Medicare for All Advocates Take to the Streets of Over 50 US Cities

[Judi Lynn]

"How can we have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness when we live in constant fear of illness, bankruptcy, or homelessness because of the outrageous for-profit healthcare system?"

JESSICA CORBETT

July 25, 2021

Just days before the 56th anniversary of Medicare being signed into law, advocates for creating a public, universal health insurance program in the United States to replace the largely private, for-profit system held marches in more than 50 cities across the country on Saturday.

The day of action was organized by a coalition of over 100 groups, from Mainers for Accountable Leadership, the Chicago Teachers Union, and Sunrise Movement Seattle to various arms of Democratic Socialists of America, Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), and Our Revolution.

"Our movement was founded from a place of compassion and love," the coalition's website explains. "We came together out of frustration with the lack of action from the powers that be."

"Many of us have our own personal stories as to why we are in this fight," the coalition continues. "All of us know that healthcare is a right, not a privilege. It is a basic freedom. How can we have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness when we live in constant fear of illness, bankruptcy, or homelessness because of the outrageous for-profit healthcare system?"

. . .

Highlighting that "universal healthcare isn't radical," the coalition points to more than 30 other countries that have it—from Australia, Canada, Germany, and Iceland, to Japan, Kuwait, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.

"Like most Americans, when the Covid pandemic shut down our country, we thought this was it—America would finally catch up to the rest of the developed world and have a healthcare system that is free at the point of service," says a petition from the coalition. "As we all know, this did not happen... yet!"

. . .

As Common Dreams reported earlier this week, a new study shows that Americans owe collection agencies $140 billion because of unpaid medical bills—meaning that healthcare is the nation's largest source of debt in collections.

. . .

As F. Douglas Stephenson—a retired psychotherapist, former instructor of social work in the University of Florida, and member of PNHP—wrote Saturday for Informed Comment, "Since 1965, Medicare has become living proof that public, universal health insurance is superior to private insurance in every way."

Stephenson continued:

When Medicare was enacted 56 years ago, following a broad grassroots campaign, many believed the dream of a full national health insurance system was right around the corner. Five decades later, Medicare still has not been expanded. Most of the changes have been contractions with higher out-of-pocket costs for beneficiaries and repeated attempts at privatization by Big Pharma, the health insurance industry, and its champions in the White House and Congress.

"Everyone knows that this inhumane system should have been corrected long ago, but the death and illness ravages of the pandemic crisis makes it impossible to any longer avoid reality," he asserted. "We must immediately end our moral crime of having the greatest health system in the world, but only for those who can afford it."

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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/07/24/medicare-all-advocates-take-streets-over-50-us-cities

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Judge societies on how they treat most vulnerable, not how exalted gold-plated med care can be. nt

[OldBaldy1701E]

3. Hear Hear!

Unfortunately, those that control society do not want that to happen. Then, the US could not proclaim just how awesome we are by showing that gilded healthcare (that only a small percentage of the population can access).

[twodogsbarking]

2. Employers shouldn't be involved in health care or retirement for individuals.

"But we've always done it this way."

The number one reason things don't change.

[Beastly Boy]

4. "Medicare for all" is a brand. Single payer is a system.

I don't understand the people who keep pushing their particular brand of single payer system despite all evidence of it being wildly unpopular with most Americans (just to underscore the difference, most Americans are in favor of a single payer approach to healthcare), jsut because it fits their political narrative. I especially resent their attempt to equate the two terms and to insinuate that Medicare for All is the only, or the predominant type of single payer system being considered. It is not.

[scipan]

5. You are wrong. M4A supported by 55% all Americans,

79% Dems. Public option is supported by 68% of all, 80% of Dems.

The only way you could say it is "wildly unpopular" is if you only looked at repubs.

Nobody I know thinks there's only one way to do it.

Edit to add source:
https://morningconsult.com/2021/03/24/medicare-for-all-public-option-polling/

[Beastly Boy]

6. This is exactly what I am objecting to.

Morning Consult's definition of Medicare for All used in the survey: "Medicare for All, where Americans would get their health insurance from the government".

This is nothing more than the definition of a single payer health insurance system, with the label "Medicare for All" deceptively slapped on it.

Medicare for All found its most specific expression in a group of legislative bills introduced in the US Congress, most notable of them by Bernie Sanders and Pramila Jayapal (https://www.kff.org/interactive/compare-medicare-for-all-public-plan-proposals/). They spell out the details far more specific (and, apparently, objectionable) than "where Americans would get their health insurance from the government". Single Payer, on the other hand, is a generic term which describes health insurance provided by the government, in other words, literally, "where Americans would get their health insurance from the government". Not only does the Morning Consult poll not bother to make a distinction between the two, they never referenced these respective terms for comparison to make sure the poll respondents understand WTF Morning Consult is talking about.

Since the definition of Medicare for All that Morning Consult provided matches exactly that of a single payer system, and since the responders had no other reference to the term, it can only mean one thing: that the responses were made in reference to the single payer system and not to Medicare for All as it exists in congressional bills. Sloppy poll taking, which nevertheless is being wrongly passed as evidence of support for Medicare for All.

Notwithstanding the above, I am not surprised that 55% of Americans favor a single payer system.