Sanders: ‘I'm Going to Introduce a Medicare-for-All, Single-Payer Program’

a reply to: FauxMulder

My healthcare plan which is a self-insured, multi-employer plan, also uses outside firms to implement our plan.

We currently use Cigna, but I can tell you that most people who have Cigna healthcare coverage do NOT have the policy I have. I even had some providers tell me they didn't take Cigna until they found out that my coverage was different due to our self insured status.

My Cigna healthcare insurance card has the word MILA embossed across the front signifying that it's a self insured plan administered by the Maritime International Longshoremen's Association.

Just saying that just because you use outside firms to perform some functions, doesn't mean that one can't be proficient.

originally posted by: Flatfish
a reply to: BuzzyWigs

Thanks, but in this day of "alternative facts," I sometimes wonder if it matters.

It's just that I find myself feeling guilty that I have such good insurance while others have none.

Especially when I know that as a nation, the system we currently have is not the very best it could be. And seeing how we're the richest nation on earth, I expect that we should have nothing less than the best.

The fact that we allow capitalistic, for-profit principles to dominate our healthcare insurance industry that keeps us from accomplishing that goal is inexcusable.

I'm confident we'll finally get to universal healthcare here in the good ole US of A. We're just gonna have to drag the naysayers along kicking & screaming all the way, until we get there.

Who knows, maybe someday they'll thank us for it.

And this is why I friended you a long time ago. Very well spoken. Thanks. We have gotten a whiff of that spring rebirth --- it was a long winter, but if anyone thought the resistance was going to evaporate, well....
yeah....
NO.

We aren't going anywhere. Bernie is still a senior Senator, and he can still propose legislation (which is evidently all it really takes!). Here's to Paul Ryan's effort

a reply to: Flatfish

This is like Credit Unions too, vs Banks.

I live in a county that has a public board of utilities. Non-profit; a 'collective.'

We have the best water quality around, and our electric and water utilities are vintage (our whole area is vintage/antique) but cared for and being improved (new fire hydrants last year - now new drainage, and we are getting solicitations to buy "water line repair" insurance, in fact. But still). Same with roads, tree trimming (we are in temperate rain forest here), general maintenance, etc. We all pay a bill each month, and the stuff gets done. As it should be.
You can call them day or night, and they come out.
As it should be.
Knock down a power line while you were moving in that U-Haul on New Years Eve at 10 pm? No Problem, we'll be right over to make sure you are safe and fix the problem!* No charge, ma'am. You have a nice rest of the evening. Glad no one got hurt.

THAT is what social coop works like.





* yeah. true story.

a reply to: FauxMulder

he (or she) is only trying to protect you...
I mean so, you chose to opt out of the single payer system, what happens if your private system ends up dying because of the competition, or the rates go so high that you can't afford it, or you get sick and they don't want to cover you? what, you think you are just gonna opt back into the single payer system without some kind of penalty? that wasn't how trump's healthcare bill would have worked, is it?? a single payer system, open to everyone, if one doesn't like it, if one thinks they can get a better plan somewhere else, we'll they are free to do so, and might even be able to get a tax credit/deductions because of it... but still, having some responsibility to support the system, because chances are good that someday they will need the system and there's also a good chance that at that point, they won't be able to contribute to the funding of that system.

originally posted by: dfnj2015
a reply to: dawnstar

You know it's a scam full of corruption because unlike car insurance, healthcare providers never advertise on TV because the cartel can charge whatever they want.

Why would they advertise on TV? The purchasers of most health plans are employers, not individual consumers. It would be a complete waste of money to advertise on TV. Again, the free market is why you see life insurance, car insurance, and homeowner's insurance companies advertising because they are competing to win business. With health insurance, there is very little competition because government has all but regulated it out of existence.

Damn near every issue with our healthcare system can be traced back to government distortions in the market place. The only reason your insurance is through an employer is because government made it that way during WWII as a work around against wage inflation. So here we are 70 years later trying to fix some sh*t government screwed up with more government.

a reply to: Edumakated

The only reason your insurance is through an employer is because government made it that way during WWII as a work around against wage inflation.

that isn't really accurate....
the gov't stepped in against wage inflation ya, but it was the business sector that decided to use health insurance as an incentive after that.

