No brainer for me for Secretary of Health/Human Services: Bill Bradley!!!

[zulchzulu]

In 2000, Bill Bradley campaigned for universal healthcare...single payer style. I was a huge supporter until he dropped out that year while running for President. The man is smart, polished, wonkish and would be a great person to have as Secretary of Health/Human Services.

Bill Bradley proposes health care reform that "leaves no one out." Bradley's health care proposal guarantees health insurance for every child, access to affordable health care for every adult, expands Medicare with coverage for social services and an optional prescription drug benefit, and invests in public health and prevention.

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/pr/00/02/urbanImpact/healthCare.html

On the issues...

# Health care should assure Americans that they are cared for. (Aug 2000)
# Mandatory insurance for children, at birth, federally paid. (Aug 2000)
# The disabled should not be punished for working. (Mar 2000)
# Pledges better health plan for every Medicaid patient. (Feb 2000)
# Help HIV-infected with Ryan White Act and health centers. (Feb 2000)
# “Outrageous scare tactics” on Medicare’s HIV treatment. (Feb 2000)
# Fought for longer maternity stays; will fight for more. (Jan 2000)
# All people on Medicaid should have a primary care physician. (Jan 2000)
# Controlling smoking is key to health care reform. (Jan 2000)
# Covering drugs is the key to reducing health care costs. (Jan 2000)
# All Americans should have access to affordable health care. (Dec 1999)
# Fund reforms from surplus, medical Internet, & lower costs. (Oct 1999)
# Create respite centers for Alzheimer’s patients & caregivers. (Oct 1999)
# $650B over 10 yrs for children’s mandatory health insurance. (Oct 1999)
# Universal health care & health insurance coverage. (Aug 1999)
# More coverage; doctors in charge of HMOs. (May 1999)
# Voted YES on medical savings accounts. (Apr 1996)

http://www.ontheissues.org/Bill_Bradley.htm

Since Howard seems to want to do other things, let's draft Bill!

[TeamJordan23]

1. I think he would be a good choice. There was a HuffPost article talking about him too. nm

[Aviation Pro]

2. Good one....

....Dollah Bill from the corner, swish, "Yes!"

[Zomby Woof]

3. I like that idea

I actually supported him in the 2000 primaries. He has the right creds and would be a good fit for the Obama team.

[saltpoint]

4. One strong 'yea' vote here

for Bill Bradley.

[karynnj]

5. Yay - He's was the first person I thought of too -

He is a really good person.

[baldguy]

6. That would be cool.

[SoxFan]

7. I had hoped he'd go to Commerce, but he'd be great at HHS

Bill Bradley or Howard Dean would be great in that job.

[Barack_America]

8. That's a great idea.

K&R

[Alexander]

9. Bradley would be a good pick.

[paparush]

10. And he can post up on Obama, take him strong to the paint.

[eridani]

11. Yep. Let's have them play three rounds of N-U-R-S-E for single payer

2 of 3 from Bradley gets us HR 676.

[EraOfResponsibility]

14. there ya go! LOL

[satya]

12. What a great idea! (wish I'd thought of it ...) nt

[DCBob]

13. I suspect it will be Bradley..

He's got the background, the credibility and the name.

[JCMach1]

15. Bradley would be A+

[brooklynite]

16. Would you be prepared for Bradley to -NOT- support Single Payer?

...because that's NOT what the Obama campaign proposed, and it's highly unlikely President Obama would let Bradley do whatever he wanted.

[GeorgeGist]

17. Perhaps Bradley is smart enough to teach President Obama ...

why non-profit healthcare is better than for profit sickcare.

[zulchzulu]

19. Bradley has been for Single Payer, but I'm sure he knows about how it will have to be incremental

Bradley knows the lay of the land indeed. While Single Payer would be his first choice in his efforts, I'm certain he would know how to navigate through the muck and get at least some incremental improvements on the way to Single Payer...

[Jim Lane]

18. Bradley wasn't for single payer

At least, according to the information in your post, his health-care proposals emphasized providing insurance coverage for everyone. If he would leave private insurance companies in the picture, it's not a single-payer plan.

[zulchzulu]

20. Actually, you are incorrect. I have proof that Bradley is and has been for single-payer healthcare

That's funny... I have PROOF that Bradley is and has been for single-payer healthcare...

Gore ripped his 2000 Democratic primary opponent, former Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), for his single-payer plan, claiming that it would be too radical a change for the nation's health care system.

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh112602.shtml

The first is a single-payer system that would dramatically lower the estimated $295 billion paid out each year in administrative costs. In it, everyone would get the same coverage, which would allow for cost controls and the ability to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies for lower prices, Bradley said.

http://knowledge.wpcarey.asu.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1222

Well, how many people had an active life when you're five years, eight years after? Then you can make some decisions. And the government helps you pay for that if you don't have the money, or you go single payer system and the government takes it off the back of the private sector.

http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200704/20070411_bradley.html

It can be solved in one of two ways: with a single payer system where the government pays for everyone's healthcare and assures that costs are controlled and quality increased or with a system in which the government subsidizes those 47 million people so that they can afford to buy health insurance today.

