Democrats are now almost universally embracing the idea of single payer health care. Thanks Trump!

Courtesy of WaPo:

Today, the Center for American Progress released a single-payer health plan (or thereabouts), planting a significant marker in the evolution of the Democratic Party, and eventually perhaps the American health-care system. 

And we have President Trump and the Republicans to thank for it. 

CAP calls its plan “Medicare Extra For All.” That’s a little unwieldy but seems meant to distinguish it from “Medicare For All,” which is what Bernie Sanders called the plan he proposed in 2016 and what others have called for. It isn’t a true single-payer plan because it envisions a continued role for private insurance. But it greatly expands government coverage, both for anyone who doesn’t have insurance and, critically, anyone who simply would prefer the government’s plan.

It’s significant that this plan is coming from the heart of the Democratic establishment, a think tank that is the closest thing to a Democratic government-in-exile. When it has officially put its imprimatur on a sort-of single-payer health plan, that means the general principle is now all but consensus among Democrats, something that wasn’t true even a year ago. 

While this evolution has been in-process for a while, the fact is that as of now, the Democratic Party is converging on consensus around the goal of universal coverage with a much stronger role for government. You may recall that in the last presidential election, the party’s candidate wasn’t willing to go that far. Today, nearly every Democrat considering a run for the White House in 2020 has endorsed the idea of universal coverage.

Wouldn't it be a kick in the ass if we ended up with an assault gun ban, universal health care, and a Democratic majority in the House and Senate, not BECAUSE of Donald Trump, but in spite of him?

Could happen. 

That could make him both the worst president in history, but with one of the most consequential presidencies.

Isn't politics weird sometimes?

Republicans may inadvertently be paving the way for single payer health care.

Courtesy of Vox:  

On Friday, McConnell reportedly “delivered a private warning to his Senate Republicans: If they failed to pass legislation unwinding the Affordable Care Act, Democrats could regain power and establish a single-payer health-care system.” 

History may record a certain irony if this is the argument McConnell uses to successfully destroy Obamacare. In recent conversations with Democrats and industry observers, I’ve become convinced that just the opposite is true: If Republicans unwind Obamacare and pass their bill, then Democrats are much likelier to establish a single-payer health care system — or at least the beginnings of one — when they regain power. 

“I will tell you,” says Len Nichols, director of the Center for Health Policy Research and Ethics at George Mason University, “Democratic politicians I never thought would utter the words have mentioned single-payer to me in a non-joking way of late.” 

If Republicans wipe out the Affordable Care Act and de-insure tens of millions of people, they will prove a few things to Democrats. First, including private insurers and conservative ideas in a health reform plan doesn’t offer a scintilla of political protection, much less Republican support. Second, sweeping health reform can be passed quickly, with only 51 votes in the Senate, and with no support from major industry actors. Third, it’s easier to defend popular government programs that people already understand and appreciate, like Medicaid and Medicare, than to defend complex public-private partnerships, like Obamacare’s exchanges.

Even worse for the Republicans would be if they successfully pass Trumpcare, which even Donald Trump seems to want to abandon, since it will likely cause even more Americans to lose their health care, or be forced into substandard policies, and that outcome will be traced directly back to the GOP with no chance remaining to blame Obama.

Ultimately all of this might be exactly the shot in the arm that Democrats need to put forward a policy that actually covers ALL Americans and which leaves the health insurance companies right where they belong, on the ash heap of history.

I think all of this is more than just possible, I think it is quite probable.

Hillary's big stumble.

Courtesy of US News: 

With the polls tightening in Iowa and voting both there and in New Hampshire just a few weeks away, the Kumbaya feeling in the Democratic primary is gone. In particular, the Hillary Clinton camp has evidently decided it's time to go on offense against independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, lest 2016 start feeling like 2008 all over again. 

Predictably, one line of attack is on Sanders' record on gun control, which certainly has its blemishes. Another, though, makes far less sense, particularly in a Democratic primary: Clinton is lambasting Sanders' proposal for a universal, single-payer health care system. And she's doing it in a pretty dishonest way. 

"His plan would take Medicare and Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program and the Affordable Care Act health care insurance and private employer health insurance and he would take that all together and send health insurance to the states, turning over your and my health insurance to governors," Clinton said. "We had enough of a fight to get to the Affordable Care Act. So I don’t want to rip it up and start over."

The problem of course is that Hillary herself has been  for universal healthcare since....well since forever it seems.

That problem became even more obvious when the Sanders campaign posted this:

And when news agencies managed to dig this up from the 2008 campaign.

Of course Hillary's attack only emboldened support for Bernie and afterwards his campaign managed to raise 1.4 million in one day.

I have NO idea what Hillary was thinking here, but this is not helping her.