A single-payer system is inevitable. We need to stop wasting time arguing about broken ideas like Obamacare or whatever the hell it was the GOP just tried to sneak by.

Ideologically, I've never agreed with going against the free market system - but we don't live in an ideal world. That has been the problem with the other plans is that both sides are so hell bent on being right ideologically that they don't care how broken their plan is or if it even works.

That is why Bernie Sanders is the exact wrong person to be fronting this. He is so blinded by his ideology that not only does he not know where the line is, he is not even aware a line exists.

A lot still goes into putting together a single-payer system. It's not just, hey free healthcare for all now! There are still myriad pitfalls that we need to sorted to ensure it works for this country. Not all the models we see in the world today will work for the United States.

We need to stop being so short sighted is this modern society and understand that how you do something is often times more important than the why.

originally posted by: dawnstar
a reply to: Edumakated

The only reason your insurance is through an employer is because government made it that way during WWII as a work around against wage inflation.

that isn't really accurate....
the gov't stepped in against wage inflation ya, but it was the business sector that decided to use health insurance as an incentive after that.

War Labor Board exempted employer paid health benefits from wage controls and income taxes. This is the catalyst as to our present system. Again, we can nit pick all we want, but the fact remains GOVERNMENT DISTORTED THE MARKET. Regardless if their intention was to prevent wage inflation, their actions screwed up the healthcare market.

Imagine how screwed up your car insurance would be if you could only get your car insurance through your current employer. Every time you changed jobs, you had to get a new car insurance provider. Not only that, you could only buy car insurance from the insurers located within your state. Plus, your car insurance was mandated to cover oil changes, car washes, and tire rotations. Not only that, your car insurance couldn't charge bad driver's more than good drivers.

Car insurance would be unaffordable. Gee, I wonder what insurance product is like this...

originally posted by: sooth
A single-payer system is inevitable. We need to stop wasting time arguing about broken ideas like Obamacare or whatever the hell it was the GOP just tried to sneak by.

Ideologically, I've never agreed with going against the free market system - but we don't live in an ideal world. That has been the problem with the other plans is that both sides are so hell bent on being right ideologically that they don't care how broken their plan is or if it even works.

That is why Bernie Sanders is the exact wrong person to be fronting this. He is so blinded by his ideology that not only does he not know where the line is, he is not even aware a line exists.

A lot still goes into putting together a single-payer system. It's not just, hey free healthcare for all now! There are still myriad pitfalls that we need to sorted to ensure it works for this country. Not all the models we see in the world today will work for the United States.

We need to stop being so short sighted is this modern society and understand that how you do something is often times more important than the why.

We have single payer. It is called medicare and VA. I recall recently VA having problems caring for Vets. Sure, let's expand that to everybody....

I'm not afraid of Bernie. I'd like to hear his take on this.

having 20 years with one company, my Health benefits really "evolved".
They started as a perk. No out of pocket from me. As a matter of fact, I was payed a small bonus for not having my dependents insured. They were insured elsewhere.

Then the first letter came. Something along the lines of "due to rising healthcare costs".
We had to bear a small percentage of the cost..no biggie, it was still a great plan.
And that little bonus went away.

a couple of years later, "due to rising costs" another percentage payed by me.

Then more, and more as the years went by.

pretty soon it was close to 700 per month for my share, then more, with much larger deductibles and higher co-pays.


seems like a hybrid plan, with single payer, and competitive private enhancements could be explored and developed.
I'm certainly not scared of another idea, especially one that isn't developed over dinner, written on a napkin.

Maybe this was Trumps plan after all...

4d chess and all...

a reply to: brutus61

I applaud you and star you and flag you for your thread here.

a reply to: brutus61

I have seen emergency filled to over flowing with people with bellyaches, headaches, hang nails etc.

A lot of that occurs because patients that have not met their deductible and can't afford to be seen in a doctor's office, will opt to be seen in the ER.

We have to change the mind set in patients, healthcare providers, and hospitals.

We have to stop looking at healthcare as a business, and see it as a service to be provided for those that need it.
It is not a new concept.

