge (from the insurance company) is always a lot lower than what the doctor would otherwise charge. Now, if we truly cut all the middlemen and red tape out, we'd probably get a much more efficient and effective system. This is what India does. Ironic that India has a capitalistic health care system, while we do not. But not surprising that having one reduces their cost and raises their outcomes. The get better care for less money...just exactly what should happen in a capitalistic system. Maybe we should look at this here, rather than this mad rush to go in the opposite direction.
You guys really think his election wouldn't signify a mandate? Think for a second. We have just elected a democratic socialist and you think congress is going to survive not doing what his agenda is? They'd be replaced with nothing but AOCs in the following midterm.
Private insurance companies also have to generate profits for their shareholders to be satisfied. So an American paying for healthcare is paying for the profit motive of their doctor/hospital, and the middle man. So essentially the average American citizen is being double dipped by two separate profit motive entities to just desiring to live a healthy life. Do you know what would strengthen negotiating costs? When drug companies and hospitals have to negotiate with one entity and that's the US tax payer via proxy of the federal government's insurance. A lot more negotiating power when it's one insurance entity instead of dozens.
The point is that he will try to make good changes to help those who need it most. He has no hidden agenda to make himself, and all those who invest with him richer. He is not a compulsive liar, racist, and bully. Plain and simple, he treats people mote humanely. He cares about our planet and our people, and not just building the best hotels and golf courses around the world to toot his horn about while wining and dining with those who will pump up his ego and bank account.
The last time, we had to compromise on ACA.... And that assumes the Dems take the Senate and keep the House.... I prefer realism. However I do think overhauling the tax code will have more support than M4A.
They did but things like SSN take decades and generations to fully see how it works. Building a bunch of infrastructure is a whole different matter.
What high deductible plan does Microsoft have? No country this size has universal healthcare and everybody that has universal healthcare does not like their system. How do you think the the affect on healthcare will be if doctors are taking a 40% cut in pay. I am not opposed to universal healthcare but its not gonna be all roses and honey and it's not gonna be better for a huge amount of people, something proponents ignore.