I guess she thought that supporting Obamacare, and not pushing for universal health care, would be a good political strategy. It kind of makes sense if you don't realize just how many Democrats REALLY want universal health care.

But this I do know, if she wants to lose this nomination, this is exactly how to do it.

So are we the last, or just the next to last?

I guess that's what "American Exceptionalism" means.

Iranian President announces plan to extend universal health care for all. Seriously, what the hell America?

Gov will extend medical insurance to all Iranians. First step will be to cover 5mn uninsured Iranians by the social safety net #RouhaniCare
— Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) February 5, 2014

Courtesy of PBS:  

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani announced Wednesday his plan to extend universal health insurance to all Iranians in a new program that the president himself dubbed RouhaniCare on Twitter. The Western-educated president, tweeted that his plan should cover an additional 5 million people.

 Of course some version of universal health care is offered in most of the world, which is embarrassing enough, but now to have a country we once called a member of the Axis of Evil offering it as well is just humiliating. (And yes I know that North Korea also claims to offer universal health care, but reports are the only thing universal about it is that it is terrible and very few people get it.)

And by the way I am pretty sure that calling it RouhaniCare is simply a way to mock America.

Or maybe just Mitt Romney, not really sure which. 

If everyone in the U.S. was on Medicare, the savings would move the federal budget from deficit to surplus.

Courtesy of Newsweek:  

We don't have a free market for health-care services. If we did, we would see a narrow range of prices for the same service. After all, a Ford F-150 pickup with the same options costs about the same in Washington, West Virginia, or Wyoming. Not so hospital and medical costs, a fact brought home in the 2012 Pricing Report of the International Federation of Health Plans, a trade association for health insurance companies. 

While the average U.S. hospital stay is just under $4,300 per day, one in four patients are charged $1,514 or less and one in 20 pay $12,537 or more. 

The total cost for an appendectomy ranges from $8,156 for a fourth of these procedures to more than $29,426 for the most expensive 5 percent. The average cost is $13,851. 

Economists learn before they get their undergraduate degrees that such huge variations are signs of inefficient markets or even faux markets. Such wide price variations may even indicate collusion among some providers to jack up prices, which is generally illegal. 

But even if we ignore these huge price variations, the trade industry report illustrates another problem: American health-care costs are completely out of line with the rest of the modern world. 

In France the average daily cost of a hospital stay is $853; in the U.S., it's $4,287. 

An MRI costs on average $335 in Britain and $363 in France, but $1,121 in the U.S. 

Routine and normal childbirth costs, on average: $2,641 in Britain and $3,541 in France but in the U.S. averages $9,775. Caesarean section delivery runs $4,435 in Britain, $6,441 in France; $15,041 in the U.S. 

This pattern holds for all 21 procedures examined in the report. 

Excessive health-care costs drain both the public purse and private purses, make manufacturing uncompetitive and force employers to divert attention from running their firms to dealing with health insurers. 

Our universal single-payer health-care plan for older Americans, Medicare, has lower costs and lower overhead than the system serving those under age 65. If everyone in the U.S. was on Medicare, the savings would move the federal budget from deficit to surplus.

Of course this is common sense for many of us, but the Republicans have fought against this idea with tooth and nail every time the suggestion is made.

Why? Well that would have much to do with lobbyists and campaign donations. 

One of the reasons that the Right Wing has pushed back so hard against the Affordable Care Act, in fact Sarah Palin said this outright, is that they see it as the first step toward universal care.

There are very few times that I hope Sarah Palin is right about something, but this is one of those times.

Colin Powell calls for universal health care in America.

Courtesy of Spero News:  

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said universal health care should be available to all Americans. He was speaking at a charity event for prostate survivors in Seattle. 

Powell told the audience that countries in Europe, Canada and South Korea offer universal, single-payer health care and said he often asks why the United States has not implemented the same system. 

"Whether it's Obamacare, or son of Obamacare, I don't care," Powell said. "As long as we get it done." 

Powell, a retired four-star general, was diagnosed with prostate cancer and credits his survival to the universal health care provided by the United States military. 

Sharing health stories with the audience about his wife, Alma, and a neighbor, Powell said he and his wife have never worried about whether their health care would bankrupt them. He contrasted his experience with his neighbor, Anne, who cannot afford the MRIs to identify tumors in her brain before doctors will operate on her. Powell said she has health insurance, but it does not cover MRI imaging. He said she was out of work and he gave her the funds three weeks ago to receive treatment. 

"We are a wealthy enough country," Powell said, "with the capacity to make sure that every one of our fellow citizens has access to quality health care."

Son of Obamacare. Sounds like a good deal to me.

