Posted on 07/31/2018 5:31:01 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
Democrats are laying the groundwork to make a push for “Medicare for All” legislation if they win back the House in November.
More than 60 House Democrats launched a Medicare for All caucus this month, a sign of the popularity surrounding the concept of a government-run health insurance system for all that’s supported by liberal firebrands like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
The caucus plans to hold briefings with experts as part of its efforts to revise a previous bill that will act as the framework for future legislation to establish single-payer national health insurance.
“We're going to do what it takes to get health care for every American,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), one of the co-chairs of the new caucus.
When asked if she wanted the House to vote on a Medicare for All bill next year if Democrats control the chamber, Dingell said, “Yes, we're going to travel the country talking about why it makes a difference.”
Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), the top Democrat on the Budget Committee, said he plans to hold hearings on how to pay for Medicare for All next year if he ends up wielding the chairman’s gavel.
While a government-run health insurance system like the one being discussed by Democrats has no real chance of becoming law with President Trump in office, House action on the issue next year would move the ball forward and intensify the debate within the Democratic Party for 2020.
Democratic leaders have not endorsed that kind of drastic change to the American health-care system, but they haven’t ruled it out either.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said last month that proposals like Medicare for All would “have to be evaluated in terms of the access that they give, the affordability of it and how we would pay for it.”
“But again, it's all on the table,” she added.
The Medicare for All caucus held its first briefing at the end of June for about 50 staff members, with presentations from single-payer proponents like Physicians for a National Health Program and the National Nurses United union.
Leaders of the caucus are planning to revise a single-payer bill in January 2017 by former Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.). The measure has 123 Democratic cosponsors.
“The idea would be to introduce something that has a little bit more detail and is an actual legislative path,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), another co-chair of the caucus.
“Depending on how many people campaigned on it, which I think is going to be a majority of our caucus, you might see a bill,” Yarmuth said.
But some Democrats worry that Medicare for All would be too costly.
“It opens us to many questions from Republicans about costs,” said Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas).
A study published Monday by the right-leaning Mercatus Center at George Mason University said a Medicare for All plan would increase government health-care spending by $32 trillion over 10 years.
“It is just absurd,” Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) tweeted about the price tag.
Supporters hit back by saying the study found total national health care spending would decrease; it's just that the government’s share of that spending would grow significantly under Medicare for All.
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (N.J.), the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, did not rule out Medicare for All but made clear his focus would be on protecting ObamaCare against GOP attacks if he becomes chairman next year.
“We can certainly talk about single payer or Medicare for All, but I just think the most important thing is to shore up what we have and turn around this sabotage,” Pallone said.
“I'm not going to prejudge what we would have hearings on,” Pallone said when asked about whether he would hold hearings on Medicare for All.
Pelosi has also pivoted to touting the benefits of ObamaCare when asked about Medicare for All.
“I think she kind of wants to let everybody do their own thing,” Yarmuth said, adding that by not backing Medicare for All, Pelosi doesn’t “tie [lawmakers] to a position.”
If the measure did make it through the House, it would have more than a dozen supporters in the Senate, where Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) Medicare for All bill has 16 cosponsors, including several potential Democratic presidential candidates.
Adam Green, co-founder of Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said that if Democrats win back the House, his organization will push for a series of health care votes on legislation addressing single-payer and somewhat less-drastic ideas like a public option.
“Often Democratic leadership follows the lead of their caucus and an incoming class of election winners,” Green said.
“That’s why it’s so significant that progressives have been winning primaries,” he added.
Ocasio-Cortez, who unexpectedly defeated Rep. Joe Crowley (D) in last month’s New York primary, is a big proponent of Medicare for All.
If the Energy and Commerce Committee does not move forward on hearings, the Budget Committee under Yarmuth could still hold hearings to examine the potential fiscal impact of the legislation.
Yarmuth said a hearing could examine “whether it was feasible or not, whether it would kill the budget, whether it would help it, and what the impact would be.”
Definitely a communist action!
If the dems get back into power it will be a disaster for this country. They will go hard left for spite. They will do everything we feared they would:
reparations
confiscation of guns from non-violent citizens
confiscatory tax rates on producers
extreme repression of non-PC thoughts
more special privileges for LGBT
elimination of the Catholic Church
suppression of Christianity
open promotion of *slam
abandonment of Israel
money being given openly to m*slim nations
stepped up importation of “migrants” from m*slim countries
child marriage legalized
polygamy legalized for m*slims
non-prosecution of m*slims for terror
They cannot be allowed back into power. No matter how unpleasant a Republican may be, it’s still better than any democrat.
I saw that we would spend 48 trillion in 10 years in the current system and 32 trillion in this new system. Most savings come from doctors taking a huge pay cut in exchange for free medical school. Again, doctors take a pay cut for life to pay for something that doctors pay off loans in 15 years. Democrats are crazy.
My neighbors are all on some Medicare advantage. They are refunded the 135 every month and no pay outs. Perhaps that may work for you. And these are wealthy seniors.
Are you saying that you pay too much, or that there’s no way the system can survive on the premium you pay?
