Why I'm voting for Bernie Sanders: Type 1 diabetes taught me we need Medicare for All Opinion

[Uncle Joe]

(snip)

I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes 35 years ago, when I was 4 years old. After earning my degree in psychology, I worked as a social worker for 10 years in foster care, substance abuse counseling, and school mental health services.

I’m a mother of 8-year-old twins and I’ve been a registered Democrat since I was 18. I have stood with my party all the way. But the time has come for real change. We need policy, not platitudes.

I am voting for Bernie Sanders.

Because of inconsistent access to affordable insurance and insulin, the damage to my kidneys is so extensive that I'm applying for a transplant. For 20 years, I faced the “pre-existing condition” roadblock and denials from insurance companies for specialist visits, insulin pumps and glucose monitoring systems. I can personally attest to the outrageous cost of all of the supplies necessary for diabetics to stay alive.

(snip)

https://www.floridatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/03/15/heres-why-im-voting-bernie-sanders-medicare-all/5042085002/

[beachbumbob]

1. since sanders never builds cooperation I think you want any improvments, you are wasting your vote

[jimfields33]

2. Excellent!!! Thank you!!!!

Stunning how we went from proponents of M4A to absolutely disgusted by the thought of it in a matter of weeks.

[showblue22]

15. I've been saying,

Bernie is hurting not helping the progressive movement. Bernie is not the only one with plans for some kind of universal healthcare. They way we get the best plan is to put all our heads together, work together and develop a plan. It's not, my plan, only my plan and everything else in inferior.

[BeckyDem]

3. Those against it have no case that has any credibility. The donor class is not who we should be

supporting. Medicare for All 2020

[Turin_C3PO]

5. Good people can disagree

on how to get universal healthcare. If we increase subsidies to working and middle class for health insurance and expand Medicaid further, a lot of our problems will be solved. Remember, Germany and France have a mix between private insurance and government coverage and their systems work great at providing cheap, accessible, quality, healthcare.

[BeckyDem]

6. At this juncture in American politics its too little too late to suggest we can get there by

compromise. Every Democrat should be on board, meaning its included in the party platform so we build a unified front against the lobbyists.

A virus is upon us and we are not prepared for many reasons, and without Medicare for All, it will be made worse.

[Uncle Joe]

9. +1

[BeckyDem]

12. Good morning, Joe!

[Thekaspervote]

11. If you feel like you have some magic wand to wave and change it..please proceed

Politics is always about compromise. Purity will get you absolutely nothing.

[Turin_C3PO]

13. The problem

is that we could not get M4A through Congress. Many Dems in the House are very moderate with a few that are bordering conservative. They will not vote for single payer. But they may go for expanding the ACA with a public option, increased subsidies, and further expanded Medicaid. That would certainly be better than nothing. Not perfect but on the right course.

[BeckyDem]

18. There are reasons they don't support it, and its not because their constituents don't support it.

I hope Biden changes his mind.

[Turin_C3PO]

22. Whatever the reason is,

the fact remains that they’ll vote against it. And then we’ll end up with nothing. And it’s not just big donors who are against removing private insurance. Many of our very own DUers have union health plans that they don’t want to give up.

[BeckyDem]

25. There is no good argument against it...costs and coverage.

No one in any union would have less care for it, and if/when they lose their jobs..think virus, they will have nothing.

[Turin_C3PO]

28. I'm not really in disagreement with you.

But politics is the art of the possible. There will have to be compromise and coalition building to pass any type of healthcare improvements in this country. I wish it weren’t so but it is.

[BeckyDem]

32. It is, we do agree and why we need all Democrats to support Medicare for All.

We can build that fire wall against the Republicans, its popular policy.

[showblue22]

21. Bernie lost the primary.

His health care plan is not the only plan. We need to put our heads together and come up with one that will work. The more people we invite in to create the plan the better it will be. We don't have to accept only Bernie's. He didn't win.

[Thekaspervote]

7. There is not one single dem candidate out there that doesn't want to see ALL have health insurance!!

The first dem to really push for universal health care was Hillary Rodman Clinton back in 90s.

Sanders likes his followers to believe he is the first one and the only one to ever work for universal health care...give it a rest!

[BeckyDem]

10. No one needs health insurance, they need medical care not based on a for profit system.

Warren and Sanders, that is who supported Medicare for All.

[Thekaspervote]

17. Nothing is free.. call it whatever you want medical care, m4a

Ask senator sanders or google it for yourself as to why a m4a program adopted in VT was such an abysmal failure

[Hav]

20. If not through health insurance that pools all the risks

and is in essence a part of a social system where the costs are distributed over all, how else can we have a sustainable system where people don't have to fear to go bankrupt once something happens?