I have the hardest time forgiving Colin Powell for allowing himself to be used by the Bush administration to sell the Iraq war, but if he keeps on talking sense like this I may have to start trying.

Of course single payer universal health care is the best option for our country, and if Americans would stop allowing themselves to be frightened by the Right Wing scare tactics we could be enjoying its benefits today.

Robert Reich points out that the health care plan that Republicans are so vehemently against today, was once proposed by one of their own, Richard Nixon.

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

In February 1974, Republican President Richard Nixon proposed, in essence, today's Affordable Care Act. Under Nixon's plan all but the smallest employers would provide insurance to their workers or pay a penalty, an expanded Medicaid-type program would insure the poor, and subsidies would be provided to low-income individuals and small employers. Sound familiar? 

Private insurers were delighted with the Nixon plan but Democrats preferred a system based on Social Security and Medicare, and the two sides failed to agree. 

Thirty years later a Republican governor, Mitt Romney, made Nixon's plan the law in Massachusetts. Private insurers couldn't have been happier although many Democrats in the state had hoped for a public system. 

When today's Republicans rage against the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act, it's useful to recall this was their idea as well. 

In 1989, Stuart M. Butler of the conservative Heritage Foundation came up with a plan that would "mandate all households to obtain adequate insurance." 

Insurance companies loved Butler's plan so much it found its way into several bills introduced by Republican lawmakers in 1993. Among the supporters were senators Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa (who now oppose the mandate under the Affordable Care Act). Newt Gingrich, who became Speaker of the House in 1995, was also a big proponent. 

Romney's heathcare plan in Massachusetts included the same mandate to purchase private insurance. "We got the idea of an individual mandate from [Newt Gingrich], and [Newt] got it from the Heritage Foundation," said Romney, who thought the mandate "essential for bringing the health care costs down for everyone and getting everyone the health insurance they need." 

So why are today's Republicans so upset with an Act they designed and their patrons adore? Because it's the signature achievement of the Obama administration. 

There's a deep irony to all this. Had Democrats stuck to the original Democratic vision and built comprehensive health insurance on Social Security and Medicare, it would have been cheaper, simpler, and more widely accepted by the public. And Republicans would be hollering anyway.

I think that this is the point where a lot of liberals are yelling at their computer screens and asking why didn't we just go with single payer in the first place if the Republicans were going to freak out anyway?

However, considering how aggressively the Right Wing is working to stop Obamacare now, just imagine how much worse it would have been if the Dems had tried to shove universal health care down their throats. And yes, it COULD be worse.

I think the interesting thing is that the President attempted to offer the Republicans numerous reasons why they should embrace this health care law, essentially including almost all of the compromises that they had demanded in the past, and yet they STILL could not bring themselves to support it.

Sort of deflates that whole, "If only the President had been willing to compromise with us" argument doesn't it?

While the Republicans do everything they can to sabotage the rollout of Obamacare, Vermont is quietly constructing the nation's first government funded universal health care system.

Courtesy of the Providence Journal:  

As states open insurance marketplaces amid uncertainty about whether they are a solution for health care, Vermont is eyeing a bigger goal, one that more fully embraces a government-funded model. 

The state has a planned 2017 launch of the nation’s first universal health care system, a sort of modified Medicare-for-all that has long been a dream for many liberals. 

The plan is especially ambitious in the current atmosphere surrounding health care in the United States. Republicans in Congress balk at the federal health overhaul years after it was signed into law. States are still negotiating their terms for implementing it. And some major employers have begun to drastically limit their offerings of employee health insurance, raising questions about the future of the industry altogether. 

In such a setting, Vermont’s plan looks more and more like an anomaly. It combines universal coverage with new cost controls in an effort to move away from a system in which the more procedures doctors and hospitals perform, the more they get paid, to one in which providers have a set budget to care for a set number of patients. 

The result will be health care that’s “a right and not a privilege,” Gov. Peter Shumlin said.

I truly think that this is the future of health care in this country, and once Vermont demonstrates how workable and superior the model is there will be vast pressure placed on other states, and the federal government, to follow suit. 

Man this is definitely going to make some Right Wing heads explode!

Why are American health care costs so high? This video might help to explain that.

Courtesy of the You Tube page:

In which John discusses the complicated reasons why the United States spends so much more on health care than any other country in the world, and along the way reveals some surprising information, including that Americans spend more of their tax dollars on public health care than people in Canada, the UK, or Australia. Who's at fault? Insurance companies? Drug companies? Malpractice lawyers? Hospitals? Or is it more complicated than a simple blame game? (Hint: It's that one.)

This guy makes a lot of very good points.

Anybody ready for universal health care now?

Why the show Breaking Bad could only be based in America.

