Bernie Sanders will introduce a "Medicare-for-all, single-payer program" in the Senate soon, and he recently called on Donald Trump to join him to fulfill his campaign promise to provide health care for all. Sanders suggested Trump start by embracing efforts to negotiate discounts in drug prices: "Let's work together.
Let's end the absurdity of Americans paying by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs." Senator Elizabeth Warren has joined Sanders in support of Medicare for All. All this led CNN to predict that "Democrats eying the 2020 presidential contest could soon face a 'Medicare-for-all' litmus test from the party's progressive base."
Most politicians are still wary of defending "bureaucratic heath care," or explaining the cost of "paying for it." In fact, Medicare is far more efficient than private health insurance, and a single-payer system would capture massive savings from eliminating the administrative overhead and profit margins raked off by insurance and drug companies. Recipients would receive affordable comprehensive coverage at far less cost than under Obamacare. But the financing is vulnerable to attack, as Sanders discovered during the campaign.
That is why it is vital for progressive political leaders and progressive grassroots groups to coalesce around a campaign for Medicare for all. Our Revolution, MoveOn, Democrats for America, Credo, Color of Change, People's Action, the Progressive Congressional Campaign Committee, and others could turn the CNN prediction into reality and make support for Medicare for all a centerpiece of their candidate screening. Extensive public education efforts are needed to explain to people the advantages of the transition, even as the horrors of Republican reforms are revealed.
Democrats should be pushed to go beyond merely a defense of Obamacare. They need to learn how to link exposure of Republican deforms with a call for moving to a more rational system.
Those who support partial reforms--expansion of Medicaid, lowing the eligibility age of Medicare to 50 or 55, reviving the public option in the Obama exchanges--should be pushed to frame them as steps towards Medicare for all.
None of this will be easy. The popular support offered up in a poll will be shaken by multimillion-dollar scare campaigns launched by insurance and drug companies. Those happy with their employer-based insurance will be wary. Seniors worried about diluting Medicare will be major targets.
Legions of lobbyists--Democratic and Republican--will dine out on devising legislative, administrative, and judicial obstacles to fundamental reform. But as Sanders has shown, insurance and drug companies and their lobbyists are good enemies to take on.
Will Republican efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare pave the way to Medicare for All? Only if progressives force the debate. Americans are looking for sensible reform. Medicare for All is the right answer. Now is the time for progressives to educate and enlist to take on the entrenched interests that stand in the way.
Cross-posted from The Nation
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