Clear up some disinformation in the media

[Jarqui]

"Mr. Sanders’s story continues with fantastical claims about how he would make the European social model work in the United States. He admits that he would have to raise taxes on the middle class in order to pay for his universal, Medicare-for-all health-care plan, and he promises massive savings on health-care costs that would translate into generous benefits for ordinary people, putting them well ahead, on net. But he does not adequately explain where those massive savings would come from. Getting rid of corporate advertising and overhead would only yield so much. Savings would also have to come from slashing payments to doctors and hospitals and denying benefits that people want."

Washington Post Editorial January 27, 2015

In protest, I refuse to link to lies for quoting a paragraph.

It's not a matter of Bernie admitting "he would have to raise taxes on the middle class in order to pay for his universal, Medicare-for-all health-care plan"

That line for heath spending per capita in the US in the graph below is much longer than any other country


Who do you think pays for those costs? Americans -every single over priced dime. Some of it was collected as Americans paid into social programs while they worked. Some of it was paid by Americans employers as a part of their compensation. Some of is paid with tax dollars collected from Americans or American companies. Some of it paid for by health premiums Americans pay for. etc.

The most expensive health care on the planet by far is already paid for by Americans. Bernie doesn't "HAVE raise taxes" on anyone to get this healthcare.

The problem that chart shows you is that Americans are being ripped off.

It's been trending that way for a long time.

And you're not getting your money's worth:


Republicans and corporate America whine about "big government" all the time. Everything that ails us is due to BIG incompetent government. But you know what that chart shows and proves? That's not true - certainty not true in this case. And it hasn't been true for decades. It shows that single payer or universal care provided by governments kicks the crap out of corporate America private health care as a better bang for the buck - because that's where a big chunk of these excessive costs come from - corporate administration, profits, overheads, CEOs, etc. It's certainly not all of the problem. there's much to be done with other drug costs, doctors costs, etc But it's 31% of private healthcare cost that do not add value to the well being of a patient. These are corporate opportunist leeches sucking the financial blood out of the afflicted.

Americans are paying about $1.5 trillion dollars a year extra in part to satisfy to these corporate parasites in significant part because America got sucked into this "big government is bad" GOP nonsense that's proven to be BS. And these companies are stuffing politicians pockets and campaigns with six figure speaking fees or contributions because that's peanuts in the bigger scheme of $1.5 trillion in excess annual healthcare business.

When a country is spending that much on healthcare, that country doesn't have to raise another dime. They're already spending 2.5 times the average of everyone else and way more than anyone else. So there is lots of money to do whatever they want with healthcare. Money available for healthcare at the country level is not the problem. So no taxes "have" to be raised. The Washington Post is full of shit on some of their arguments and too stupid to realize it.

The problem is: Bernie would like to get Americans a better deal. Bernie doesn't want to see the average American get ripped off on excessive health insurance costs any more. They've been doing it for years and cleaned out the savings of a lot of Americans.

Bernie's plans can be adjusted. But more money isn't the issue. He wants Americans to get a fair shake in what they're paying for their healthcare. Hillary has stated in effect, she's staying the course and will nibble at the problem through the ACA.

The GOP is always whining about the debt. But they never seem to whine about private heathcare costs:




We have to fix this for America's fiscal survival:



So corporate owned America don't want Bernie or the Americans he represents to fix this. They do not want to stop collecting the growing $1.5 trillion in excess healthcare costs. Hillary is on the record as saying it's "too hard" and "never, ever". She's going to tinker with the ACA.

Bernie is trying to do more that fix healthcare with his plan. He's trying to also make an adjustment for income inequality. The average person doesn't have to pay $5,000 in health insurance any more but they have to give back $500 of that savings in taxes (probably to shut the GOP up about it being a freebee/entitlement). He gets employers to largely pick up the balance. And he saves a bunch on much of the 31% in overhead, admin, CEO, profits of private heathcare to pay for those who don't have any healthcare.

That doesn't have to be the final plan. If there are issues with it, it can be adjusted.
But it is not a stupid pipe dream financially. And it has to be done.

I'm not sure any of the above helps but I thought I'd take a shot.

It up to you to decide which of those candidates you think is right.

[SamKnause]

1. Clinton supporters do not care.

They have decided that people do not have the right to health care.

They have decided it is too hard to fight for what is just and fair.

They have decided that $15.00 per hour is too much to pay workers.

Clinton supporters on this site are informed and know the facts.

They don't care !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


FEEL THE BERN

[uponit7771]

2. The article is right, Sanders does NOT deal with high cost from Doctors, Hospital GROUPS and

... pharmaceutical cost ANYWHERE in his plan that is practical.

He can't just "ask" doctors and hospital corporations to lower their cost

[leftupnorth]

4. No, we do this thing called 'collective bargaining'

You may have heard of it at some point.

[uponit7771]

5. Collective bargaining wont get those groups to accept HALF of what they're being paid now which

... is the amount needed to get rid of deductibles yearly or reduce them to 466 out of pocket for the median income bracket this plan is aimed at.

Just throwing the cost under collective bargaining is the magical asterisks part...

Looks like you've read the plan too...

Asking those 3 groups to accept half is what's not adding up

[leftupnorth]

6. Well, we most definitely overpay for just about everything

Because of people who cannot afford to pay. Once everyone 'pays' I can't imagine overall costs not going down.

There would be almost no billing and collections department in many health care operations. At least not like they have now.

We save 15-20% right off the bat by eliminating health insurance companies.

And greed. There's always that to contend with. Martin Shkreli, for example.Lots of savings in overpriced drugs. We have a pool of 310+million people. How much of a deal can we get on 30 aspirin each?

And $50 for a $1 bag of saline. Crap like that. I'm no expert, but that seems kinda like there's some fat to cut there.

Even if it isn't a dime cheaper to do single payer, the moral argument to pursue it is unassailable. We get to cover everything for everyone and we free ourselves from the bondage of medical debt.

But I'm sure we can't do what every other major country on earth has done. In fact, I bet we can't learn from what they've done and improve upon it. Too hard.

[beam me up scottie]

3. Well written and researched, excellent op.