What would happen if we Democrats went directly for single payer right now ?

[steve2470]

Just curious about your take on the political realities. I think it would go down in flames in the House. Actually, I changed my mind. It would never get out of committee.

Thanks.

9 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	It would be signed into law by PBO quickly and we would all be dancing in the streets
	0 (0%)
	It would never pass the House
	0 (0%)
	It would pass the House but not the Senate
	0 (0%)
	It would pass the Senate but not the House
	0 (0%)
	It would never get out of committee
	8 (89%)
	The teabaggers would form an army and storm the Capitol
	1 (11%)
	Other (see my post for a nuanced thoughtful response)
	0 (0%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[el_bryanto]

1. I don't think it would get out of comittee

Since it can't pass the house, more moderate Democratic politicians would keep it from the floor, and thus save themselves the embarrassment of it going down to defeat.

Bryant

[djean111]

2. No matter how it got shot down, it would at least be on the table, and we

could start negotiating from there, not from an acceptance of a privatized system.

The "nuanced" part of my response? I didn't say "fucking table".

[steve2470]

4. very nuanced indeed :) thanks :) nt

[NightWatcher]

3. the only thing the House does is vote to repeal ACA. They're asshole obstructionists

The nutjobs are in control and we're all suffering from their mental illness/hate.

[steve2470]

5. very true nt

[woo me with science]

6. Single payer would enter the national dialogue in a serious way

which is exactly what Republicans and the Third Way have worked carefully to keep from happening.

Limiting the national dialogue to corporate options and casting anything else as non-serious is a deliberate strategy by corporatists to ensure that they never *become* serious.

[steve2470]

8. yes it should be part of the national dialogue

Sometimes in my darker moments, I think too many Americans are too selfish for us to have single payer. I hope I'm wrong.

[Enthusiast]

14. No surprise that you have the best answer.

Fist we have to educate the American people on how badly they are missing out on single payer.

[treestar]

20. It is in the national dialogue

and the right wingers immediately called communism or socialism. And they still have 48% of the voters on that.

The national dialogue thing is overrated. It passes nothing. The national dialogue includes all kinds of things. That doesn't mean they will come out of committee.

[Cresent City Kid]

7. It would never get as far as a commitee.

Instead of talking about how we pay for healthcare, I'm more interested in how much they charge and who gets the money.

[steve2470]

9. this is who gets the money

The major investors, some of the doctors, the medical device people (upper management and investors and inventors perhaps). Some doctors of course don't make very much and nurses by and large sure as hell don't get paid a lot. One could argue that some hospital administrators are paid too much.

[Loudly]

10. "Going" for it now need only mean "Campaigning" on it now.

And it is imperative that Medicare for All be the 2014 campaign theme.

Otherwise, November will be a very unhappy month for Democrats.

[Hoyt]

11. We'll see how Bernie Sanders' American Health Security Act does.

Sadly, it will likely get nowhere.

[think]

12. Maybe explaining what US healthcare is like vs what the rest of the industrialized world

is like the American people would get it:

http://www.bloomberg.com/visual-data/best-and-worst/most-efficient-health-care-countries

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/01/new-health-rankings-of-17-nations-us-is-dead-last/267045/



By not even discussing single payer with the American people we were dealt a great disservice as a nation. (IMO)

[one_voice]

22. Good answer...

I agree we should do a us vs them with healthcare.

The differences are shocking--we're so far behind it's ridiculous.

Part of the problem--at least on the right--is they don't/won't acknowledge that anyone does anything better than us. Then they pull the 'if it's so bad why do other people come here' card. Those people are never going to change their mind.

But I think there are enough Dems, Indies, and even moderate pukes (semi-sane) that we out number those other people. Key is getting the information out there.

Literally a campaign of nothing but how shitty our system is compared to others.

[Enthusiast]

13. Democratic candidates should run on making single payer the law of the land.

They would have tremendous support. Because that is the only true solution to the health care crisis.

[GoCubsGo]

15. Yep. Good GOTV incentive. n/t

[steve2470]

16. agreed ! nt

[Vashta Nerada]

17. Any of us who supported them would be accused of wanting a pony.

Or unicorn.

[Nay]

19. Yeah, despite the obvious fact that other advanced countries have ponies AND

unicorns aplenty.

[Vashta Nerada]

23. Exactly.

[ieoeja]

18. Other: we already went directly for single payer in Vermont. And won.

Time to move onto the next state.


Of course, state by state would never work. Look at how horribly that went for Gay Marriage. And it is obviously failing for Marijuana.

[treestar]

21. Agreed.

Red states are going to drag us backwards on the national level for some time. They have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

[librechik]

25. yup we already have a great public option in Colorado--ACA money is helping

I feel sorry for all the states whose asshole governors are seceding from the Union on this one. But no one can stop them. They learned nothing from history, or anything.

[steve2470]

24. excellent point nt

[mountain grammy]

26. Insurance companies have run amok and are running the health care industry

The ACA regulates the insurance companies. This is a start. We have to convince people that the health care industry should belong to the people. Then we get Medicare for all, with dental and vision coverage as well.

Educate, educate, educate!

[Lizzie Poppet]

27. Sadly, it would never get out of committee.

Even in the Senate, corporate control is almost 100%. No way in hell the insurance industry powers-that-be would allow this to happen, even if they had to be terribly obvious in demonstrating that our "democratic government" has become a sham.

[djean111]

28. Well, if the GOP can try to repeal the ACA 52 times, we sure as hell could introduce

a Single Payer bill 52 times.
And campaign on that.

[Cleita]

29. HR 676 (expanded Medicare for all) has been floating around congress for years

and sits in committee even now, I believe. As long as insurance is around, we will never have single payer as long as the insurers, HMOs and big pharma see a way to make a profit from human suffering. We are stuck with the ACA for the future and now that they also have a hand in the Treasury on account of the ACA it's going to be near impossible to get rid of them.

[Blecht]

30. "Democrats" with backing from the industry would primary any who tried

It's not going to happen. Our politicians are bought and paid for. All we can hope for are a few culture-issue bones to be thrown our way.

[brooklynite]

31. Setting aside the grumbling about implementation of ACA....

...where is the public demand for Single Payer that would make this a useful political strategy?

[steve2470]

32. I think with the right campaign, it could pass

Caveats: Billions of dollars behind it and expertly framed, with tons of people hours devoted to it. In other words, a tough fight.

[steve2470]

33. any other comments ? nt