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976949864

[Jim Lane]

25. No, read your sources more carefully

In the first one, you quote from The Daily Howler as reporting that Gore attacked Bradley for backing single-payer. But in the passage you quote, The Daily Howler does not itself say that Gore said that. Rather, The Daily Howler is quoting another writer, William Douglas, whom it criticizes for "misinformation". Here's what The Daily Howler actually wrote: "There’s only one problem with what Douglas says. Bradley didn’t propose single-payer—and no one ever said that he did." The article goes on to say:

Bradley didn’t propose “single payer”—but he didn’t propose “universal coverage” either! According to a much-discussed study by Kenneth Thorpe of Emory University, the Bradley plan would have produced 89 percent coverage. Gore’s plan would have produced 88 percent coverage, Thorpe judged. And the Bradley camp only claimed that its plan would reach 94 percent.

The Bradley camp's claim from the 2000 campaign is pegged at 95 percent instead of 94 percent in this analysis, which, regardless of a percentage point here or there, makes clear that Bradley was not advocating single-payer:

     Like conservative proposals in the past, Bradley's relies primarily on voluntary enrollment in private health insurance, stimulated by new income-related subsidies and tax breaks; to facilitate enrollment, he would open up the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan for other groups and individuals to use as a purchasing pool. The new subsidies for private insurance premiums would replace Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Plan (CHIP). Instead of these shared federal-state programs, the federal government would assume full responsibility for subsidizing acute health care for the poor, while the states would pay for nursing home and other long-term care. The proposal also includes prescription drug coverage for the elderly and additional funds for public health. . . .

According to Bradley's advisers, the plan would extend coverage to 30 million people who are now uninsured, raising the proportion of Americans with insurance from 84 percent to 95 percent. (from in The American Prospect, February 14, 2000 (emphasis added))

It's fair to say that Bradley's plan in 2000 was more dramatic, more ambitious, and more costly than Gore's, but as long as it preserved a key role for private health insurance, it wasn't single-payer.

Your other quotations don't refute what I said about Bradley's campaign stance in 2000 because they're all from 2006 and 2007. Even in your second quotation (from 2006), Bradley still isn't unambiguously backing single-payer, if you read the full passage and not just the part you quoted:

Bradley ... offered two solutions.

The first is a single-payer system that would dramatically lower the estimated $295 billion paid out each year in administrative costs. In it, everyone would get the same coverage, which would allow for cost controls and the ability to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies for lower prices, Bradley said.

....

The second answer, Bradley said, requires "conservative means to achieve liberal ends." Meaning: covering every American by using tax credit subsidies to help everyone afford health insurance. He advocated allowing choices in plans, incentives for behaviors and allowing people to pay more if they want better coverage. "Insurance companies then compete to provide policies," Bradley said. (from , April 6, 2006)

Your remaining two quotations, from 2007, are similar; Bradley mentions single-payer as one option but doesn't commit to it.

In sum, I stand by my characterization of his campaign position in 2000. Even his more recent statements seem more like trial balloons than firm proposals.

[zulchzulu]

26. Bradley mentions he's for single-payer in interviews...

...therefore I would suspect if it's his actual words in interviews that he's for it, no?

:shrug:

[Jim Lane]

32. No, that's not what he says

I agree with you that his actual words deserve weight. His actual words in recent years invoke single-payer as one possible solution but not necessarily the best, and not necessarily the one he favors. See the fourth quotation in your own post #20, where Bradley says (in in 2007) that the problem of providing health care "can be solved in one of two ways". One of the ways is single-payer, but the other is improving the system of private insurance.

Anyway, my original post wasn't about Bradley's recent views, but about what he said in 2000. I continue to disagree with your assertion in the OP, "In 2000, Bill Bradley campaigned for universal healthcare...single payer style." He just didn't say that in 2000.

[vaberella]

21. Anyone for single-payer is for the people; I like it.

However, for those of us who only know "wonky" as a bad thing, what does wonkish mean?

Thanks in an advance for the answer zulchzulu and Thanks for an informative post on your pick.

[zulchzulu]

28. Wonkish...

I always describe "wonkish" as getting the detailed answer. Some people complain about it.

For me, if I want the cheap steak bumpersticker answer to a question, I'd expect to not get the real answer.

So, say you want directions to Cleveland. The short quickie answer from someone would be "Wow, I love Cleveland!" Then nothing... Maybe a wink and a pat on the back.

The wonkish answer would be "Well, you take Highway 150 to Interstate 21 for 100 miles, then take the 34a exit south to Wingding Road and take a left on Bingbang Avenue..." Boring answer to some, but the wonkish answer gets you there...

[KittyWampus]

22. I like that idea tremendously. He has the gravitas and public recognition

[WeDidIt]

23. That's a stroke of brilliance

So long as he gets through vetting, it would be a wonderful pick!

[rvablue]

24. Part of passing this legislation is playing the part of a public spokesperson/salesman, IMO Bradley

is so, so :boring:, :boring:, :boring:!!!!

[zulchzulu]

27. Explaining the intracacies of single-payer healthcare is not exactly comedic material

Bradley is a wonderful spokesperson if you're intelligent and perhaps a bit wonkish.

He doesn't do tap dancing or free form hip hop rants well. He doesn't know card tricks or tell wild-eyed fart jokes. That might disappoint some people.

[hileeopnyn8d]

29. you're so smart!

He would be a great pick! Complex reform initiatives are his forte. I wonder how his tax returns look though. ;)

But seriously, he would be a good pick. Now I'm afraid to get my hopes up.

[Sebastian Doyle]

30. What has Bradley been doing since 2000?

Hadn't heard anything about him since he dropped out of that primary.

[zulchzulu]

31. He campaigned for Obama in the primaries

He's been working on other stuff since....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Bradley#Recent_years

[avaistheone1]

33. He's got my interest.