Here's what Bernie Sanders' 'Medicare for All' proposal actually says

[George II]

By Zachary B. Wolf, Tami Luhby and Curt Merrill, CNN
Published March 2, 2020

Sen. Bernie Sanders has been pushing a single-payer health care system for decades. It’s the centerpiece of his vision for a more democratic socialist America. There are several such proposals for a single-payer system, but what’s below is from the 100-page draft bill most recently introduced, with tweaks, by Sanders in 2019.

The Medicare for All plan would leave intact the current infrastructure of doctors, hospitals and other health care providers, but nationalize the health insurance industry. Nearly all the money individuals and employers currently pay into the system as well as much of the money states pay would, under Sanders’ plan, instead go through the federal government.

The first thing to note is that Sanders’ proposal has only 14 co-sponsors in the Senate. That’s not even a majority of Democrats. That’s less than a third of the 60 votes usually required to overcome a filibuster and pass major legislation, although he has said he would support ending the practice of the filibuster in order to get Medicare for All passed.

In Sanders’ proposal, everyone who is a US resident, including undocumented immigrants, gets coverage. That would be a likely point of contention with this plan. There is a prohibition on traveling to the US for free medical care.

(lots more, with details and links to the bill)

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/03/politics/medicare-for-all-annotated/

[Under The Radar]

1. Eliminate the for profit factions of healthcare

Insurance, pharmaceuticals, hospitals, clinics and healthcare professionals all must be part of a public/private partnership or completely under government control in order to be affordable.
There seems to be a huge ripoff of government programs through private healthcare facilities, price increases and charges that exceed common sense.
Unless Bernie floods the field with auditors and inspectors, single payer will fail simply from Uncontrollable profiteers and the republicans fingerpointing and false panic before any meaningful changes can be made.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

2. Doesnt need to be nationalized to remove profit motive out of healthcare - it was the 1980s under

Reagan when health care was allowed to be privatized and for profit. Thats really not that long ago, Im constantly astounded that people have forgotten it didnt always used to be how it is now.

Before that - hospitals and clinics were owned and operated by municipalities, churches, universities, and private non-profit entities.

Going back to pre Reagan regulation of health care industry would be a huge improvement and might be an easier sell than switching to some nationalized Euro style system.

Of course the insanely profitable health care industry would fight it tooth and nail. Now that the profit (aka greed) genie is out of the bottle, its not going to go back in willingly... no matter what system it is.

[LizBeth]

3. I read elsewhere coronavirus shows how we need it. But a fact is the overwhelming pressures

that would be put on our HC system if it were free. Not arguing a right to care or not, but with a disease like coronavirus would have the hospitals flooded with people getting testing and whether our system could handle it. There would have to be a whole restructuring of the current system beyond the paying for it and getting the votes.