Could the GOP have screwed up in reverse? Will we get Medicare for All?

[ProfessorPlum]

It looks like the Democrats have finally realized that which Howard Dean has been saying all along - that unless they pass something which isn't a shit sandwich they are going to get killed on health care reform, and that they've allowed the GOP to ruin the public option to the point of irrelevance.

the GOP may have stalled, weakened, and poisoned health care reform so badly that it would be extremely ironic for the Democrats in the Senate to turn to a way for people to buy into Medicare - getting us closer to Medicare for all, a truly smart, single-payer system which already works well and would lower our costs and the governments costs for health care.

Could we get that lucky? I doubt it, seeing the patterns of the last decade. But it's just possible.

[rurallib]

1. That was my first thought last night

Which means we will need to work all the harder for Dems this fall to expand the coverage.
Waiting for the devil in the details.

[Ozymanithrax]

2. Yes, but it will take a decade to get there.

They will change it now and again every few years until medicare is the rule not the exception.

[Raven]

3. I don't know. This process seems to be terribly disorganized and

lacking real leadership. Like a fire drill. It seems desperate to me.

[derby378]

4. Big Insurance will never let that happen

The more that taxpayers are able to choose something besides a private plan, the more the insurance companies will fight it.

[izquierdista]

5. One can hope so

Their greed has driven them into the poorhouse and their abstinence-only prattling only results in more buns in the oven. I would say they need to change their party symbol of a boomerang -- right back in the face.

[havocmom]

6. DU thread on Orin Hatch talking reasons on Morning Meeting

Didn't see it myself, and still waiting for video to come up on Morning Meeting site, but OP of this says Hatch admitted GOP against the legislation because it would = more DEM voters.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7187111

Site for the show: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31510813/

Yeah, the PEOPLE are making noise for Medicare for all, so perhaps the DEMS on the Hill are hearing the roar and at least leaning toward expansion for the program?

Mandate without REAL competition (that anybody can utilize) to the anti-trust protected Insurance Companies would basically mean taxing people (required to pay) to pay private, for-profit corporations that do not answer to consumers.

Time for the DEMS on the Hill to wake up and realize that the GOP is not into governing, they are into screwing people and the majority of the voters realize that fact. Fuck bi-partisanship! Get some real reform passed.

Medicare has already been proven to work! Hell, my winger brother is against health care reform 'cuz it's socialist and may lessen his Medicare benefits', and he loves his Medicare!

More Medicare! Fuck the monopoly of Big Insurance!

[democraticinsurgent]

7. Devlish details

The key question with lowering the Medicare age to 55 is how much it will cost the user. Someone on another thread said they'd heard the cost was going to be unsubsidized initially, with an average cost of $865 per month. That would be cost prohibitive for most 55-64. This excerpt from TPM seems to confirm the lack of subsidy:

That buy-in option would initially be made available to some uninsured people aged 55-64 in 2011, three years before the exchanges open. For the period between 2011 and 2014, when the exchanges do open, the Medicare option will not be subsidized--people will have to pay in without federal premium assistance--and so will likely be quite expensive, the aide noted. However, after the exchanges launch, the Medicare option would be offered in the exchanges, where people could pay into it with their subsidies.

[ProfessorPlum]

8. That would be stupid

Let's certainly hope it would be subsidized - otherwise, why bother?

[democraticinsurgent]

10. I agree with both of you

Initially I was excited because I'm 56 and unemployed, paying $300 for a crappy solo Anthem policy. Not a lot of money, but very limited coverage.

So I was thinking that a Medicare policy would be comparably priced but actually provide care instead of air. And I'm still hoping for that, but the numbers that are being thrown around--$865--are nuts. If that is what the option offers, we are being had.

[maglatinavi]

9. medicare

$865 per mo??? They must be crazy ... most of us cannot pay that amount. Are they crazy. sarcastic, cruel, liars or what.
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