Is part of that “groundwork” preparing the Middle Class and even the lower classes for the massive tax increase that will have to be foisted on them to pay for “Medicare for All”? Or is the groundwork simply promising everyone more free s___t that the “rich” can pay for if they just “pay their fair share”?
the Dem mid-term campaign has kicked of, that’s all. look at all the latest at Axios:
31 Jul: Axios: Sam Baker: Exclusive poll: Democrats have an edge on health care
Democrats’ health care message is resonating with critically important blocs of midterm voters, according to the latest Axios/SurveyMonkey polling.
The big picture: Democrats are moving left on health care. Embracing the Affordable Care Act is now a given, and candidates are increasingly embracing a bigger role for the federal government. The voters they’ll need most this fall — including white suburban women and Millennials — are largely on board.
Axios: Alexi McCammond: The Democratic Socialists’ campaign playbook
America is not a socialist nation, and the Democratic Party is not a socialist party. But after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s shocker win in New York, a growing number of Democrats are pushing a formula to try to nudge both the nation and the party in Bernie Sanders’ direction.
The bottom line: This isn’t going to end — Ocasio-Cortez was just in California spreading the Democratic socialist message.
The template:
1.Find candidates who fit the rising Democratic coalitions: young, female, minority — ideally all three.
2.Go big or go home with policy fights: Medicare for all, a much higher minimum wage, down-with-corporations regulations.
3.Bet that the Trump phenomenon is transferable: that political parties are open to swifter change than commonly believed as long as you are loud and authentic.
Bring in Bernie. He remains a rock star with the far left, and a sure bet to juice crowds and attention.
We saw this in vivid display this past weekend in Michigan, when we went to see Ocasio-Cortez campaigning with Abdul el-Sayed, a progressive Democrat running for governor.
It was clear that people are craving this brand of politics in 2018. The energy at the rallies was undeniable. But just because a movement can get a thousand people out to a local university doesn’t prove it can win elections in Michigan, or across the country...
Axios: The health care surge: Why it’s rising as a midterms issue
Drew Altman, Kaiser Family Foundation
In recent elections, Republicans have effectively used health care and anti-Affordable Care Act sentiment to rally their base. Now, the repeal effort has made the ACA more popular and given Democrats a weapon to use to motivate their base and reach out to independents.
Between the lines: The importance of health care as a national priority is sometimes overstated — but our recent polling shows it really could be a decisive issue in the midterms. That’s because it has been surging as an issue for Democrats, and in an election many see as a referendum on President Trump, it may now be as important a factor as Trump is...
The other side: The ultimate role health care plays will depend on how effectively the issue is prosecuted in the campaign by Democrats, and how Republicans respond. And a lot can still happen between now and November to change voter priorities. A big combat operation overseas, a report from the Mueller investigation or any big unexpected development could bump health care down the hierarchy of voter concerns...
https://www.axios.com/health-care-surge-2018-midterms-99265abc-e360-4a34-b6db-e2161ec4ced5.html
I was in Med school when Reagan was elected. I remember walking into the surgical lounge at Evanston Hospital the day after and seeing the surgeons and anesthesiologists high fiveing and saying “ no socialized medicine in our lifetime”.
I’m right at the cusp of retiring , and if the Rats get their way, I’m gone.
“We’re going to do what it takes to get health care for every American,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), one of the co-chairs of the new caucus.”
But wait - I thought Obamacare was supposed to do that.
Obamacare was Step 1 in their plan to socialize medicine.
By now it was supposed to be in free-fall collapse and a panicked public would be begging for “Medicare for All”.
Trump’s election and resulting economic recovery have
monkeywrenched their plans.
Nonetheless, they are moving forward with the long-term goals in mind. They are confident that once enough of us to go that great Tea Party in the Sky they’ll be able to hoodwink Millenials into going for this.
Sure puts a dent in that monthly auto-deposit, don’t it. I feel your pain.
$
rwood
This is no accident.
1. They have always wanted ANY KIND of “single payer” system, all along.
2. Anyone who disected Obamacare properly knew all the claims they made about it - “lower insurance costs” - would orove not just false, but intentionally false.
3. The Left must always frist destroy a system before the put something else in place.
4. They began to destroy insurance and healthcare market places with Medicare.
5. Obamacare was DESIGNED to totally ruin the health insurance markets, make them worse and make health insurance more costly.
6. The Left works by adding more government to make markets worse, after which they then shout the “solution” is even more government, when all the while they are talking about “solutions” for problems they helped create.
7. Meanwhile, their well-indoctrinated dumb as doornails fellow traveler “Liberals” are the ones who are stood up on the podium to announce the Marxists plans. “Liberal”, translation: The stooge of the Marxists.
This is a bad idea on many levels.
But the ones who will get screwed the most are seniors who have paid into the system their entire working life.
They would have to compete for Medicare with people who never put a dime in the system.
What would happen to the newly improved, and still improving, VA healthcare system under universal Medicare?
I’d be for free if it was truly free.
What bugs me about free medical care is the hidden price tag.
What are you getting and $32 trillion dollars is a lot of money for “free”.
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