We should have a public option that even employers can buy into.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

All Medicaid and Medicare recipients would immediately be enrolled. The benefits would be Medicare compatible. Private insurors could still sell supplemental insurance and for those that reject the straight public option they would get vouchers to buy private insurance. That is how Medicare is currently constructed. You can get "straight governmental Medicare" or a voucher to buy insurance from an approved private insuror that meets governmental standards. I know my mom and I chose straight Medicare for her because it was the small (c) conservative option. She knew exactly what she was getting.


Health care is a balance between cost, coverage,and choice. This plans balances those elements.

[SHRED]

1. I think it'll start in the States

California has SB 562 in the works.

[Johnny2X2X]

3. Huge boon to businesses.

It was because of Nixon and cost controls that health care was offered as part of employee compensation. Imagine freeing businesses from that cost?

California is already such an attractive state to do business in because of the brain power it attracts. Taking health care costs off from businesses will create a utopia for tech companies.

[SHRED]

6. A great and overlooked point

[Wounded Bear]

9. Actually, it started during WWII...

there were wage and cost freezes as part of the war effort. Coupled with the shortage of manpower because of the 12 million people in the armed services, there was a labor shortage. Companies started offering benefits as an incentive for new hires.

Nixon actually started the downfall of the medical system, by pushing the HMO concept, which was a way to make profits in what was once a near fully non-profit industry.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. That's why corporations like Wal-Mart supported the ACA

It helped their lower wage employees get coverage.

[mopinko]

21. aca is already fueling

entrepreneurial growth.
yet no one since al gore talks about that.
freedom, ya know.

[tavalon]

11. Washington State is beginning the process

I think we are a bit behind California but I just joined the effort so I'm not up to speed yet.

[pangaia]

2. Can you really get vouchers to buy private insurance INSTEAD of Medicare?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. Terminolgy

But you can get Medicare through a private insuror. For instance I have friends who get free gym memberships through their Medicare. I know straight Medicare doesn't offer free gym membership.



Here:

Step 1: Decide if you want Original Medicare or a Medicare Advantage Plan (Iike an HMO or PPO)

You can choose Original Medicare.
You can choose a Medicare Advantage (MA) Plan.


https://www.medicare.gov/sign-up-change-plans/decide-how-to-get-medicare/your-medicare-coverage-choices.html

[pangaia]

8. Right, right, ok I understand what you meant.

I have Medicare and a gap plan at $66/month that is very good coverage which includes Part D and the gym( worth about $850!!!)

[Wounded Bear]

5. If you have a true public option, employers are out of the equation...

no need to provide insurance at work if everybody is covered in an individual account provided by the gov't.

I consider that a plus, getting employers out of the health insurance market.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. The employer would pick up the bill while you worked there.

If your employer doesn't pay for it you do. In reality you are paying for it either way. This plan would cause the least disruption.

Hell, I would even cover veterans with it. The bigger the pool the cheaper the rates.

[tavalon]

16. I love my job but when I didn't

I thought of my health insurance as wage slavery.

[tavalon]

12. But they should have to pay taxes to help cover it

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. It can't be "free".

[tavalon]

15. No, I just think corporations should pay their fair share. I always do. They aren't people.

The healthcare should be free to every human living in the US. Like all first world countries. Then we need to work on all the countries.

Teresa Avalon, RNC

[DemocratSinceBirth]

17. Instead of paying for an employee's private plan the employer could pay for his or public plan.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

18. Under "my" plan your health insurance is guaranteed regardless of employment.

[Wounded Bear]

22. No argument here...

Everybody pays, everybody is covered. In the final analysis, that will always be the cheapest option.

Obviously, the unemployed, the disabled, the aged can't pay into the system, but so what. All workers and all employers contribute to the fund. Everybody is covered.

[tavalon]

30. Yes, exactly

And if I'm paying more so a child, a disabled person or a person unemployed gets coverage, I'm totally cool with that. It's the social fucking contract!

[Wounded Bear]

32. You must be one of those evil liberals...

Me, too.

[tavalon]

33. Yep, and I have the pussy hat to prove it. I'm even making more.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

14. I think we need to frame it the right way.

Something like "Voluntary Medicare Buy In"

[roamer65]

19. It should be funded like Canada.

In Ontario, employers pay a set percentage of total payroll into OHIP. The rest is funded through provincial taxes and Canadian federal taxes.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

20. We are more like Canada than Great Britain and the Canadian model would work better for us.

[Wounded Bear]

23. I believe that in the Canadian plan...

the individual provinces and territories vary in how the pay and provide services.

Is that correct?

[shockey80]

24. Where do i sign up?

I'm ready.

[GoCubsGo]

25. We should just give everyone Medicare, and get employers out of the picture altogether.

None of this voucher bullshit. People can buy a private supplement if they wish, but they should pay for it out of their own pockets, instead of funneling our tax dollars into the private sector via vouchers.

[shockey80]

26. Medicare for all will be a big part of the 2020 election.

The tide has turned. We are moving towards a single payer system.

[colsohlibgal]

27. The Key Component

We need to get profit out of the equation like most other nations operate.

Deductibles are so high, premiums are often high, all because these conglomerates have a few executives, who do nothing but get millions and billions of dollars and for what?

If this idiot in the WH results soon in the democrats totally in power....no other excuses, I would be curious if they would really move toward getting profit out of it.....as it mostly was pre HMO in the 80s.

[MyNameGoesHere]

28. I do not want my employer to be involved

In any of my health insurance needs period. Health care should not be an employer benefit or incentive for employment. I don't want them to have anything to do with it. I don't want them to shop plans for me.

[Adrahil]

29. Agree.. but I'd like to see a move away from....

Employer provided health insurance.

[GulfCoast66]

31. In my opinion public option should include employers same as employers

Remove Health Care from work. That is an artificial thing that started here during WWII. Artificial since that was and artificial economy dues to massive government spending and the need to attract labor.

All other Western countries, except Canada, were devastated and saw that a universal health care system was called for. Hell, they were actually dying due to lack of Health Care. Canada followed suit because, well the are in some way better than us.

The poor whites in this country still reject it since it will mean that the even poorer blacks will have things as good as they do. I am southern. I know this is true. I have actually asked family members about it and they up and say they had rather have things worse for themselves than know that a black person had something given to them. It remains the curse of this nation.

No system is perfect, but the Germans and other northern European countries do a pretty good job. But it would require destroying the health insurance industry, and it will take one hell of a shake up to do that.