No one had health insurance when I was a child. The only insurance most folk had was death insurance, and the insurance man came by every Saturday to collect his payment.

originally posted by: BuzzyWigs
a reply to: brutus61

I applaud you and star you and flag you for your thread here.

Thank You!!

I think it is time to revamp the entire healthcare system and remove the employer based system altogether. Companies big and small should focus on what they are designed to do: build create consult etc. business should not get involved with what my healthcare should be and spend resources on a something it knows nothing about. We should look for jobs we want to do without asking the question what if any health benfits the employer offers. I know healthcare finance and if we scaled back obscene policies that caused double digit inflation we would have healthcare for all at a reasonable cost. The sad part is the doctors got screwed in this system while big pharma insurance execs and hospital admin flourished.

a reply to: FauxMulder

A free market and competition is what drives down prices.

I don't always agree with that. We pay more for prescriptions than others who do have Universal Health Care.

How many Cable and Satellite companies are there? There's supposedly competition but the cost is still outrageous! If they give you a deal, they end-up offsetting it with hidden fees. The same thing goes with cell-phone providers. Hidden fees, binding contracts, what is so free about that? You break a contract you pay out the nose! Sure, there's no contract cell-phone coverage but when you compare apples to apples there's really no big difference.

Large corporations buy-out smaller businesses to reduce competition and keep prices high. Look what happened in 2008 because regulations were removed from the banking industry! Banks started taking advantage of the consumer and taxpayers ended up holding the bill.

Look at the sky rocketing tuition costs for college education! We have colleges and universities taking advantage of young people, while they turn around and keep building multi-million dollar structures on their campuses year after year!

Ever wonder why hearing aids and other medical devices are ridiculously priced into the thousands of dollars? If hearing aids were not a medical device you can bet your last dollar they wouldn't exceed a few hundred dollars! For the price of a pair of hearing aids, you can buy yourself two great desk top computers!

Funeral Homes don't exactly have competition because they take advantage of grieving families. The last thing on the minds of grieving families is comparing funeral costs. They also have a never ending customer base!

Healthcare Insurers take advantage of the vulnerability of the sick and dying. They make the final decisions on life-saving treatments, not your doctor! It's devious to put profit before someone who is in need of care.

a reply to: brutus61

What you are describing is exactly what the VA is today.

Sounds very socialist, communist, NAZI. But at this point, might as well, Republicans aren't going to give us any better options.

a reply to: brutus61

As a Trump supporter I will probably not be received well with this post but I believe this is the right way to go.

Wow two people I have seen tonight here on ATS go against their own party lines. Regardless whether I agree with your politics or not, I like it and applaud you.

We need more people on both sides of the party line to NOT be afraid to hold their own party accountable and not feel that they must align with all their party lines.




Having said that , what are you NUTS???

Kidding. I'm actually a Libertarian but felt Bernie was the better of the turds this go around. Sadly he proved me wrong and showed his true spineless colors having pissed all over his message of anti corruption then endorsing the queen of corruption.

The problem with this solution is the timing and reality of the situation. You can't fix or even talk about fixing healthcare until you get corruption under control.

Its just plain silly to expect a republican or democrat lobbyist controlled gov't to fix the issue when they created the existing system , which is working perfectly fine for them.

Healthcare is not an issue for our elected officials who never have to worry about health coverage after one term, nor the healthcare lobbyist industries who are making billions per quarter. Its only an issue for us pee ons . The system isn't broke for them nor do they have any motivation to fix it.Actually they have motivation and conflict of interest to ensure they don't fix it.

So until you minimize the corruption in DC via addressing the following issues there is no point of discussing healthcare.

1. Congregational term limits

2. campaign financing reform.

3. Lobbying reform

4. doing away with super-pacs

5. Revolving door between gov't and private sector

6. Transparency

What we have now is corporatized health care, not socialized health care. It's the worst of both worlds. We don't really have choices, at least not good ones, AND we pay out the wazoo, unlike those with universal healthcare. Imagine going to the doctor, getting the care you need, without freaking out about the bill...like the rest of the civilized world. Would be nice in my opinion.