Bernie Sanders is right about Obamacare: Here’s why it’s time to talk about single-payer

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The Affordable Care Act advanced healthcare in America in important ways — but it's also fatally flawed
http://www.salon.com/2016/01/26/bernie_sanders_is_right_about_obamacare_heres_why_its_time_to_talk_about_single_player/

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Obamacare does have some very good features, including the expansion of Medicaid (in many states thwarted by Republican governors with the Supreme Court’s permission). Thanks to Medicaid and tax credits provided to those close to the poverty line (and the threat of a fine) an estimated 17.6 million uninsured people had, as of September, become insured since the law’s implementation began.

But many working- and middle-class people are still getting squeezed hard, forced to sign up for bad and confusing programs with high deductibles, high co-pays (and coinsurance) and in many cases high premiums—all so that they can hunt for care in sometimes very limited networks.

In November, the New York Times reported that more than half the plans on many states’ HealthCare.gov marketplaces had deductibles of at least $3,000. A recent Kaiser/New York Times survey found that 1-in-5 working age Americans with health insurance had trouble paying medical bills over the past year. Many had to spend down their savings, spend less on food, run up credit cards, and work more hours to pay for medical expenses. More than half of those without health insurance—a population that still includes more than 1-in-10 Americans—reported problems paying their bills.

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The case for single-payer isn’t that it can be passed tomorrow. Rather, the left needs to fight for single-payer now to build momentum and a movement: Healthcare and economic crises will persist, American politics will continue to change in unpredictable ways, and a new policy regime will at some point become both possible and necessary.