Great article from neurosurgeon on Med for All vs public option.

[blm]

Healthcare will be a major topic in Thursday’s Democratic presidential debate. Only two of the candidates — Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren — support real Medicare for All. The rest waffle around some lesser, politically more palatable version, like Medicare for All Who Want It or other euphemism for a public option. You will hear them insist that, while they agree on the need for universal healthcare, we should get there incrementally, not in one fell swoop.

They are all wrong.

Abraham Lincoln didn’t end slavery incrementally, nor did we incrementally become a nation or defeat Hitler. Some things require bold action to help the most people. Medicare for All is one of those things.
....
....
....
Incrementalism is often a valid approach to change. Allowing people to choose between keeping their current restrictive plans or a Medicare for All option sounds reasonable, but it just won’t work. As with Emancipation, the Declaration of Independence, and World War 2, this is a time for major change that will benefit the most people. It may seem scary, as all change does, but it’s the only way to get all of us the healthcare protection we deserve, at lower cost than we’re paying now. Rather than fear it, we need to understand and embrace Medicare for All.

George Bohmfalk, a retired neurosurgeon, chairs the Education Committee of Health Care Justice North Carolina, the Charlotte chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program. He may be reached at [e-mail].



Read more here: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/article234971212.html?

[Hoyt]

1. Another retired physician asking for a change after he took a bunch of money out

of the old system. Should have been done long ago. It’s more complex now.

[blm]

2. Can't be done, let's not try. Can't be done, let's not debate it.

Can’t be done, who the eff does he think he is, listen to me, I am SO much better than he is. He took a paycheck for performing surgeries, so why should anyone listen to him now?

[Hoyt]

5. It's not whether it can be done, it's whether enough voters will

believe the promise(s). Polls show they aren’t buying it now. Maybe that will change, maybe not.

[wasupaloopa]

7. You know, people with your attitude are not going to do it. Congress has to do it. That takes

compromise. Then changes to the law take place, like all laws. Then it goes to court. That takes years.

And we have to control the government FIRST!

You need to get real!

[blm]

8. My reply was crafted to address the attack on the neurosurgeon

as if he had no right to speak to the issue.

The entire article was thoughtfully written. The attack on him for accepting a paycheck for performing surgeries was pretty unnecessary.

[wasupaloopa]

10. I was s controller of s medical clinic. I understand the administration of health care.

I paid 21 doctors, twice as many nurses and other workers. I bought supplies, paid the rent paid salaries, negotiated with insurance and Medicare. I can say that we talk about health care from a very low information way.

[George II]

3. Actually we DID "incrementally defeat Hitler", otherwise the war wouldn't have lasted four years.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Same with slavery. It took a civil war and years of struggle after that.

[wasupaloopa]

6. We can't go from what we have to something else in "one fell swoop."

You are not going to tell providers they have to be reimbursed at a lower rate, insurance companies close your doors, pharma lower your prices, everyone got to the nearest clinic in One Fucking Fell Swoop!

[Jose Garcia]

9. Lincoln didn't end slavery in his lifetime.

If you're going to use historical examples, please try to get the facts right.