Courtesy of Salon: 

Man is diagnosed with incurable lung cancer. Man, faced with crushing medical expenses that his insurance won’t cover, turns to cooking methamphetamine and builds himself a drug empire. Man buys a hat, yells at his handsome partner a lot and uses hydrofluoric acid to dissolve a bunch of dead bodies in plastic bins. 

“Breaking Bad”: Only in America! 

No, seriously.

By the way let me just thank all of you Breaking Bad fans for constantly pimping your show in the comments section.

After I read about a dozen or more comments telling me how great it was, and after my friend Dennis Zaki started giving me crap for not watching it,  I noticed that suddenly all five seasons were available on Netflix.

This was my tweet:

I just found Breaking Bad on Netflix and started watching it. There are 54 episodes. I have made a terrible mistake.
— Gryphen 2009 (@Gryphen2009) August 25, 2013

After that I spent every free moment watching the show from the first season all the way through until the fifth season.

It took me over two weeks, but I caught up. So tonight is only my SECOND night of watching a new episode on the night it is initially broadcast.

And I can hardly wait. 

So thanks a lot for getting me hooked on a show that used up all of my free time, and made me late handing in work related paperwork on two different occasions. Bitches.

(Just so you know, I am NEVER late.)

Die-hard American Conservative moves to Canada and learns the truth about Universal Health Care.

Courtesy of Permission to Live: 

I started to feel differently about Universal government mandated and regulated Health care. I realized how many times my family had avoided hospital care because of our lack of coverage. When I mentioned to Canadians that I had been in a car accident as a teen and hadn’t gone into the hospital, they were shocked! Here, you always went to the hospital, just in case. And the back pain I had endured ever since would have been investigated and cared for with whatever X-rays, Physiotherapy or even Surgery that was needed, which would have been at no cost to me. In our particular province, even chiropractic care was provided after a car accident by the provincial care insurance.When I asked for prayers for my little brother who had been burned in an accident, they were all puzzled why the story did not include immediately rushing him to the hospital. When they asked me to clarify and I explained that many people in the States are not insured and they try to put off medical care unless absolutely needed, they literally could not comprehend such a thing. 

I started to wonder why I had been so opposed to government mandated Universal Health care. Almost every western country in the world has Universal Insurance of some kind, except the USA. Here in Canada, everyone was covered. If they worked full-time, if they worked part-time, or if they were homeless and lived on the street, they were all entitled to the same level of care if they had a medical need. People actually went in for routine check-ups and caught many of their illnesses early, before they were too advanced to treat. People were free to quit a job they hated, or even start their own business without fear of losing their medical coverage. In fact, the only real complaint I heard about the Universal Health Care from the Canadians themselves, was that sometimes there could be a wait time before a particular medical service could be provided. But even that didn’t seem to be that bad to me, in the States most people had to wait for medical care, or even be denied based on their coverage. Depending on where one lived and how rural the area was, one's access to care could be limited, and that was regardless of what country one lived in. The only people guaranteed immediate and full service in the USA, were those with the best (and most expensive) health coverage or wads of cash they could blow. In Canada, the wait times were usually short, and applied to everyone regardless of wealth. If you were discontent with the wait time (and had the money to cover it) you could always travel out of the country to someplace where you could demand a particular service for a price. Personally, I never experienced excessive wait times, I was accepted for maternity care within a few days or weeks, I was able to find a family care provider nearby easily and quickly, and when a child needed to be brought in for a health concern I was always able to get an appointment within that week. 

The only concern I was left with was the fact that abortion was covered by the Universal Health Care, and I still believed that was wrong. But as I lived there, I began to discover I had been misled in that understanding as well. Abortion wasn’t pushed as the only option by virtue of it being covered. It was just one of the options, same as it was in the USA. In fact, the percentage rates of abortion are far lower in Canada than they are in the USA, where abortion is often not covered by insurance and can be much harder to get. In 2008 Canada had an abortion rate of 15.2 per 1000 women (In other countries with government health care that number is even lower), and the USA had an abortion rate of 20.8 abortions per 1000 women. 

As always, ignorance is our enemy in making people understand that universal health care is not some Socialist plot to take away their freedoms, nor force them to have abortions.

And of course that ignorance is being fed by the overt lies coming out of the Fox News.

But hopefully as people become more and more disenchanted with the lies being foisted upon them by the GOP, and the older more stubborn population begins to die off,  Americans will start to come around, and perhaps our children can FINALLY have the kind of healthcare that we all deserve.

Of course even WITH universal health care you simply cannot fix stupid, so there will always be those easily manipulated mouth breathers who will believe that this type of health care is the sign of the Apocalypse, but let's face it once people begin to see the benefits of this kind of health care who will bother listening to the Rush Limbaugh's or Glenn Beck's of the world anyhow?