[George II]

14. The "donor class" is a creation of the Sanders campaign. There is no such thing.

[BeckyDem]

19. lol

[TwilightZone]

30. The mysterious "donor" class donates to Sanders through his PAC.

"Our Revolution has taken in nearly $1 million from donors who gave more than the limits and whose identities it hasn’t fully disclosed, according to tax filings for 2016, 2017 and 2018. Much of it came from those who contributed six-figure sums."

https://apnews.com/345bbd1af529cfb1e41305fa3ab1e604

[BeckyDem]

31. Nonsense. As if Bernie is the one who refuses to fight for the Green New Deal and

Medicare for All. He receives money from people who support those policies not ones who reject those policies.

Our Revolution, Accused of Dark-Money Spending for Sanders, Took Only Six Donations Over $5,000 in 2019, None Larger than $25,000
Aída Chávez

February 26 2020, 2:08 p.m.

https://theintercept.com/2020/02/26/our-revolution-bernie-sanders-donor-contributions/

[TwilightZone]

33. "according to tax filings for 2016, 2017 and 2018"

Not 2019. Nice try, though.

Watchdog group files FEC complaint:

https://apnews.com/cd7a58676b6fc8cbe2f9783f469d0bee

They're also wrong about 2019. Those donations haven't been disclosed.

"It won’t have to publicly reveal its 2019 fundraising until after this year’s presidential election. And money it raises between now and then won’t have to be disclosed until the following year. "

But then, it's the Intercept, so no surprise there.

[BeckyDem]

35. Bernie supports not obstructs policies that Americans support by large measures

and will help working class people.

What do think he is hiding, healthcare industry, Big Pharma funneling money to him?

[Thekaspervote]

23. This.. along with "establishment Dems" those establishment Dems just passed a huge corona virus

Relief bill among other things. They...those terrible, awful, nasty establishment Dems are the ONLY thing standing between us and the total annihilation of our constitution and democracy

[George II]

26. He also speaks of the "ruling class" even though he's been one of them for 30 years.

[George II]

4. If he hasn't been able to accomplish it as Representative or Senator, how can he do it as President?

[Thekaspervote]

8. And why is that question not put forth to sanders from his followers?

[gulliver]

16. We'll get to (better than) Medicare for All through realistic steps. Otherwise it will be voted down

The large majority of people have healthcare, and they vote. They aren't going to vote in a government takeover of health care in one fell swoop. Sanders, for example, could never get anywhere with his proposal in the Senate. There's a reason for that. It has no chance.

Make a version of a Medicare Advantage plan a public option, and increase subsidies and Medicaid to cover all. We have a chance to do that now. We have proven success with Obamacare, despite Republican sabotage. We can build on it, and it will pass.

Medicare without an Advantage plan on top of it sucks anyway. There's no MOOP for one huge thing. We need to stop saying "Medicare for All." That probably conjures up visions in the minds of seniors of having to share a system that is already way too stingy and complicated. We need national health care that's better than Medicare.

[Thekaspervote]

24. Thank you!! Yes we will

[ismnotwasm]

27. this sentence is the problem

We have a crisis in America, and only Bernie has been fighting for economic, social, and environmental justice his entire career

No, not “only Bernie” Jesus Christ. How does one be “a registered Democrat since I was 18”
and arrive at that conclusion?

Yes we need universal healthcare. What we don’t need is slogan politics

[Hav]

29. If your life depends on getting affordable or covered insulin

the last thing you should do is putting your trust in BS helping you. You need solutions now.
Affordable insulin is a topic that pretty much all candidates have identified as a prime example of profiteering that endangers the lives of those in need.

[we can do it]

34. Very nice and it won't happen with a repub senate.

[Julian English]

36. Good luck getting providers with Medicare for all

Medicare for all is a pipe dream. You can scream all you want for it, but the votes in the House aren't there, let alone the Senate.

There is a shortage of Medicare providers already. Many physicians won't see Medicare because the reimbursement sucks. Medicare for all doesn't address this.

Medicare for all is unrealistic when we can't even get fair drug prices for Medicare and Medicaid.

There is NO Republican support for it. The Supreme Court, now packed thanks to Sanders in 2016, is against it.

Thanks, BS, for screwing up 2016. Too bad you haven't learned a thing in 2020.

[Stallion]

37. That's Fine but there is Less than a 1% Chance he will be on the Ballot in November

there is, in addition, less than 1 in a 1000 chance that Bernie Sanders will be able to get elected AND Shepard Medicare for All through the 60 vote cloture majority to even get a vote on Medicare for All. So the real question you face is whether Joe Biden or Don Trump gives you the best option for your medical care. This is called logical, practical thinking

[MineralMan]

38. It's a little too late for that, I think.

Clearly, Bernie Sanders will not be the Democratic nominee. If you're still holding out hope for that, it is a false hope.

Join us in getting Joe Biden elected in November, won't you?

Biden 2020
You Go, Joe!