The long game of Obamacare

[sheshe2]

Many of you will remember the great debate that happened on the left as Obamacare worked its way through the Senate. Far too many people prioritized only one thing...the public option. Today I'm convinced that many of them never really knew what the public option was - the requirement that all state health care exchanges include at least one public insurance option - and instead equated it with a single payer system. President Obama has consistently been criticized on the left for failing to support single payer and that critique got equated with the simple idea of a public option on the exchanges.

Obama 2008

In addition to worrying about job losses during the great recession, President Obama talked about the fact that so many people rely on their employer for health insurance. Any move towards single payer would have to de-couple health insurance from employment.


snip//

Republicans will use this as an example of the havoc they envision coming from Obamacare and I've already seen too many liberals light their hair on fire about it as well. Whether or not employers will provide a subsidy in pay that is the equivalent of what they have been spending to purchase insurance is - of course - a concern.

But what I see in all of this is the extremely effective long game that is so typical of President Obama. He knew at the outset that if he championed the cause of single payer, he would never get it through Congress. And so instead he put in place a system that not only addresses significant immediate concerns, it will slowly but surely move us in the direction of decoupling health insurance from employment - opening up a whole range of possibilities.

Read More~
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-long-game-of-obamacare.html#comment-form

The comment that was posted could stand as an OP itself. Good read.



*******************This is Posted in The Barack Obama Group****************************

[treestar]

1. You know I never knew that

So Obama didn't "take single payer off the table" because he was spineless, etc., he never believed in going directly to it. I get the point about what people are used to and what it would take to transition.

[Hoyt]

2. I think the game was to get something passed. Passing nothing would have been catastrophic.

I don't believe Obama got what he would have preferred, but he got what was doable at the time. To get nothing passed would have been catastrophic, and left us with little chance of improvement for at least a decade (remember Hilliarycare's defeat).

I think the framework is now there for movement to a public option or single payer. In the meantime, 30 million people will have access to coverage, insurer's can't deny coverage for pre-existing conditions, and more.


Fact is, even if we had gone to Medicare for all -- just like now, insurance companies would have handled the administrative functions and even offer Medicare Advantage Plans (that 28% of current Medicare beneficiaries have chosen voluntarily). It would not have eliminated insurance companies, no matter how much we hate them.

[sheshe2]

3. Hello, Hoyt.

You are so right. We got what was doable and now have our foot in the door. This is a start and a good one. From here we can build on it and make it stronger.

Thank you~

[Kath1]

4. Well done, she. Really puts it in the right perspective.

This is just a start, and a very good one. PBO knows what he is doing. A very intelligent man as President with our interests at heart - beautiful!

[sheshe2]

5. Hello Kath.

He does, and a start is always better than nothing at all.

[Hekate]

6. KnR, she. TY for the much needed perspective.

[IronLionZion]

7. public option and single payer can and will come faster than people think

at the state level, with support from ACA.

Critics on the left think change isn't coming fast enough, while completely ignoring that the last attempt at health care reform was 20 years ago and failed hard. Change is coming in leaps and bounds faster than before, on par with Medicare and social security. The increased healthcare spending is going into increasing supply of providers to meet the increasing demand for treatment by the newly insured. This is a mission critical first step on the road to universal single payer.

The mindless and relentless opposition on the right should be a sign that the ACA is a big step in the right direction.

[IrishAyes]

8. If I weren't for something on any other grounds, RW opposition would cement my approval.

Although I'm an older lady, I'm wonderfully healthy and strong for my age. But when and if the time comes when I need a little extra help at home to stay independent and out of a nursing facility, I want to KNOW there'll be the right amount of home health care available. It's so much more cost effective anyway! Barring accident I have the genes to outlive most people, and as time goes by these matters loom larger on my horizon.

The 100-yr-old house I bought to rennovate has an extremely narrow and steep staircase up to the second floor. A lot of people told me that was the main reason they didn't buy the house before I found it. And of course they question my sanity partly because I did buy the place. But those stairs provide great exercise, and I don't intend to install a stair chair one minute before it's necessary. Maybe it never will be!